Samyang 24mm F2.8 FE - The best small wideangle lens?
Introduction
Samyang Optics has become a respected name in the lens industry, particularly known for its manual focus lenses. The company’s foray into autofocus lenses like the Samyang 24mm F2.8 AF FE reflects its adaptability and commitment to meeting modern photographers’ needs. There’s also a notoriety coming with the name: There were quite a few duds in the past, so today we’ll examine if the Samyang 24mm F2.8 AF FE is one of them - Spoiler: It’s not!
The 24mm focal length is prized for its versatility, ideal for capturing landscapes, architecture, and street scenes with a natural perspective and minimal distortion. It’s a favorite among photographers for its ability to convey a sense of presence and environment, and coupled with a pretty bright aperture with a minimal form factor this lens sounds like a winner.
The Samyang 24mm F2.8 AF FE is especially appealing to those who value ease of carrying and cost-effectiveness. This lens is well-suited for travel, street, landscape, and interior photography, where a broad view is essential.
Build Quality and Design
When it comes to build quality, the Samyang 24mm F2.8 AF FE lens presents a mixed bag, especially when compared to other lenses in its price range. It features a metal mount, which suggests a degree of durability, but the mount is made of a less durable aluminum compared to some of its competitors. The rest of the lens body is constructed from plastics, which contributes to its lightweight profile but doesn’t feel as premium as some of Sony’s more affordable lenses. How the lens fares over time will be part of the long-term analysis later in the review.
Aesthetically, the Samyang 24mm F2.8 AF FE is a study in minimalism. Its compact and lightweight design is one of its most significant selling points, making it an excellent choice for photographers who prioritize portability. The lens’s pancake profile is particularly appealing for those looking to maintain a low-profile camera setup for street or travel photography, or if you just want to add a 24mm options to your kit if you’re running about with a 28-70-type zoom.
Ergonomically, the lens is designed with simplicity in mind. The focusing ring is sufficiently wide but lacks the smoothness found in most Sony FE lenses, which might affect the manual focusing experience1. However, the small size of the lens makes it easy to handle and operate, especially for photographers on the go.
The materials used in the construction of the Samyang 24mm F2.8 AF FE lens have a direct impact on its durability. While the plastic components may not inspire the same confidence as metal, they allow the lens to be remarkably lightweight at just 93g. This makes it an ideal lens for extended shooting sessions and reduces fatigue. However, the use of plastics means that the lens may not withstand rough handling as well as some heavier, more robust lenses. The lens hood is noted to be a bit flimsy, offering basic protection for the front element but doesn’t significantly enhance flare resistance.
Overall: The lens is very bare-bones, no buttons or anything, but functional.
Usability
The Samyang 24mm F2.8 AF FE lens is a marvel of compactness in the world of wide-angle lenses. It boasts a diameter of 61 mm and a length of just 37 mm, making it an unobtrusive addition to any camera bag1. The lens tips the scales at a mere 93g, ensuring that it adds minimal weight to your setup. Even compared to a lens like the Sony 28mm F/2.
Handling the Samyang 24mm F2.8 AF FE is a pleasure, thanks to its lightweight and small size. It’s particularly well-suited for photographers who prefer a nimble and inconspicuous setup.
Focus
The Samyang 24mm F2.8 AF FE lens incorporates an autofocus system that is both swift and precise, suitable for a variety of shooting scenarios. The lens uses a linear STM (Stepping Motor), which contributes to its ability to focus quickly and quietly, making it a good choice for both still photography and video recording.
Our testing has generally been a positive experience with the autofocus reliability of the Samyang 24mm F2.8 AF FE lens. Its speed and accuracy, particularly in well-lit conditions where the lens locks onto subjects without hesitation. However, in very low light conditions there may be some hunting, especially in AF-C. Most of our images with the lens were taken with a Sony A7 III, but more recently with a Sony A7C II.
The manual focus ring on the Samyang 24mm F2.8 AF FE lens provides an adequate tactile experience, though it may not match the smoothness of some higher-end lenses: It doesn’t turn evenly and feels like some plastic grinding on plastic. The focus ring operates with a by-wire system, meaning the focusing action is electronically controlled rather than mechanically linked. This results in a focus throw that is relatively short, around 80 degrees, allowing for rapid manual focus adjustments. There is no distance scale and the absence of hard stops at the minimum and maximum focus distances is accepted as a standard today, sill not very useful when focussing at stars at night…
In summary, the Samyang 24mm F2.8 AF FE lens offers a competent autofocus system that performs well in most situations. While the manual focus experience may not satisfy all users, the lens provides a reliable and efficient focusing performance that complements its compact form factor.
Optical Performance
Optically, the lens performs well above its weight class. It features 7 elements in 7 groups, including 3 aspheric and 2 high refractive index elements. This sounds all well and good but how does this translate into real world use? Let’s see! And if you want to see for yourself, check out the image gallery in the bottom of this section.
Sharpness
The Samyang 24mm F2.8 AF FE lens exhibits excellent sharpness in the center from f/2.8 to f/13, with reducing sharpness in smaller apertures due to diffraction. The edges are also sharp, particularly between f/5.6 and f/11, making it a solid performer.
Chromatic Aberrations
Chromatic aberrations are virtually absent at the center and very well controlled at the edges. Even under challenging conditions, chromatic aberration is not a significant issue with this lens.
Distortion
The lens displays a moustache distortion pattern, which is a complex form that can’t be easily corrected manually. However, the distortion is relatively low and is usually corrected through lens profiles in Lightroom or Capture One anyways.
Performance against Bright Lights
The lens’s flare resistance is below average, which can be problematic for a wide-angle lens. The overall image gets a white haze in some circumstances, and in others there are ghosting artifacts. A lens hood is necessary to protect against strong sunlight and maintain contrast, however the lens hood on the Samyang 24mm F2.8 AF FE is rather useless due to its really small size. Our recommendation is to embrace the character of the lens as both effects can be quite pleasing.
Coma
Coma, or comatic aberration, is a type of optical aberration where off-axis point sources of light appear distorted, often resembling a comet with a tail or a butterfly. This is particularly noticeable in astrophotography and night scenes where bright points of light, like stars, are present against a dark background.
At the maximum aperture of F2.8, in the corner of the frame, the image of a point light source can appear slightly deformed, exhibiting a moderate level of coma.
In real-world applications, this means that while the lens can be used for astrophotography, photographers seeking the highest quality for such purposes might notice some imperfections in the stars at the edges of the frame when shooting wide open. So overall: It’s fine.
Vignetting
Vignetting is… not the strong suit of this lens. While it has good sharpness, distortion and coma characteristics, the vignetting in this lens is… strong.
On a full frame sensor the vignetting is up to around 3 to 4 stops (!) when shot wide open. This reduces gradually: The vignetting at F4.0 is still around 2 stops and around one stop at F8. The corners never really get as bright as the center. On an APS-C sized sensor it’s not quite as bad: Wide open there is around a 1.5 Stops vignette which also gradually reduces.
Is this a bad performance? Well, yes, it is. However there was bound to be a drawback to this lens. Luckily vignetting can be corrected in post processing, even if this mean slight image degradation in the corners.
Bokeh
The Bokeh of this lens (the out of focus areas in an image), if you can get any, is… fine. It’s not ultra smooth but it’s also not distraction. To get some background seperation you’ll have to get really close to your subject.
Overall Image Quality
Overall this lens has a surprisingly amazing image quality, considering its size, weight, and cost. If not for its strong vignetting the Samyang 24mm F2.8 AF FE would be a definite recommendation. But as it stands you can only recommend this lens if you’re aware of the vignette. Check out the sample images below to get to your own conclusion.
Best Accessoires
The Samyang 24mm F2.8 AF FE comes with a nice lens pouch, so you wont need to worry about carrying it anywhere safely. What we can recommend are the following:
A lens cleaning kit: If you always want your images to have the best quality you’ll have to keep your lens clean. The Zeiss lens cleaning kit offers everything you need.
Filters: If you get a wideangle lens like this 24mm Samyang you should also get yourself some ND (neutral density) filters or a circular polarizer. Or both, like in this filter set by K&F Concept.
Step-up rings: If you already have filters, we recommend you get step-up rings, so you can use your existing filters on your Samyang 24mm F2.8 AF FE. We recommend getting a step-up ring that goes directly from the 49mm filter thread of the Samyang 24mm F2.8 AF FE to your filters to avoid possible vignetting.
What we don’t recommend is the use of a clear UV-Filter. It’s supposed to block out UV-light, but your sensor aleady has such a filter. And the possibly added protection to your lens isn’t worth the image quality degradation in our humble opinion.
Conclusion
The Samyang 24mm F2.8 AF FE is a lens of compromises. While it sacrifices some build quality and autofocus performance, it delivers excellent optical results in a tiny package. If you prioritize portability and are willing to accept its limitations, this lens could be a valuable addition to your kit.
Additionally, if you look at the top gallery and remind yourself about the section of the build quality: The lens pictured is over 5 years old and has been through a lot. While this lens may be a plastic-fantastic, it’s great plastic.
Overall the lens receives a 4/5 rating from us. But in terms of price/performance, this is a gem!
