****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
The "Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 Lens for Canon EOS RF" lens is well built (it is somewhat heavy @ 786g or 1.732 pound) with a full metal body (up to the plastic tulip hood) and has a weather sealing rubber ring on the mount, like Canon L glass. My lens's manual focus ring turned smoothly albeit with a bit of stiffness as with many new lenses, but this will most likely loosen up with use. The aperture ring is smooth to turn with the positions having click-detents from f/2.8 to f/22. The built-in tulip lens hood is hard plastic, is non-removable and comes without any filter threads (the big bulbous front glass prevents screw-on front filters being used) but for this version, filter users are in luck. HAIDA sells a kit (marketed to be for the AF version of the lens but it works well for this version - I know because I bought and installed it), replaces the gel filter holder half-ring that comes stock on the rear of the lens (mount end) with an updated ring and set of 4 ND filters. They also sell an optional 'light pollution' filter that will fit in with the aforementioned kit very nicely. The lens comes with a custom fitted hard plastic lens cap that snaps over the tulip hood to securely cover the front glass element. The lens exhibits good image sharpness in the center but like many ultra-wide-angle lenses, it suffers from a little softness in the corners when shot full open. Stopping down a little (say f4?), you see the sharpness return. My copy didn't exhibit any coma (that I could see) in the corners when wide open but I've heard some do. All in all, I was really impressed with the features on this version of the Rokinon (Samyang) 14mm f2.8 lens. If you're looking for a WIDE FAST lens for astrophotography and landscape but don't want to take out a 2nd mortgage or sell a kidney, check out this lens and the other Rikonon/Samyang 14mm F2.8 formats (the AE chipped EF mount which only works with EF mounts) and the fully manual EF mount (works on any EF mount and RF mounts with the EF-RF adapters).This is the END of my direct review on the "Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 Lens for Canon EOS RF" but the following is some more pertinent data related to Rokinon lenses that might save you problems when buying ......My story starts in July 2024 when I purchased myself a 66th birthday extravaganza - a NEW Canon R6 Mark II and a couple of RF lenses plus the EF to RF mount adapter to take advantage of my bag of EF lenses I had acquired for use with my Canon 6D Mark II. One of those EF mount lenses was my favorite astrophotography lens, the Rokinon 14mm F2.8 ED AS IF UMC Lens with the Canon AE (auto-exposure chip). This lens worked like a dream on the 6D Mark II, so I expected the same using the EF to RF mount adapter.BUT NOOOO, wait just a minute ... why ain't it working????? I put the adapter on the Rokinon and then on the R6m2 body and it would NOT work. In fact, it caused the camera to lock up and only way to correct it was removing the lens then remove & replace the battery. Any other EF lens, no problem. Manual or AF worked great, but not the Rokinon with the AE chip. I even tried the matching 35mm with a similar AE chipped mount. Same results. Man, I was really looking forward to trying the R6m2 with the Rokinon for astrophotography.After repeated attempts to get someone at Rokinon (or Samyang, the maker of the lens) to come clean and tell me why the lens would not work with an EF to RF adapter, I came upon the fact it appears that these lenses were made prior to Canon's legal war against 3rd part manufacturing of RF Full Frame lenses, which is what this lens is. I suspect that if the 3rd parties involved were to do or say anything to detail any issues with the lens (not compatible with adapters, etc.) or actually perform an update to attempt to fix any incompatibilities, there might be some more legal troubles coming their way. Canon's only response when I approached them asking questions was 'it's a 3rd party lens and Canon doesn't support it. Not our problem!'. Ok, tell me something I didn't already know.So now I was left to get a non-chipped variant of the lens. While looking around, I discovered there was a RF variant that was fully manual with an aperture ring and NO AE chip for a little bit more than the same interface but in EF mount. Found the new one on Amazon and got it. Works perfectly and being a native RF mount, no adapter is required. Lens works well with the R6m2 but the AE chip interface would really have been nice to have, not so much for astrophotography but more for landscapes which is the other genre I use these lenses for.A quick guide point - if the version you're looking to possibly buy does NOT have a manual aperture ring, then it has the AE chip and WILL NOT work on the RF mount using an EF to RF mount adapter. Good for any EF mount.
