Rokinon AF35mm F1.4 Auto Focus Full Frame Lens for Sony E

This lens offers incredible value for a 35mm f/1.4 native e-mount lens. I bought it for my recently purchased A7iii, and I have been very happy with it so far.AF is fast and accurate, and eye AF works perfecy. AF works well both in AF-S and AF-C.Image quality is great for what I bought it for (environmental and indoor portraits of my toddler). It's sharp, and the bokeh is pleasing.Build quality is great. It's built like a tank. The front lens cap is a bit finicky, but everything else is great. The hood fits really well.My lens came with firmware version 02, which is the latest version. I believe Samyang released a newer firmware ( ver 03), but it was withdrawn due to some issues. I bought the Samyang lens station (dock) to update the firmware if a newer version is released in the future.The only con I can think of so far is the weight and size. It's a big and heavy lens, but so are the other 35mm 1.4 lenses. If this is your only lens in this focal length, I would recommend picking up a smaller lens like the Samyang 35mm 2.8 for occasions where you need the smallest package for portability. I ended up picking up the Sony 28mm F/2 FE lens. It's not as small and light as the Samyang 35mm 2.8, but it's small enough.Overall, I'm very happy with my purchase and would recommend this lens to fellow A7iii owners looking for a bright 35mm lens that doesn't break the bank.

I wanted to try something new and move on from a 50mm "Nifty Fifty" lens with my Sony A7III. This lens has about just as good performance and runs for below $700. It does have awesomely sharp shots in the center and perfect for those who is into portrait photography. I wouldn't recommend this as an all around lens for travel but that's exactly what I did when I took it to Hawaii (see pictures attached). At f/1.4, it is of course extremely fast, lets a lot of light in for when I shoot past 7pm and the build quality of this is superb! One small thing I did notice nor liked was the sound of the Auto-Focus, it does do the jello effect when searching for a focus, but the loud noises it makes is not so annoying, unless you will be using the audio for when you do videos.Highlights:- Fast Auto-Focusing- Eye-Auto-Focus works like butter- BOKEH is AMAZING!- Super Sharp in the center if you want to move the viewers eyes there, but if in correct settings, you can get sharp shots all around.- Shoots well in dark light- Cheap priced compared to competitors- E-MOUNT for Sony!- Perfect for Portraits!- Build quality is robust, heavy lens and it's metal.Cons: (THIS IS THE BUT)- Noticeable, but not annoying noises as the lens looks for focus points. Definitely not good for a filmmaker if they need the audio.- It's Heavy!Overall, this is a great lens more intended for portrait shooters, casually 1 lens travelers who want to travel light and I would recommend this to everyone who can't budget an extra $1000 for a better lens.

Ordered mine in Oct 2024; came with firmware version 2 which is from Feb 2018. The latest firmware is version 5 from Dec 2023 (eg, 10 months ago). Version 4 is from 2019 (5 years ago). There is no manufacture date with the camera, but I would assume this was manufactured over six years ago if it has 6 year old firmware. This is a new camera I bought!! How is it they're selling 6 year old product? If you want to update to newer firmware you need to buy their Lens Station for $50 more. So either they're selling 6 year old product, or they're intentionally not giving the latest firmware to get you to buy their lens station also.I tried using it with my A7iii. First time I used it I just wanted to check how responsive the auto focus was. I only took 3-4 pics and it seemed OK. Next day I tried it, the lens wouldn't focus at all; not auto focus or manual focus. Turning the focus ring on the lens did nothing. Turned it off/on several times. Still no focusing. Had to turn it off, detach the lens, and put it back on. Then it started focusing again.This is going back. This is completely unacceptable. If I order a new lens, through Amazon (and not a 3rd party seller), I expect it to have the latest firmware (or at least not one over 6 years old). Otherwise might as well save money and buy a used lens.The various revisions of firmware pretty much all address focusing issues, so maybe with the newest firmware it would work properly. Who knows though. I would try exchanging it to see if I get a newer firmware, but Amazon doesn't give that as a return option so this thing is going back. Very dissatisfied. I really wanted to like this lens. From other reviews, when it works, it's a great lens.

This lens takes amazing photos and the af is deadly accurate. It has a very smooth bokeh and is tack sharp at the same time. At f 1.4 it is a touch soft in the focused areas, but stop down to f1.6 and it is completely sharp. The transition from sharp to blurry is very slow and smooth like Zeiss, not hard and abrupt like Canon L's.There are some some downsides. The materials are good, but not Canon L or Zeiss good. More like standard Sony. The AF is a bit slow and the lower the light the worse it gets. It still focuses fine at lighting requiring 12,800 ISO....it just may take a quarter second to get there. In good lighting it is much faster. It can do eye af without issue. Lastly, the AF motor is noisy like Canon aps-c lenses....not distracting or audible if in quite room really, but it will be picked up in an internal mic if shooting video.Despite the minor shortcomings, this lens is well worth it for the price. The images it takes are stunning.