Samyang continues their Summer Blockbuster announcements with a new super-fast 20mm f/1.8 wide-angle lens and 20mm T1.9 cine prime version. The two new lenses join the recently announced manual focus 35mm f/1.2 ED AS UMC CS and its cine version – the Samyang 35mm T1.3 ED AS UMC CS cine prime, which cover Super 35/APS-C. Full-Frame shooters using the Sony A7sII for example, should get excited about this lens as unlike the APS-C announcements from last week, the new 20mm f/1.8 and T1.9 cover 35mm full-frame. The new 20mm lenses are fully manual with a manual aperture and focus ring with an included and removable petal hood.
Samyang also trades in the US under the brand name Rokinon, which I am sure is familiar to most of you. The new Samyang 20mm F1.8 ED AS UMC and 20mm T1.9 ED AS UMC lenses feature 13 optical elements in 12 groups and you the maximum close-focus distance is just 20cm, quite an impressive feat for a non-macro lens. The optical design also include 2 aspherical elements and 3 extra-low dispersion (ED) elements to minimize chroma aberrations and light dispersion, while maintaining corner to corner sharpness.
Samyang 20mm T1.9 ED AS UMC Features
- Bright T1.9 aperture
- Ultra Wide Angle in 94.8°
- Aspherical Lens
- Ultra Multi Coating (UMC) of Samyang Optics
- Designed as Cine lens – Follow Focus Gear Rings and De-clicked Aperture
- Circular aperture with 7 blades
- Smooth Focus Ring
The Samyang 20mm T1.9 will be mostly of interest to cinematographers and video creators, as it is optimally designed for professional follow focus systems with built in properly geared iris and focus rings. Also, the distance scale and T numbers are marked on both sides of the lens for convenience when filming. The 20mm T1.9 is a classic focal length that nicely fits in between the 14mm T3.1 and 24mm T1.5 full-frame VDSLR lenses.
The new 20mm f1.8 and T1.9 will be available in the usual suspects of lens mounts – Canon EF, Nikon, Sony E-mount, MFT, Fuji X. Both the Samyang 20mm T1.9 and f/1.8 stills version are expected to start shipping in September at an expected MSRP of 499 Euros for the 20mm f1.8 and 549 Euros for the 20mm T1.9 cine version.
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