SAMYANG 10mm f/2.8 ED AS NCS CS £379/$399

This manual lens for APS-C format cameras is rather more ‘manual’ than most

This Samyang has an effective focal length of 16mm on APS-C format Canon bodies. It’s not the only manual lens here, but takes manual photography further by lacking any built-in electronics. As a result, the focus confirmation lamp won’t light up in the viewfinder when the lens is focused – you can’t even set the aperture from the camera body.

You have to set the aperture using the mechanical aperture ring on the lens itself. This is a pain in many scenarios, because at medium to narrow apertures, the viewfinder image becomes considerably darker. It’s not such a problem in astrophotography, where you’re likely to use the lens at or near its widest aperture.

Typical of ultra-wide-angle lenses, there’s a fixed hood and no filter attachment thread. The viewing angle is suited to astrophotography and, combined with the fast f/2.8 aperture, it’s somewhat unique as an APS-C format prime lens. Manual focusing is

precise, the focus ring operating smoothly and with long rotational travel. It comes with a focus distance scale and depth of field markings.

Performance

Nano-structure coatings help keep ghosting and flare to a minimum. Centre-sharpness is mediocre, but it doesn’t drop off much towards the edges and corners. Performance is good in terms of coma, spherical aberration and vignetting, although lateral chromatic aberration is a little worse than average. All in all, however, it’s great value at this price point.