Samyang & Me

My obsession with Samyang lenses first started in early 2013 when I rented a Samyang 8mm f3.5 Fisheye lens after reading good reviews detailing how good the optics were. I was fairly new to photography at that time and wanted to have the lens for a trip to Miami and New York with my wife. I had great fun with this lens while on this holiday. So much so that I immediately bought my own copy when I returned to the UK. I still to this day use this lens for quirky shots. Take a look at one of my favourite images taken with the fisheye (also one of my most viewed images on Flickr) HERE. Also check out some more images shot with the lens below.

Sony A7R, Samyang 8mm Fisheye

Sony A65, Samyang 8mm Fisheye

Sony A65, Samyang 8mm Fisheye

Since becoming a Samyang Passionate photographer I have added the AF 50mm f1.4 and 24mm f3.5 tilt shift lenses to my arsenal and both come in very handy. I’m looking forward to using the tilt shift more as this is a fairly new lens for me. I have had extensive use with the AF 50mm f1.4 which has speedy autofocus and produces images with stunning bokeh when shot wide open yet sharp throughout the aperture range. I have in recent months worked with Samyang and tested out some truly amazing lenses. The build and image quality provided by both 14mm f2.4 and the 85mm f1.2 from the XP line of lenses is undoubtedly the best I have shot with. Samyang continue to be at the forefront of optical lens technology with the XEEN range of lenses which I’ve heard nothing but amazing things about. I don’t shoot video but would love the chance to test out some of these lenses to see what I could capture with them. The Samyang brand in the last year has really blown up and produced game-changing lenses for photography and videography professionals both in terms of value for money and quality of imagery. I’m excited to see what this innovative company comes out with next.

Sony A7R, Samyang 24mm f3.5 Tilt shift

Sony A7R, Samyang AF 50mm f1.4

Sony A7R, Samyang AF 50mm f1.4

Santa Maluco and my Canon 16-35mm F4L IS USM Lens

This week one of my assignments was an interior shoot for a newly opened pizzeria called SantaMaluco. This place is stunning inside and full of character. As part of the Graffiti Spirits Group (same owners as Salt Dog Slims, Santa Chupitos, Slim'sPork Chop Express etc.) this new venue is situated near Liverpool's business district on Castle Street. A very popular street with a lot of fresh and exciting offerings in terms of bars and restaurants.

I was itching to try out my new Canon 16-35mm F4L IS USM lens and see if it really was worth upgrading to. Up until now I hadn't had a job or an occasion where this lens was needed so was intrigued to see the sharpness that the reviews and sample images had promised. Due to the nature of the shoot I pretty much stayed close to the sweet spot in terms of aperture for this lens at around f8 - f11. Due to the hit and miss auto focus offered for the lens while mounted on my A7R via Commlite adapter I decided to rely on the excellent focus peaking that Sony A7 series cameras offer and manually focus the lens for every shot. At f8 - f11 while at focal lengths around 16mm pretty much everything is in focus anyway.

After looking through the photos and editing them in Lightroom and making some slight tweaks in Photoshop it's easy to see that this lens is a great performer. Corner to corner sharpness which was my main reason for choosing this lens is nothing short of brilliant. Real world colours and contrast again are very closely replicated. All in all I'm very happy with the results this lens produces. My initial disappointment with the autofocus can be almost forgotten.

Please check out the images from my shoot and leave a comment.


I definitely recommend that you check this place out for yourself. Great pizza and an amazing selection of rum. My ideal night out :)

Thanks for reading.

Santa Maluco and my Canon 16-35mm F4L IS USM Lens

This week one of my assignments was an interior shoot for a newly opened pizzeria called SantaMaluco. This place is stunning inside and full of character. As part of the Graffiti Spirits Group (same owners as Salt Dog Slims, Santa Chupitos, Slim'sPork Chop Express etc.) this new venue is situated near Liverpool's business district on Castle Street. A very popular street with a lot of fresh and exciting offerings in terms of bars and restaurants.

I was itching to try out my new Canon 16-35mm F4L IS USM lens and see if it really was worth upgrading to. Up until now I hadn't had a job or an occasion where this lens was needed so was intrigued to see the sharpness that the reviews and sample images had promised. Due to the nature of the shoot I pretty much stayed close to the sweet spot in terms of aperture for this lens at around f8 - f11. Due to the hit and miss auto focus offered for the lens while mounted on my A7R via Commlite adapter I decided to rely on the excellent focus peaking that Sony A7 series cameras offer and manually focus the lens for every shot. At f8 - f11 while at focal lengths around 16mm pretty much everything is in focus anyway.

After looking through the photos and editing them in Lightroom and making some slight tweaks in Photoshop it's easy to see that this lens is a great performer. Corner to corner sharpness which was my main reason for choosing this lens is nothing short of brilliant. Real world colours and contrast again are very closely replicated. All in all I'm very happy with the results this lens produces. My initial disappointment with the autofocus can be almost forgotten.

Please check out the images from my shoot and leave a comment.

Thanks for reading.