The little giant; Samyang 35mm f1.8 FE lens

Perfect walk-around lens for my Sony cams?

According to Samyang the 35mm f1.8 FE “is specifically designed for 3 main targets: street photographers, vloggers, and Instagrammers who are looking for a compact lens with high-quality output.” I’m not any of those 3, but I find the lens intriguing anyhow. If you have read any of my previous posts, you will know that I like to shoot wide open. I have the Samyang 35mm f1.4 FE and love it wide open. But I would never bring it for a walk in the woods, with the wife and dogs. But weighing in at just 210g/7.4oz and measuring 65mm/2.55″ in diameter by 63.5mm/2.5″ in length; this little giant is great for such things.

Circular aperture

The 9-blade circular aperture delivers amazingly beautiful and soft bokeh, which is one of the things I absolutely love. Didn’t get around to shoot this lens at night, but I think it will come with me for a Christmas walk. Can’t wait to get all those Christmas light bokeh shots. Below you see a lens diagram and an example shot with the VERY round highlights in the vicinity. Such a lovely bokeh. Big fan!

Design and specs

The Samyang 35mm f1.8 FE is designed for the Sony full-frame cameras by Samyang R&D Engineer / Hyunhee Lee. It can also be used with APS-C cameras where it would a 52.5mm equivalent focal length. It has a quick and very silent autofocus system. The 35mm f1.8 FE has a minimum focusing distance of 29cm / 0.95ft and a maximum magnification ratio of 0.17x. 

The lens does not have built-in image stabilization, which is handled fine by the camera.

It’s constructed of high-grade plastic and has a metal mount. It has weather sealing in 4 spots to protect from light dust, rain, and snow and enables you to capture stunning images in less than perfect conditions. (the 4 sealing can be seen in the below image lineup. The blue lines are the seals. 

Another interesting thing is the implementation of custom modes 1 and 2 (switch on the side of the lens). 1 and 2 decide what happens when you turn the focus ring. By default, it set for manual focus in Mode 1 and to aperture control in Mode 2. Both modes can be further customized using Samyang’s USB Lens Station and more functions will be added in a future firmware upgrade. I have only used it in mode two, for aperture control. I like it since I have my hand on the ring anyways for stabilization. The custom mode is the same on the 75mm f1.8 FE, which I have included images from below the 35mm images.

Numbers

• Maximum/Minimum Aperture: f/1.8 to f/22
• Angle of View: 63.6° [63°]
• Minimum Focus Distance: 12 in / 29 cm [8.7 in / 22.1 cm]
• Maximum Magnification: 0.17x [0.24x]
• Optical Design: 10 elements in 8 groups [11 elements in 9 groups]
• Diaphragm Blades: 9, rounded
• Image Stabilization: No
• Front Filter Size: 58 mm [55 mm]
• Diameter: 2.6 in / 65 mm [2.58 in / 65.6 mm]
• Length: 2.5 in / 63.5 mm [2.87 in / 73 mm]
• Weight:7.4 oz / 210 g [9.9 oz / 281 g]

Images

Below you find some of my images shot with the Samyang 35mm f1.8 FE on a walk to and in Dyrehaven, a very large park in Denmark, just north of Copenhagen. A park we visit on the weekends for walks with our 2 Irish terriers. One of them pictured in the gallery further down.