Samyang Lens Station for Sony E
Andy Westlake examines a tool for tweaking how Samyang lenses work
£59 www.samyanglens.com
NOT SO long ago, I doubt many photographers gave much thought to the idea that their lenses employed firmware or had settings that could usefully be changed. Instead, they were seen as passive devices that simply did what the camera told them. Sigma was the first to come up with a USB Dock that attached to a lens by its mount and connected to a computer, allowing the firmware to be updated and the operation to be adjusted. Tamron makes a similar device known as a Tap-In Console, while Samyang’s is called a Lens Station.
In terms of design, the Samyang Lens Station is very simple. It has a lens mount on one face with a sliding release button on the side, a USB port for connecting it to a computer, and a single status LED. There are no physical controls, with everything being operated by the Samyang Lens Manager software. This program looks off-putting at first, as it’s drawn at a disconcertingly low resolution and has some glaring typos in its English-language version. But it works just fine.
Unlike the Sigma and Tamron docks, nothing initially happens when you connect a lens. Instead, you need to click the onscreen ‘Lens Conn’ button. The software will then detect the lens and tell you if new firmware is available. Updating isn’t necessarily a simple process, as you may have to go to Samyang’s website and download the file manually. But it does work, and I’ve successfully updated my AF 35mm F2.8 FE and original AF 50mm F1.4 FE.
Things get more interesting with more recent lenses, such as the AF 50mm F1.4 FE II. Here, the Lens Manager software provides a simple way of specifying which functions can be operated by the focus ring, depending on the position of the lens’s Custom switch. It’s also straightforward to adjust the manual-focus sensitivity to your liking.
Surprisingly, there’s also an AF micro-adjustment setting, which is usually considered to be unnecessary with mirrorless cameras. But the software’s online manual gives no explanation of why you might use it, or how to determine the optimum setting. Unless you’re having obvious problems with focus accuracy, I’d leave it alone.
Verdict
Like other similar devices, the Samyang Lens Station is pricey given how infrequently you’ll use it, while the software is slightly clunky and unintuitive. But it does the job as promised. If you own a few Samyang lenses, it’s handy to have around.