Image Quality
In my review of the Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 (version I), I spent a fair bit of time discussing the importance of the projection used for a fisheye. I’m not going to fully rehash that here, but if you missed it the first time around, take a look here. As part of the new optical formula with version II, Samyang has changed the projection of the 8mm fisheye very slightly. It isn’t a big change, and I still believe it would be in the ‘stereographic’ projection style. It is slightly more relaxed, however, and as a result, the second version of the lens has a very slightly narrower field of view. I’d guess that it amounts to a degree at most, so you would only notice this if directly comparing two images shot with the lens side by side on the same scene, but it is worth noting.
Sharpness
As a result of the new optical design, Samyang has managed to improve on the already excellent performance of the first version. The 8mm f/2.8 Fisheye II is quite sharp right from f/2.8, and on stopping down to f/5.6-f/8, yields images that are extremely sharp corner to corner. This is really an excellent performance, and there’s really very little more that could be asked from a lens such as this.
Bokeh
As with the first version of this lens, the rather long minimum focus distance makes generating any sort of background blur difficult. When focused at the closest focusing distance and shot at f/2.8, some mild blur can be observed, and it is mostly non-objectionable, though there’s nothing particularly special to speak of either.
Color, Contrast and Chromatic Aberration
Like its predecessor, the Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 Fisheye II generates images with strong contrast and good color response. The lens maintains high contrast at all apertures, allowing for great pop to the images. The lens also separates tones well, providing some extra clarity to scenes.
Overall chromatic aberration control is also outstanding. Lateral chromatic aberration is only very rarely observed (in most images, even viewed at 100%, it doesn’t appear to crop up). In the few instances where a very slight level of CA can be seen, a single click in Lightroom or from any other CA correction tool can easily take care of it.
Distortion, Flare and Vignetting
Obviously, a fisheye is designed to create significant distortion in order to expand the field of view. As such, straight lines that do not pass through the image center will be rendered as curved lines. When shooting with a fisheye lens, you can either use the distortion to further an effect in the image, or you can take care to try to minimize distortion by setting horizons close to the center and composing such that there aren’t a lot of very straight lines. Often these shots are hard to even discern as fisheye shots. (For an example, check out the “Milky Way” photo in the Image Samples, which was taken with the horizon centered. I then cropped the bottom to frame the final picture.)
The Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 Fisheye II does have one weakness, and that’s with its flare control. Most of the time, flare doesn’t seem to pose a problem for the lens. Indeed, even in situations where flare is quite visible, there is limited veiling flare, such that image contrast stays on a high level. However, if the sun is the frame a certain way from the image center, strong ghosting can occur, as seen in the image to the left. Most of the frame looks OK, but with this angle, a very large multi-colored flare ghost can be seen at the bottom of the frame. This can be seen in the viewfinder, so keep an eye out for it, and in situations where it arises, adjust your framing a bit to avoid the problem.
The Rokinon 8mm does exhibit very low vignetting, with shading even at f/2.8 essentially negligible.
Many thanks for the very nice review and the beautiful photos provided to complement it with some sample shots!
It is still not clear to me though why on the Samyang website the 8mm version II is not listed in the products page. There’s also no mention about it anywhere on the manufacturer website.
Different story for Rokinon, since their official website clearly list both lenses (version I and II) in the products page dedicated to the X mount lenses. Could it be that this version II is not available in all markets? Luckily, the Walimex website (which is the German rebrand for Samyang lenses) also shows the 8mm v. II as available. But I really don’t get the lack of information about this lens revision on the Samyang website… unless it’s just me who did not search properly! Many thanks again for your review!
Thanks for your review.
I have a few questions.
Have you ever compared this lens to the Samyang 8mm F3.5 Aspherical IF MC Fisheye ?
This lens ( 8mm F3.5 ) has a construction of 10 elements in 7 groups with one aspherical lens.
while the 8mm F2.8 UMC has a construction of 11 lenses in 8 groups with two aspherical lenses.
So, I think they are NOT the same lens and not only when it comes to the maximum aperture but also , I think in image terms.
I know that one is specifically made for use on aps-c and the other can be used also on a FF but I think the differeces don’t stop there.
I am asking this because the two lenses ONLY share the focal length ( if at all because that 8mm F3.5 seems to be available under different brandnames with the focal length of 6,5mm , 7mm and 8mm !!!) but have a different construction and I would venture as far as to say that they probably give very different results in terms of image.
I would be very interested to see a direct comparison of these two lenses on a Fujifilm camera.
Which brings me to another question (I have asked this also elsewhere on this site but no one seems to know).
Does anyone know if the Samyang 8mm F3.5 Aspherical IF MC Fisheye exist in a Fujifilm X version?
According to this Samyang site it does
http://www.syopt.com/en/camera/photo-lenses-8mm-F3.5-UMC-FISH-EYE.php
and the diagram here, from that site, mentions even its weight (different and heavier from others so it is not a simple mistake in saying that it exists)
http://www.syopt.com/en/asset/image/camera/pl06/spec.L.jpg
Yet by asking Samyang UK first they suggested me to use the 8mm 2,8 ( but my question was not that one!) and then told me that it might be available only on special order ( but this information is nowhere to be found anywhere in writing on their site).
Fact is that this lens ( 8mm 3,5 is not available ANYWHERE off the shelf and the Samyang site is the only place which mentions its existence )
I am VERY puzzled.
Thanks for your attention.
P.S.
Another question. How do you compare an 8mm fisheye ( when de-fisheyed) to the image obtained from the 10-24mm Fujifilm zoom at its 10mm focal length?
Hello,
You can find at http://samyang.taobao.com
I’ll buy mine from them, but I live in China, not sure how would be for overseas orders, better you ask some chinese friend to help you out 😉
Cheers!
Milandro I come from 2020 and can say the future not good for you folk back in 2014.
Did you ever find out more on the difference because I have a choice to buy either down here in New Zealand .
Found your comment thanks to this excellent site.
Your style iis very unique compared to other folkks I’ve read tuff from.
Many thanks for posting when you have the opportunity, Guess I will just book mark this web site.
Thank you very much for the review. Very informative. I have just received my sample today and am wondering what aperture were used for the sample photos and rather if they’ve been sharpened. Especially the one 2nd one and the 5th one. Thank you in advance for your info.
Thank you very much for the great review. I bought the lens but I am having trouble focusing it on the Xe2. Is there a way to magnify the focus point (like on the em5) on the Xe2?
Would be nice to compare this with the Canon EF-M as it is a larger sensor
It’s not a larger sensor. The E-FM sensor is actually slightly smaller than the Fuji X sensor (1.6x crop vs 1.5x on the Fuji). Not that the minuscule difference really matters much.