The AF 12mm F2 X, Samyang's first autofocus ultra-wide angle lens for Fuji X-mount, is now available! Even if this performance isn’t down to the nano coating system it’s still extremely impressive. Ultimately, I love the images produced by this lens. They have a distinct feeling of quality and depth to them. Lens Sharpness Samyang have developed a reputation for landscape astro’ lenses, especially with their 24mm F1.4. The 12mm is Manual focusing is possible by selecting it on the camera body or full-time manual focus override is also possible when in AF mode.

Commendably the Samyang AF 12mm F2 X exhibits virtually no barrel distortion in either the JPEG or RAW files. Sunstars and Flareas the previous manual focus only Samyang 12mm f/2 version, the lens still suffers when shooting directly into the sun. It gives lots of flare and some chromatic aberration. Sunstars are good, though [ admin note: I am happy to hear that, as sunstars are probably the one thing I do not really love on my original manual focus only Samyang 12mm f/2] The front of the lens has a 67mm diameter filter thread which allows you to attach screw-in filters or filter rings. I usually leave a B+W UV filter permanently attached to the lens and then use my Kase filters without causing any vignetting. It’s nice also that the front element of the Samyang 12mm doesn’t like some wide-angle lenses. This means you can use a standard filter holder and adapter on the lens. For the first time in Samyang Optics history, the independent NCS(Nano Coating System) technology was used. It creates even lower reflection rate than the original UMC (Ultra Multi Coating) and higher contrast. Also, the light penetration rate is very high to minimize flare and ghost. Optical construction of Samyang 12mm F2.0 NCS CS features 12 elements in 10 groups – among lenses, there are 1 aspherical lens(AS), 1 hybrid aspherical lens (H-ASP) and 3 extra-low dispersion lenses(ED) to provide high image quality. H-ASP minimizes color aberration to realize exceptional image quality and high contrast for center and corner of the image even when its aperture is fully opened. ED lowers unnecessary light dispersion to drop color aberration effectively. With such optical construction, it has 0.2m of minimum focal length. Thanks to Samyang for sending me a test copy of the lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. Samyang AF12 Build, Handling, and Features

Personally I prefer a lens to be very compact, and typically I’m not using lens hoods unless the front element is protruding out of the front of the lens. This is not the case with the Pergear 12mm f/2 lens. The front element sits deep enough to not touch the surface if if you placed it face down on the surface. The filter diameter is 62mm, so I’ll probably attach a protective filter later. It is much easier to wipe out flat filter surface compared to the more complex process of cleaning an almost spherical front optical element. If you do use Adobe Lightroom to edit your photos then also be aware that there isn’t a lens profile for the Samyang range as of yet. However if you select the Zeiss lens range from the drop down menu then they have a 12mm Touit lens that will help correct lens flaws etc. (By the way this Zeiss lens is also nearly twice the price of the Samyang and only opens up to f2.8 in comparison) Unlike the majority of Fujifilm X-series lenses, the Samyang AF 12mm F2 X does not have a traditional aperture ring on the lens barrel. There are many factors to consider when we talk about the optical quality of the Samyang 12mm lens. Probable the most important factors for photographers are:Something that did not occur when I first posted is the centre resolution seems to be too good to be true - for even the best possible lens [b]on a 26 MP body.[/b] Capture the rich colors of Fujifilm to landscapes and snapshots with the advantages of the ultra-wide angle of view and the usability of the autofocus lens! Chromatic aberrations, typically seen as blue or purple fringes along contrasty edges, were not really apparent in our test shots, only appearing in very high contrast areas. Vignetting As we reported a few days ago, Samyang US customer service told to a FR-reader that his Samyang 12mm f/2 should ship in January, hence it might take a bit longer in North America to ship.

The Samyang AF 12mm F2 X is a compact ultra-wide-angle lens, especially when compared to the other alternative lenses in the X-series line-up, like the XF 10-24mm F4 R OIS WR and the XF 8-16mm F2.8 R LM WR zooms. The best standpoint from which to appreciate the full view of a subject is the distance of the diagonal length of the subject frame. This wider angle is superior to standing closer at a 50 degree angle to get a more detailed view. The wide manual focusing ring affords an excellent grip, but manual focus is not the easiest way to use this ultra-wide lens. There is a useful manual focus scale in the viewfinder that becomes activated in MF mode, but the overall need for MF is not the forte of this particular optic. The AF system, driven by a linear STM motor, is fast, very quiet and very accurate, far better than we could achieve by eye. It is possible that the MF setting could be used to set a snapshot focus point for street photography, so having the option is good. Manual focus only– not really an issue for ultra-wide lenses, plus focus peaking makes it a non-issue except maybe for fast-paced shooting.

Cons:

So far, that makes the little Samyang similar in astro’ performance to Fuji’s own Japanese-made fast XF