- In this video we take a quick look
and do a review of an ultra
wide angle Rokinon lens
for Sony mount cameras
that produces some
pretty incredible results
without breaking the bank.
Coming up.
(bright music)
Hey what's up, Sean here with Think Media,
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We'll list out the specs
and details of this lens,
as well as anything else
we may miss in the video.
Let's jump into the review.
So, recently we picked
up a Rokinon 12mm f/2
ultra wide angle lens
for Sony E mount cameras.
And the reason this
lens piqued my interest
is because it really
fills a focal distance
with an aperture that's so fast
that's not really available anywhere else.
You know, Rokinon tries to
kind of stand out in the market
for a couple different reasons.
One, very affordable lenses,
two, that cover unique focal lengths,
and then three, that
sometimes have, you know,
very fast apertures and other
unique features about them.
And they definitely pulled
that off with this lens.
Now, it's important to note that this is
a crop sensor lens,
so it does not have the coverage
for a full frame sensor.
However, you can actually use it on Sonys
in the full frame crop mode,
and so keep that in mind.
Another note is that this
lens does not have auto focus.
So it is a manual focus lens only.
That speaks to why it is more affordable.
And we'll talk a little bit
more about that in a bit.
But let's actually jump into
some test footage and examples
for photos and videos right now
to see the actual
performance of this lens.
First of all, right now we are shooting
with the Sony a6500 camera
with the 10 to 18 f/4 lens from Sony.
Now, keep in mind that
this is a great lens.
We love it.
Of course it has auto focus,
but it comes in at
$749, so it's not cheap.
And it produces a great picture.
But let's actually throw
the Rokinon on right now
for a 12mm view of this shot,
and we'll put it at f/4.
Alright, so right now you
are seeing the Rokinon
on the a6500, and man, from our tests,
this is a super sharp lens,
and it looks really good.
Now, of course, you don't have auto focus,
but I just remember,
we've been shooting videos
and YouTube videos with
DSLRs and mirror less cameras
for like a decade without auto focus,
so in a setting like this,
it's pretty practical for video.
You're not gonna move a lot,
it can stay sharp,
and again, we're at f/4,
but let's actually stop it down now to f/2
to check out how the bouquet looks.
And we'll reduce the lighting
so that that looks perfect.
OK, so now you're seeing the lens at f/2,
and we had to turn the lights
almost completely off really
because so much light is
being let into the camera.
And what's cool is that even though
this is an ultra wide lens,
you can still get a little
bit of that blurry background
because of f/2.
But I'm curious, what do you
think about these results
in video with the a6500 and this lens?
Let me know in the comment section below.
And we're back to the
Sony 10 to 18 right now,
but let's keep talking about the Rokinon,
and checking out some
other video examples.
And so we actually took the lens down
to the Las Vegas Strip
here in our hometown,
and just got a few different shots
and a few different clips.
And I love the performance, right?
Obviously, it's an ultra wide lens,
so it has that distorted look,
but we definitely got
some cool shots with it.
And it definitely is
very usable for video.
And, keeping in mind, that
the Rokinon retail price
is about $299 here in the US,
but you can shop around on eBay.
I was seeing completed
listings for like $175 to $200
here in the US.
And we'll link to current
prices in the description below
if you wanna research those.
But that's pretty crazy
because at that price the
lens comes in at about
1/3rd of the price of the
Sony wide angle zoom lens.
But after all of that, we also
wanted to test the lens out
in extremely low light situations.
And that was really the
main reason for wanting
to pick up this lens.
Again, that the 10 to 18 fixed at f/4
is almost completely unusable
in very, very dark situations.
So we actually went to
like a cactus garden
here in Las Vegas that had
a bunch of lights in it,
and this wasn't really like
almost a low light situation.
This was almost a no light situation.
Besides the Christmas
lights in these clips,
all you're seeing is
basically pitch black.
And so the lens definitely
having f/2 was super nice.
And check out a few clips from this shoot
to see the low light performance.
(bright music)
And so for that shoot
that we were doing there,
we were testing out the Sony a6500
with the Rokinon 12mm,
and we were using a gimbal as well,
the Zhiyun Crane V2.
And I think that it was a very cool shot.
And that's kind of, again,
one of the reasons why
I wanted to grab this lens was maybe for,
you know, gimbal shots,
really wide smooth shots,
where you can kind of just
set it on infinity focus,
and just start moving,
and get kind of that cool
wide angle dynamic.
So I definitely would recommend this lens
for shoots like that, whether in day light
or in low light situations.
And then finally, we also
definitely did a few photo tests.
Now, this is such a wide field of view,
it definitely gives that, you know,
huge perspective for architecture.
I can see people wanting to use this
for like landscape shooting.
And then typically most shooters avoid
shooting people with a lens like this,
but I think if you want
kind of a creative,
unique look in some photos,
it definitely is usable.
We shot just some kinda shots down on,
in Las Vegas with Omar,
and experimenting with
different looks on this lens.
And I think the results look really good,
but I'd love to hear your
opinion in the comments.
It's definitely a challenge.
This isn't the best lens
if you need to run and gun,
and be able to shoot a lot of rapid shots,
needing what auto focus
would deliver for you,
but if you have time to use focus assist,
figure out your shot,
you know, get the portraits
or whatever you're shooting set up,
it definitely can get great results.
You just make sure focus
is set within your camera,
and then fire those off.
And it's got, you know,
a lot of good sharpness,
especially as you stop
down the lens a little bit.
Now, as far as what's
included with this lens,
pretty simple, just
comes in a box like this.
You got the lens hood and caps,
and it comes with a little bag.
And so, as far as my final thoughts,
you know, I don't think this is like
the only lens that you
could have in your kit.
I think that there's definitely some
maybe zoom lenses or primes
that would be your main shooting lenses,
but again, we wanted to pick this up
for creative shots, for low light shots,
and for having a lens that is useful,
and interesting, and
creative in certain settings.
I could see, whether a
wedding photographer,
a videographer, that maybe
there is some dynamics
and moments where you'd you
wanna use a lens like this.
And then the other big use is
what we do on gimbals a lot.
For low light gimbal shots,
or just wide gimbal shots.
Typically a wide angle lens
is what we put on gimbals
to just get that infinity focus vibe,
and get really cool motions,
whether at events, or just
shooting out and about,
or shooting for YouTube, whatever it is.
But, question of the day,
I would love to hear what
you think about this lens.
What'd you think about the photos?
What'd you think about the video?
Have you tried it or tested it out?
And what are some of your favorite lenses
for Sony E mount cameras?
Your no miss lenses that other people
in the Think Media
community should know about.
Connect with everybody in the comments,
and post your answers in
the comment section below.
And let's keep the
conversation going down there.
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