Samyang 35mm f/1.4 AS UMC £430/$480

It’s not altogether manual

Like a number of other Samyang manual-focus lenses for Nikon cameras, this one features an ‘AE’ (Auto Exposure) chip that enables aperture control from the camera body. You can therefore shoot in all PASM modes, as well as reading the aperture value in the camera’s viewfinder or LCD screen. Focus assist and confirmation lamps are also enabled in the viewfinder, although there’s no autofocus facility.

The manual focus ring has long rotational travel and a fluid feel to its movement, enabling smooth precision. A focus scale is featured, along with depth of field markings for apertures of f/2.8, f/5.6, f/11, f/16 and f/22, which are great for zone focusing. Build quality is impressive and the lens has a solid feel. However, it’s the outright biggest and heaviest lens in the group, so not stealthy for candid street shooting… Performance Performance is great. The manual focusing system works well, aperture control is accurate and image quality is stellar. But, can you live without autofocus?