More Rumors About Samyang’s Announcement On April 28th (35mm AF lens for Canon?)

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Yesterday Samyang teased us on Facebook with an image saying:

The second Step of Samyang Optics in 2014. Samyang Optics invites you to join the journey to the next level of creativity on April 28th 2014. We hope you to enjoy our proud new products.

My guess is Samyang might announce a new line of auto-focusing lenses. This was rumored in the past. But today there is more to speculate about.

Dicahub (translated) did some research and found a few interesting things. It seems that some comments to the teaser have been deleted from Samyang Korea’s Facebook page. Fortunately, someone made screenshots an posted it to forums (here and here, both in Korean). If you think the image is a fake consider that two different screenshots have been posted to two different forums.

If you look at the picture above, you can see that the comments we are talking about have been made not by users, but by Samyang itself (i.e. Samyang’s FB administrator). The second line in the pic refers to a 35mm auto-focusing lens for Canon (or am I wrong?). Did Samyang inadvertently leak information they had to delete afterwards?

Dicahub has more rumors about Samyang to report:

  • It’s a few years that Samyang is discussing an AF lens for Nikon.
  • It appears to be pretty plausible that Samyang might announce lenses that support electronic contacts on Canon mounts (at least aperture). I am not sure if I lost something in translation, the rumor mentions a “support for Canon A contact”
  • Lighter and more compact lenses are also on the radar
  • Mid telephoto lenses with brighter aperture might also be planned

Apparently the process of  implementing AF in Samyang lenses is slowed down by licensing issues (with both Canon and Nikon).

[via Dicahub]

Samyang

What Is Samyang Going To Announce On April 28th (Auto-Focus, 50mm?)

Samyang

A Samyang teaser showed up on Facebook, it says: The second Step of Samyang Optics in 2014. Samyang Optics invites you to join the journey to the next level of creativity on April 28th 2014. We hope you to enjoy our proud new products.

Plural, so possibly 2 or more new Samyang lenses. A 50mm and 85mm could be on the radar. In the past there were rumors Samyang may announce auto-focusing lenses (so far Samyang lenses are manual focus only). Since Samyang invites us to join them on the next level of creativity and to enjoy [their] proud new products, an announcement of an auto-focusing Samyang lens is still a possibility. The “second step” mentioned in the title of the teaser could also point in this direction.

What do you think?

Samyang lenses come branded with various names: , , , , , ,  [via Samyang on FB]

Zeiss Otus 85mm f/1.4 To Come For Photokina 2014?

Zeiss Otus 85mm f/1.4
The Zeiss Otus 55mm f/1.4

Two hints point in this direction. First, diglloyd posted a notification coming from Zeiss USA, saying:

We confirm the Otus 1.4/85 lens and our intention to introduce sometime in the near future.

Next, Photo Rumors reports that Zeiss is rumored to announce the Otus 85mm f/1.4 at Photokina in September. Photokina would fit perfectly into the “sometimes in the near future” schedule of Zeiss USA.

Actually there is only one Zeiss Otus lens on sale, the 55mm f/1.4 (see how it compares to the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art)

Remote Tethering Software Kuuvik Capture Version 1.3 Released

Kuuvik Digital released version 1.3 of Kuuvik Capture, an advanced Canon EOS remote control application for Apple MAC OS X computers. This version extends camera support and introduces a more economical licensing scheme. New cameras are also supported:

  • Canon EOS 100D/Rebel SL1/Kiss X7
  • Canon EOS 700D/Rebel T5i/Kiss X7i
  • Rebel and Kiss variants of all previously supported xxxD/xxxxD models

A 15-day free trail version of Kuuvik Capture can be downloaded here. For the complete list of new features and changes consult the release notes. You can learn more about Kuuvik Capture here, or watch a series of video.

Supported cameras, system requirements, pricing and more after the break.

Click here to open the rest of the article

More Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art Real-World Sample Pics (dpreview)

Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art

Dpreview published a set of 41 real-world sample pics shot with the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art lens. Interestingly, the Sigma was used with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II (yes, not Mark III). Seems weird to me considering the exceptional optical performance of the Sigma.

The hot news of the day is DxOMark’s test of the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art lens, and how it compares to the four times pricier Zeiss Otus 55mm f/1.4 (this time using an EOS Mark III). Well, the Sigma comes seriously close to the Zeiss.

Pre-orders for the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM can be made at B&H Photo and Adorama.

[via Dpreview]

Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art

DxOMark Confirms Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art Performs Very Close To Zeiss 55mm f/1.4

With all this hype about Sigma’s new 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM “Art” lens, it’s fine to see that also DxOMark confirms the exceptional optical properties of this lens, and that it can hold up to the Zeiss Otus 55mm f/1.4 – a lens you have to pay $4,000. And now compare that to the $949 that you have to pay for the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art lens. And then: the Zeiss is manual-focusing, the Sigma has auto-focus. Pre-orders for the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 “Art” lens can be made at B&H Photo and Adorama, stocks are limited for the time being.

The Sigma scored 35 vs the 38 of the Zeiss. Says DxOMark about the comparison between the two lenses:

[…] the extreme performance of the Zeiss is noticeable in some subtle ways. At wider apertures, the Art lens can’t quite match the sharpness of the Zeiss in the outer field but that won’t be a concern for all but the most fastidious of users.

At f2 the Sigma is almost on a par with the Zeiss, only it can’t quite match the Zeiss in the corners – though the difference in real world terms is trivial. The new Sigma can boast of slightly better control of vignetting and, arguably, chromatic aberration at maximum aperture, though there’s some fringing evident in the extreme corners.

Not bad for a lens that costs a fourth of the Zeiss :-)

[via DxOMark]

Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art