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Rokinon Lenses for Nikon
Anybody ever hear of some lenses for Nikon called Rikinon? I came across them while looking for something else. They look legit but I never heard of them before and they seem to be reasonably priced. I see B&H and other high end camera shops sell them. If you used them before, share your thoughts. May 06 12 03:47 pm Link I do NOT own any but that 85mm 1.4 for $269.00 is tempting the hell out of me!!! They are manual focus only but...that's OK with me. There is quite a bit of online info re: them and almost all is quite favorable! I believe the lenses are actually built by Cosina Corp...a huge Japanese optical firm that has been around and well regarded for over 45 years! The Rokinons also are sold under the Cosina,Vivitar and a few other nameplates... same exact lens...just a diff name on the barrel. If you go to Utube and enter Rokinon 85mm...there are quite a few things posted there...one british guy in particular has 2-3 postings specific to the 85mm and he has very high praises indeed for it! May 06 12 04:32 pm Link Chuck Purnell wrote: Put the lens you are looking for and find the great reviews for them...They been around for quite a while...they are good. May 06 12 04:38 pm Link Oh ok thanks! I will do some more research and yes that 85mm 1.4 is what caught my eye!!! LOL! May 06 12 05:52 pm Link Chuck Purnell wrote: The out of focus rendering (Bokeh) on this lens is amazing, best I ever used. The center is sharp wide open and the corners are good. Stopping down improves it slightly, but not much, this lens is meant to be shot wide open. This is where I ran into problems because I get too many out of focus shots with the thin DOF. I owned the old non-chipped and UMC (chipped) versions and on my samples the non-chipped was sharper and controlled CA’s better. I assume it was sample variation. May 06 12 06:29 pm Link I thought Rokinon was the primary supplier of lenses for Minolta's MD mount before the Maxxim series cameras came out. I guess Rokinon makes lenses now for other manufactures. I don't know for certain if Rokinon officially made the Minolta Maxxim 100 f/2 lens, but I can tell you that is one of the best peices of glass you could put on any camera. I would be interrested to see if they have a Rokinon 100mm f/2. May 06 12 07:04 pm Link a little challenging to focus in DX bodies, but can give a creamy bokeh  Im seeing nikon 85mm f1.8 AF for 300 or so in craigslist though. If you shoot nikon, that may be another option since manual focusing can get tiring after a while. edit: these are same as samyang etc. May 06 12 07:15 pm Link The lens is made by Samyang & rebranded for different markets, Rokinon & Bower are common in the US. Yes, they are very legitimate. I own the chipped version of the 85 f1.4 for Nikon - beautiful glass, and focus confirmation is available on high-end Nikons like the D300, D700&up. The lens is an optical clone of the old Nikon 85 f1.4 AF-D, but is has improved coatings. Nikon first made a name for themselves making excellent glass for leicas. Keep an eye on Samyang. May 06 12 07:27 pm Link Jim Ewing wrote: Those were called Rokkor. The ones being discussed are different. May 06 12 07:37 pm Link Rokinon/Rokinar lenses are generally Korean-made and have always been good quality. In the 70's I was a representative for a company in New York called "Aetna Optix". They imported Rokinon/Rokinar lenses for many years. I was fortunate to have a fairly complete set of samples and found them to be amongst the best of the third party lenses. Their intermediate zooms left a bit to be desired back then, but still represented a great value. May 06 12 07:42 pm Link eMaging wrote: Very true. The viewfinder is ridiculously small when compared to a full frame viewfinder so making critical judgments about focus by your eye is very difficult. Focus confirmation helps but for some reason it's still a bit hit and miss especially at a shallow DOF...it might help to lock this bad boy down on a tripod. May 06 12 10:35 pm Link billy badfinger wrote: They are made in Korea by Samyang, not in Japan by Cosina. May 07 12 12:55 am Link I own four of them (14, 24, 35, and 85mm). All of them are incredible. The easiest way to get precise focus is to use live view. May 07 12 01:07 am Link Yep...Samyang is correct! I was guessing Cosina because of all the different nameplates I've seen the 85 badged with...no less than 6! Cosina pretty much invented OEM rebranding back in the 70's...have built lenses for almost everyone at some point...thus...my confusion. Sorry! May 07 12 01:28 pm Link billy badfinger wrote: Dom Dower? May 07 12 01:30 pm Link Garrett Sanders wrote: According to DXOmark, they are right up there with the best primes from Canon, Nikon or Zeiss. May 07 12 04:20 pm Link In addition to the manual focus, be aware that the lenses do not have an automatic aperture (at least in Canon). This means if you want to shoot at f4, you either have to focus with the lens stopped down (and thus a dark viewfinder), or focus then twist the ring to stop down.As others have said, the image quality you get is outstanding for the money (usually considered as rivaling lenses costing 4 times as much). May 07 12 09:59 pm Link |
