In the last post I was ridiculing the sharpness of the 8 mm Samyang lens at wide open apertures. To illustrate the problem I have made a few test shots at different apertures. The focus ring has not been moved between the shots, only the aperture has been closed step by step. See what happens.

At f 3.5 it is the greasy Vaseline-look. It is not movement blur (shutter speed 1/1250 sec @ f3.5 !) and focusing is also not the problem. The lens just produces crap at this aperture. It’s that simple.

wpid1272-Samyang_8mm_test-1.jpgVaseline on the lens ! The image is blurry and unsharp and completely not cool 🙂

wpid1274-Samyang_8mm_test-2.jpgGradually getting better…

wpid1276-Samyang_8mm_test-3.jpgAh, decent sharpness at f8….

wpid1278-Samyang_8mm_test-4.jpg…and very good sharpness at f11

wpid1280-Samyang_8mm_test-5.jpgThe difference in sharpness between f11 and f16 is marginal.

What I really would like to know is if this is a general problem with the Samyang lens. Perhaps the Ghost of faulty technology struck again and I got the famous “Monday-lens”.

I accept the blurryness at f3.5 as a “feature” of the lens. It’s just made that way. It is a very cheap lens and for the price (around 250 Euros via www.foto-tip.pl) you don’t complain to get a still very good astonishing 8 mm fisheye.