Samyang AF 50mm F1.4 FE

Is Samyang’s first autofocus lens an obvious choice for budget-conscious Sony full-frame shooters?

- Andy Westlake

Mirrorless systems have seen a huge rise in popularity over the past few years, with Fujifilm, Olympus, Panasonic and Sony all making excellent cameras and building up their lens ranges to cover most enthusiasts’ requirements. However, support from third-party lens makers has lagged behind. Sony’s groundbreaking Alpha 7 series of full-frame CSCs is now more than three years old, but there’s still no sign of matched lenses from the likes of Sigma and Tamron. And while Zeiss makes a fine set of E-mount primes, the prices are even steeper than Sony’s own.

One company has, however, stepped up to the mark, and it’s the Korean lens maker Samyang. Over the past decade it’s built up an increasingly high reputation for its range of fixed-focal-length optics. But all of its offerings remained resolutely manual focus until the debut of its first auto focus lenses last year: the AF 50mm f/1.4 FE and the AF 14mm f/2.8 FE wide angle. Both are designed to be used on Sony’s full-frame E-mount cameras.

Unfortunately for Samyang, the 50mm has quickly found itself in a crowded market, due to Sony’s own efforts. During 2016, it launched in quick succession the budget FE 50mm f/1.8 (£280), the high-end Planar T* FE 50mm f/1.4 ZA (£1,450), and the close-focusing FE 50mm f/2.8 Macro (£500) to join the existing highly regarded Sonnar T* FE 55mm f/1.8 ZA (£750). With such an array of price points covered, does the Samyang AF 50mm f/1.4 FE have a niche of its own to occupy?

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