Samyang AF 45mm F1.8 FE

Andy Westlake tries out a lovely standard prime for Sony full-frame mirrorless cameras that offers fantastic value for money

- Andy Westlake

You wait ages for one, and then three come along at once. The past year has been a bonanza for Sony full-frame mirrorless users who appreciate lenses with a ‘perfectly normal’ focal length close to 43mm. Those in the known value this range for the way it imparts a particularly natural-looking perspective to your images. At the end of 2018 we saw the sublime but expensive Zeiss Batis 40mm F2 CF, while in July Sigma revealed its tiny 45mm f/2.8 DG DN | C. In between the two appeared this budget alternative: the Samyang AF 45mm F1.8 FE.

With the tagline ‘Tiny but Premium’, the Korean fi rm’s contender is a small, lightweight optic with a very palatable £349 price tag, £200 less than the Sigma and all of £800 cheaper than the Zeiss. Despite this, it gathers more light than either of these rivals. So what, if anything, is the catch?

Features

At first glance you might think the 45mm f/1.8 uses a conventional optical design, with its 7-element, 6-group formula appearing rather less complex than that of most modern lenses (for example, Nikon’s 50mm f/1.8 S employs 12 elements in 9 groups). But in reality this is no simple double-Gauss derivative; instead, Samyang has employed a design optimized for mirrorless, with two aspheric elements, one made from extra-low dispersion (ED) glass, and an unusual convex front element. This is not dissimilar to the Zeiss 40mm F2 CF.

Indeed in most respects, the 45mm f/1.8 is every inch a thoroughly modern lens. It employs an internal-focus design driven by a Linear Activator Step Motor that’s used for both autofocus and electronic manual focus. It's aperture diaphragm sports nine curved blades to produce circular out-of-focus highlights and attractive background blur. One aspect that’s perhaps slightly behind the times is its 45cm minimum focus, as both, it's Sigma and Zeiss rivals can focus 20cm closer.