Samyang SY16M-M43 16mm f/2.0 Aspherical Wide Angle Lens for Olympus/Panasonic Micro 4/3 Cameras

I purchased this as a (relatively) low-cost attempt at improving my night-sky photography compared to the factory-default lens that came with my Sony A200 (Sony f3.5-5.6/18-70mm Lens). Considering the price of this lens, it's a step-up in that department. Judging by cost and results, I would say it's an intermediate step up, but maybe not a major one.Attached are 2 photos I've taken with the same camera using each lens so you can compare, the first with the original lens at about a ~45 second exposure, the 2nd pic with the Samyang with a 20 second exposure. I think the camera had the same ISO settings for each pic, but I'm not 100% certain since it was a few months in between when they were taken. Obviously different white balance settings. As you can see in the first pic, it has some star-trailing without the clear definition of the milky way. The Samyang lens (2nd pic) does a lot better cleaning up those deficiencies.The Samyang lens is 100% manual, so you have to adjust the focus & aperture yourself for each picture you take - the camera will not adjust those settings for you with this lens. It also does not zoom. Many people would consider these facts to be negatives, but they can be a positive in challenging you to learn your camera & lens so that you take better photos.The one true negative that I do have (so far) is that vignetting can be hard to overcome. There are ways to combat vignetting (and some of my problems might be within my old camera itself), but it's possible a higher-price/top-quality lens might be more effective in eliminating vignetting from the get-go.

For all its size and weight, the primary lens in relatively small though the filter ring is 77mm. It is manual focus only, but the aperture ring has a setting that allows for automatic control with Pentax bodies. The Image Quality is good and I didn't see much 'fish-eye' effect. It has roughly a 90-degree field of view. Because it lacks auto-focus, it might not be ideal for city night shots. It's a little pricey given the lack of that feature. It comes into its own for video applications and set predictable shots. In broad daylight, where the aperture is stopped down, it's quite useful for close shots where you want to take in a wide view BECAUSE, due to its 16mm traits, most objects over 3-6 feet distant will be acceptably in focus. I used this lens at a Civil War reenactment to good effect when I wanted to snap participants within their tents later. The 28-300mm Pentax zoom lens forced me to keep backing up on too many occasions, but was ideal for pulling the battlefield in close enough to make out the action. So, if you've got a long zoom, but are going to be getting close to your subjects with good/day light, this should be your companion lens. Nothing else comes close to its performance for the price in Pentax compatible mounts. Had the primary lens diameter been as large as the housing would suggest, it could have been an even faster lens.

This is a good night/astro/aurora lens, but high contrast shots (daytime sky shots, for example) have a brutal amount of chromatic aberration from f2 all the way to f22 - there's no getting away from it. Also, the focus ring is sensitive to movement, so if you even slightly bump your setup, your going to end up with the same star coma that you typically see from lenses that don't perform well at night (though it won't totally blow your focus when bumped, just enough to ruin the stars) (tape that focus ring down!). The CA and manual focus/focus ring sensitivity pretty much make this a lens that needs to be exclusive for night/astro/aurora photography. However, when you've got everything set up perfectly, this lens performs really, really well. It's my go-to for aurora photography (f2 is a must for fast-moving aurora; pic attached for an example) and makes my Sony f2.8 20mm look like it was made by Fischer Price in comparison.

This copy has an astigmatism on the left as well as sever coma.The right has minimal of either, leading me to believe that like many of the Rokinon/Samyang lenses that an element is off center.More than a few buyers have had to return these lenses, like I have done for this reason to get a good copy.However, besides this issue the lens clarity is phenomenal for the price, and its sensitivity to light for astrophotography is excellent. For close up daytime shooting one would never notice the lens flaws, but I did purchase this lens for astrophotography, and it just doesn't cut it because of these issues.I am however purchasing another of the same model in hopes of a better copy.The fact that this lens has metal construction, a removable lens hood, and filter threads is why I have decidedto give it another try.

For meteors and milky way shots it is top notch. For other uses I cannot say.

I have to say it is an amazingly sharp lens. The first time I used with my Fujifilm X-T10 I was at the Bronx Botanical Gardens I had this lens and the Fujifilm XF 35mm f/1.4 with me. I brought the 35mm with me just in case I didn’t like the results from the Samyang 16mm. Needless to say the 35mm never was taken out of my camera bag and that’s saying something. I can’t believe how close this lens allows you to get to the subject. The two flowers shot at f/2.2 the cafe shot at f/4.0. Considering the price in a word excellent.

I just got the lens today and so far I really like it. As of today, I've fallen victim to the bokeh trend. Like other reviewers have stated, the lens hood that's included is pretty janky, but I'm not going to deduct stars because they sent a crappy freebie. This is my first digital prime lens, and maybe I shouldn't have been, but I was a little surprised at how big the lens is. That's not to say it's draw back, though. The manual focus is easy to use and the construction seems pretty sturdy. I'm looking forward to doing some night photography with this baby.

I recently transitioned from a full frame Canon 5D Mark III to a Micro Four Thirds Panasonic GH4. I wanted a lens that was affordable and equivalent to 35mm on full frame. This lens delivers. I haven't had a chance to test it in a practical settings yet (i.e. on an actual shoot) but I'm confident it will stand up.

Requería un lente amplio sin que me creará una deformación muy visible como un ojo de pez y este va de maravilla en espacios reducidos y con poca iluminación , al ser manual es perfecto para video en nikon puesto que cuenta con chip de apertura para evitar girar el anillo y así evitar el clickeo durante una filmación si es que no se cuenta con grabadora externa.Hay que considerar que es grande y pesado por lo que resultará muy cansado si no se usa algún soporteel anillo de enfoque es muy amplio por lo que recomiendo usar un follow focus de paleta

With Fuji superbly covering the spectrum of lenses for their X system, I imagine it being hard for a 3rd party product to be accepted. Fuji's entire lineup meets professional needs and whoever has bought into the X system has bought into quality photography, and as such will likely use Fujinon lenses or established high quality branded, via adapter. Quite frankly, the only reason this lens ended up in my bag was the almost 50% discount it was offered with by Amazon. For the budget conscious that's roughly a quarter of the asking price for an Fujinon XF14. Which triggered my interest since I had been looking around for a wide angle prime lens with about that focal length. While comparing it to the XF14 would be unfair, these are two distinctly different lenses, ultimately the image produced has to convince, to a lesser extent what it was produced with. And in this area the Samyang delivers very well. Images are crisp and leave little to be desired, I have taken it out under low light conditions on the street and images are rendered beautifully. The manual focus is not much of a problem for an experienced photographer, the depth of field is rather large once you stop down to say an f/8, almost anything will be in focus. It's a great lens to have overall, however with a big 'but'. A wide aperture of f/2.0 comes at the price of size. The Samyang is a very big lens compared to Fujinon lenses, and once you attach it to say an X-E2, as in my case, it literally dwarfs the camera and not only looks cumbersome but also becomes a big package to carry. Which is a definite disadvantage for people having bought an X system camera for its compactness. For that exact same reason it will see less use that I was anticipating, and the XF14 may still not be off my list.

Excelente lente para sacar galaxias. Las estrellas salen perfectas como puntos. Me gusta mas que el,sigma 18-35 porque a 16mm puedes abarcar mucho mas. Me encanto.

i got this on a warehouse deal,it fits my samsung nx1000 well,this is heavy well built lens,the focus ring isn't as stiff as i would have liked but still feels solid.i am very happy with the images from this lens,fast shipping also,not sure i would have paid full price for this lens but on sale its a great deal.focus is pretty easy with focus assist on the samsung,this is a nice lens

Really good for lowlight and can get a nice bokeh effect but it doesnt have auto focus so great for video if you want to do a focus pull but if youre vlogging or doing any action and need that constant focus its hard. also manual focus is an art to get in focus.