Personal View site logo
Make sure to join PV on Telegram or Facebook! Perfect to keep up with community on your smartphone.
Please, support PV!
It allows to keep PV going, with more focus towards AI, but keeping be one of the few truly independent places.
Fast lens recommendation
  • http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1039950-REG/rokinon_rk12m_mft_12mm_f_2_0_ncs_cs.html

    lookin at getting that for my gh4, for first prime lens. any thoughts?

    obviously i could go with voitlander 12.5mm 0.95, sigma 18-35 sb, tokina 11-16 sb, ect but those are all well over $600-700.

  • 4 Replies sorted by
  • am also interested in that particular lens. not so many really helpful reviews and opinions out there though. you know there's a cine version, right? and it's only 30$ more: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1047004-REG/rokinon_cv12m_m_12mm_t_2_2_cine_lens.html

  • It all depends on the needs. If you need 12mm specifically I suggest to start from native lenses and after this check Samyang/Rokinon.

  • PV topic on the lens http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/9936/12mm-f2.0-samyang-lens/p1

    I had been looking to WD lenses 4 a while and finally got the normal version of the roki 12mm f2 for µFT

     
    - Very compact and quite well built, though its shell is mostly plastic OTOH keeps it practical; meaning light
    - Mount is one piece of very solid metal, 3 screws... I haven't declicked it yet so can't talk of easiness of op
    - Hood and cap are well implemented and no fuzz, 67mm filter thread is just perfect size 4 me
    - Focus is easy, 24mm equiv :P, big plastic ring (no rubber) with about 90º throw and around 20 cm minimum FD
    - I like how contrasts and renders colours, It is extremely sharp wide open; you can use it f2 with no sweet
    - Wide open it can CA's a bit but overall it's super well controlled
    - Bokeh (6 blades) is quite ok
    - Flare is ok
    - Yes it distorts noticeably, but specially for video it is not unpleasing - see Primo distortion and use in cinema
    - IMO cuts well with lumix and µFT native lenses - as reference I also have panny 14-140, 20mm pancake and oly 45mm f1.8
     
    What I don't like it is mostly related with focus implementation. It focus way beyond infinite #1 (???) - that's very annoying - also the focus ring could be nicer to the touch and a bit more loose/smooth and because asking does not cost anything double the throw. Im my opinion if cinema version fixes specially #1 it's worth it.

    Even if not this is a good bong from the brick, I mean bang for the buck =)

    Models always at hand and free, well more or less
    imageimage
    100% crop screengrab of worst case
    image
     

    These images have obviously been edited (colours are not yet 100%, but as examples will do); Fuji 160 Pro style

     
    image
    image
    image
    image

    Salu2 @VK =)

  • Just picked up a Canon FL 58MM f1.2 on eBay for £108 - need some shallow dof stuff soon and thought this might be worth a gamble....