Samyang MF 85mm f/1.4 Z

£319/$399 A properly retro lens for Z-series cameras

This fully manual lens from Samyang has no autofocus nor any internal electronics whatsoever, so the lens can’t communicate with the host camera body. You can therefore only shoot effectively in Manual or Aperture Priority modes, adjusting the aperture via the lens’s aperture control ring. Thankfully, you can use in-body stabilization on full-frame Z-series cameras, by setting up the ‘NON-CPU lens data’ in the Setup menu.

While the feature-set might sound a dead loss, the reality is something a bit different. The viewfinders of DSLRS are notoriously poor for manual focusing, but the electronic viewfinders and rear screens of mirrorless cameras make it much easier, especially with aids like ‘focus peaking’.

Performance

A hybrid aspherical element and Samyang’s Ultra Multi Coating help to deliver very good image quality with little lateral or axial chromatic aberration, distortion, ghosting or flare. Sharpness drops off substantially at f/1.4 but is still sufficient for detailed portraiture.

N-photo verdict