Samyang 14mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC Performance

£350, $400 With no autofocus facility this is definitely a ‘hands-on’ lens, but it’s a cool tool at the price

This manual-focus lens is available in a wide range of mount options but the Nikon edition is the most sophisticated. That’s because only the Nikon version has builtin electronics enabling the lens to communicate with the host camera. As such, you can set your required aperture from the camera body, or use the lens in a full range of PASM shooting modes, as well as viewing aperture information in the viewfinder. Also, while there’s no autofocus facility, the focusassist and focus confirmation lamps are enabled in the viewfinder, making manual focusing easy and effective. All of these functions are unavailable in, for example, the Canon-fit edition of the lens.

The forward section of the lens has a much larger diameter than the rear section, and includes a built-in lens hood. To enable the use of filters, Samyang has launched a new SFH-14 filter holder as an optional extra, along with specially made filters from Cokin. Build quality is good overall and the focus ring has a very smooth, fluid feel to it. The long focus travel enables very precise and fine adjustments. Outright sharpness is disappointing at f/2.8 but good through the rest of the aperture range.