Samyang 800mm F/8 is it any good?
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- Опубліковано 5 жов 2024
- Rod decides to try out a Samyang 800 Reflex. The results are both surprising and expected. Samyang 800/8 delivers 60% more reach than the typical reflex 500mm with out sacrifices speed. Rod discovers what gives...
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I shot some more with this lens and found that it is comparable in sharpness to the Tamron SP 500/8 but I think the Tamron still has an edge in contrast. This lens can in fact make some very good images once you get past that camera shake issue.
I have the 500mm version and they are very imperfect lenses usually soft but can produce good pictures on stationary subjects worthless for anything moving. I have the Pentax cameras with IBIS so my lens is stabilized so handheld shots are possible without camera shake with the lens. I found mine in a pawn shop for $ 40.00 T mount and adapted it to K mount and put on a cheap lens hood.
that opteka (or samyang or any of many names) lens is amazing. its a royal PAIN IN THE ASS to use as the focal plan is razor thin and hard to nail but... let me tell you when you nail it YOU NAIL IT.
I took a picture of a ducks orange food and got the focus and WOW. amazing. just very hard to use.
One trick I learned especially when doing what is essentially macro shooting. either rack the focus gently back and forth while using motor drive to snap off 10 or so shots then check and see if any got it. OR get close and get the drive going again and then slowly rocket forwards and backwards slowly. again then check the frames and see if you got one.
What would be nice is something like the Sony A1 with its IBIS and 30FPS stills shooting speed. Get the focus close let the ripm's go and just rocket back and forth nice and slow. some of those shots should be on the focal plane if you got close initially.
it is hard to use but it lets you get shots with some work that you simply can not get without spending a ton of money. I got mine years ago for like $120. Love it! but yeah its a PAIN to use!
With the stabilisation turned on in my g9 , I have hand held 90 percent of all the shots I’ve taken with my f8 500 mirror , 320th of a second , cheers shane uk , 🇬🇧 check out the video on Motorcycles And Things
The fact that all manufacturers of such reflex tele lenses conceal to this day, and you don't mention it either, is that they actually have an aperture of f8 but the reflex element on the front lens swallows a full stop of light. And what matters to a photographer in the end is the amount of light that gets to the sensor. So it's effectively an f11 lens.
Another potential problem that tends to go unmentioned is that the already poor contrast of this design is further degraded by the atmospheric effects of humid or polluted air. The enormous and visually impressive compression and layering of distant objects that can be achieved with such focal lengths over long distances requires really clear and clean air. But to be fair, this of course applies to all extreme telephoto lenses.
I used to have a Tokina 500 f8 myself and actually like these lenses, not least because you can always have them with you due to their compactness. But you have to be aware of the quite a few disadvantages you mentioned in the video and not give in to any illusions.
Yes you are absolutely correct about losing some of the light due to the central obstruction. If we are honest about light transmission disclosures, outside of the Cine lens universe manufacturers fail to disclose the T vale on all of their lenses. Advanced modern optical designs use sophisticated optical formulas with complex multi-element designs that effect light transmission. That used to be an advantage for the reflex design prior to the advent of modern multi-coating as they have very few air-glass surfaces which is a major contributor to loss of light transmission. You mentioned you used a Tokina 500/8. I have used that lens. The Tamron 500/8 is little bigger than the Tokina but is noticeably superior optically. I decided to conduct a little test. F stops are simple mathematical equations the size of the opening as a ratio to the focal length. On an 18% gray card under fixed lighting my experiment yielded these results measured against a Canon 70-300 L lens at 300mm set to f/8. The L lens is a zoom and it has a fair number of elements so it has a T value a bit lower than its F value but it is a top professional grade lens with the best coatings and exotic lens materials so I think it is fair comparison. I do own a 300/2.8 but that is a lens that cost thousands of dollars and not a fair comparison to these $200 ish lenses, right? At f8 the 70-300 L lens needed 1/60th sec compared to 1/50th sec on the Tamron SP 500/8 reflex and 1/40th on the 800/8 Samyang. Tamron's claim of using silver coated mirrors may have been more than just a bullet point on the brochure as it consistently out performed the Samyang on light transmission. So the Samyang was off by at worst 2/3 stop vs. the L lens. The Tamron lens was roughly 1/3-1/2 stop slower. Had I used a prime lens with a high T value your analysis of a full stop may be spot on, but most of the decent quality telephoto lenses today in the 500 plus focal length have a fair number of air to glass surfaces and lose at least 1/4 to 1/3 stop of light transmission. Also any of the cheap 500/8 reflex lenses in the market place are likely a full stop or more off as they tend to use poor quality mirrors that negatively effect light transmission. Your point is well taken, however when pressed against a lesser quality zoom lens than the Canon L series lens I used here, these two reflex lenses are probably not much worse at T value than the average consumer grade tele-zoom and these are available at prices well under consumer grade tele-zooms. I tried to make clear in the video that this style of lens has severe disadvantages and the camera shake issue in my opinion is the biggest hurdle to overcome, these things simply do not soak up vibrations very well.
@@photofair37 Thanks for your detailed and interesting answer. I used my Tokina on a Pentax with analog film. Most cameras at that time did not have sophisticated computer controlled shutters and were purely mechanical. So if the amount of incident light was at +|- 1/3 of a stop, there was only a choice between, say, 1/250 or 1/500 shutter, nothing in between. In the end, the exposure was set accordingly. You are certainly right and have a good point with T values and light transmission, at least in relation to your test with your Canon L lens. It's probably not a full stop and modern cameras can benefit somewhat by a slightly lower shutter time of about a third of an aperture. But the construction of the Samyang consists of eight lenses and two mirrors and, silver coating or not, should not be a T value wonder. However, when looking at a reflex lens, it should be clear to everyone that you have to subtract the front mirror from the actual aperture, which covers a not inconsiderable part of the front lens.
Without image stabilizer, autofocus, the not very precise manual focus mechanism and the limited possibilities of quality landscape photography that I mentioned, anyone interested should ask themselves what else they can actually photograph with such a lens. The possibilities are very limited. However, with a cheap offer from ebay you can dare this experiment. I have also thought about it again and again, I actually love these long focal lengths and especially 800mm is quite tempting despite all the disadvantages. To see the image section of a 1200mm on an APS-C sensor would be something. Thanks anyway for the insightful exchange.
maybe we don't mention because we did not know!!! I never knew a reflector did that!! I appreciate knowing that as I never knew it. Still love the lens.
Did you use any extension on the front.
I believe it's important to use an extension on the front to block unfocused light from the camera, to improve contrast.
I use a 10 cm (4") screw in metal protector with my Samyang 500mm f/8.
I tried using 2×10cm (screwing a second into the first, but no obvious difference.
With the protector, the contrast is kind of where I could do without post processing.
Without the protector, there is so much unfocused light, causing p9or contrast and disturbing the color balance, the contrast is kind of OK after post, but the color rendering is more of a lost case.
You should extend the front so you are unable to see through the lens without bouncing the mirrors. Easiest to test by removing the lens covers, and to look into it from the front, if you can't see light coming straight through from rear, then it won't go through from front to camera either.
What is your thoughts about the contrast using after adding the lens shade?
I have found that using the electronic shutter along with the R5's IBIS dramatically improves the keeper rate. This may indicate that curtain shake is a thing with an 800mm reflex lens :) FYI @ 800mm infinity focus is likely definable out over a few miles not just hundreds of yards :)
just take photos like this. lots of iso and electronic shutter and you can do it👍
Yes, focusing is a really hard work with this lens, not very bright or sharp pictures are the result. Also have to increase shutter speed because of the shaking. I have heard that adding some filter to the lens can inprove the quality of the pictures, contrast and things like this. Would you recommend using a filter?
Not sure about filters that help improve images, in black and white photographers there are several contrast enhancing filters but they will further impede light and make the lens even slower.
Exactly. Today I mounted my Sigma 600mm under the new Lumix g80 body. and I think. I will take photos handheld. because the g80 has 5-axis matrix stabilization and you can take photos, but with a high ISO of at least 1000 on sunny days or 1600 when there is less sun. and that's right. my Sigma comes with 4 filters plus wI use a natural filter, something like a UV filter, in the lens itself and I take photos with it
Please sir, show me images with teleplus couple.
"teleplus couple"? Not sure what you mean. Is this a tele-extender? I do not have any images made with this lens and a tele-extender 1.4x or 2x. Only with the speed booster which does the opposite.
how is the lens on the Moon?
It is actually great for the moon. The moon is a very bright object and thus you can use a reasonably high shutter speed. It will reveal good details on the moon.