Samyang/Phoenix
Lenses
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Samyang/Phoenix |
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Samyang is a Korean company that seems to be making an effort to develop their company into a major competitor of Sigma, Tamron and Tokina. I would not be surprised to see them over the next decade or two develop a line of lenses that match and/or exceed those of the Top Three. Samyang mostly imports their lenses into America under the Phoenix brand name, as well as making lenses for Vivitar and Cosina. Their website can be found at http://www.phoenixcorp.com/index.html.
In the mean time, you might just find a good or at least acceptable lens at a very low cost as the company develops their line and improve their image. In fact, Samyang has already developed some nice and interesting lenses. I wouldn't recommend using any of them as your everyday lens, but some may be very good as a specialty auxillary lens that you don't use that often and comes in handy when you have the need.
500mm f/8 M: Found under the Samyang or Phoenix brand, this f/8 telephoto, not mirror, lens gives surprisingly good images for a very very low cost. I paid $119 for mine new on ebay. Construction is 4 elements in 4 groups. It has a weight of 22.6 ounces, a filter size of 67mm and an aperture range of f/8 to f/32. It comes with a tripod collar. However, close focus distance is a long but acceptable 33 feet.
19-35mm f/3.5-4.5 AF: This is lens with a range not for everyone, but everyone seems to be interested in a wideangle lens of this range. Rather than spending three or four times the price of this lens for a Nikon, Canon, Sigma or other name brand, why not get one of these and try out the range before buying something else. And, you might be surprised. If you use print or slide film and don't enlarge prints more than 8x10 you may not be able to see a difference in quality from those name brand lenses. If you've thought of getting a Vivitar Series 1 lens of this range, guess what, it's the same lens. The Phoenix 19-35mm f/3.5-4.5 has a lens construction of 13 elements in 11 groups. It takes 77mm filters and weighs 10.5 ounces.
100-400mm f/4.5-6.7 AF: The Vivitar Series 1 lens of this range is also made by Samyang. I saw photographs made with this lens that were very good and decided to buy one for myself. It takes very nice pictures and is a low cost way of reaching out to 400mm for animal and bird photography. Construction is 12 elements in 9 groups. It has a length of 6.5 inches, a weight of 26.10 ounces and takes 67mm filters. Minimum focus is 6.5 feet and it has an aperture range of f/4.5 to 32. It'll give a macro magnification of 1:4.
100-500mm f/5.6-8 M: I have no experience with this lens, however, it intrigues me. With a lens construction of 15 elements in 10 groups and a minimum focus distance of 9.8 feet, it at least sounds like a lens worth trying and that might have some real quality. It uses 67mm filters, has a weight of 35.2 ounces and can be purchased in Nikon AIS, Canon FD, Pentax M42 and K, Contax/Yashica, Olympus and Minolta MD mounts.
650-1300mm f/8-16 M: This is a manual focus T-mount telephoto zoom lens (pictured at top of page), which has exceptional reach for a very low price. I don't know how the lens performs, but for around $300, as of this writing, it's a lens which cries to be played with. It has a construction of 8 elements in 5 groups, a length of 18.22 inches (23.31 inches at 1300mm), and a weight of 4.4 pounds. It's well worth a try, and since it's a T-mount lens, it'll work on any SLR camera.