Samyang 14mm 1:2,8, decline and rebirth

[Ultrapix]

Several years ago, in the midst of the DSLR era, I bought a Samyang 14mm 1:2.8. At that time I had the luck to have a nearby seller who had several samples, so I could choose the one with the most homogeneous rendering among the 4 corners of the image, it was not a perfect sample, but with a slight closure of diaphragm, allowed me to deliver excellent professional work, with the only care to correct the distortion through the Lightroom profile, which at the time had been made available by some private individuals, and today is implemented as standard in the SW.
An example of the quality I was used to see in this shot, which dates back 7 years ago:




#1



Unfortunately, over time I noticed a deterioration in performance, to an unacceptable level. The following photo clearly shows that a very strong negative field curvature had developed, which allows a good sharpness to the objects at the edges of the photo if they are closer than the main focus plane, but creates a very marked blur on the distant ones


#1


In the meantime, however, I had added to the full frame SLRs System several M43 or APS mirrorless oufits for which I had bought the respective lenses, so I didn't care much about this Samyang anymore. Recently, however, I switched to the Canon EOS R and I thought that the lens, if restored to working properly, would come in handy.
I completely disassembled the lens and I identified the problem, it is in practice a ring nut that with its rotation allows to control the distance between the optical groups, and that in the manufacturing process is fixed with simple enamel. Once I found the best position I blocked it in a safer way, and my 14 mm, as shown by this photo taken yesterday (an untouched in-camera JPG, just resized), is back to its original splendor.



#1


Thanks for your attention

[HansMoleman]

Nice. Got to love an easy fix.

[lumens pixel]

Smart.

[IAZA]

When i bought my samyang 8/3,5, it can't reach infinity. then I searched on google, I found it. unscrew focusing ring, fixed. done.
So I think it's common for Samyang to defocus, but easy to fix.

[papasito]

Well done!!!!!

[Ultrapix]

[Gerald]

I'm glad you were able to solve your lens problem!
I remember when Canon introduced the EF 14mm F2.8 L USM lens in 1991, which I believe was the first lens in this category in the world. Until then, a rectilinear 15mm F3.5 lens was a dream of many photographers and only Nikon, Zeiss and Pentax had such lenses. To be more precise, Nikon had a very exotic 13mm F5.6 lens, but it was a lens so rare that at one time there was only one copy in the US! Only an elite of photographers could afford such lenses. Fortunately, this situation has changed in recent years and Samyang was one of the lens manufacturers that contributed most to making ultra wide-angle lenses more accessible to most photographers.

[stevemark]

[Ultrapix]

[RemcoR]

I also have this lens. Capable of very nice results indeed



I don't have problems with it's distortions as seen in the last picture.

RemcoR