10 reviews for ROKINON IO85AF-E 85mm F1.4 Auto Focus Weather Sealed Lens for Sony E-Mount

1. 

   5 out of 5

   Onele LozanoOnele Lozano – April 15, 2020

   I’ve been abusing this lens ever since it came out! The graduation photos I’ve taken with this are buttery crispy flake! Lolol

2. 

   5 out of 5

   M.D.-Bey – July 2, 2020

   This lens is Amazing!!! Wide open this thing is SHARP! Is it Sigma Art lens sharp? No… I’ve owned and love that lens as well, but this Samyang/Rokinon lens is REALLY close to it wide open. At 2.8 it MATCHES the 85 art lens. I’m TOO happy with the my purchase! I bought this to replace my Sony 85 1.8, (that sadly replaced my Sigma during my move to Sony) because I just did not like the rendering!! Or color of the lens for that matter. This lens delivers great color! Excellent sharpness and a overall more pleasing look than the Sony 85… Buy It!!

3. 

   5 out of 5

   Justin Marra – July 12, 2020

   I absolutely adore this lens. It’s incredibly sharp, and does a great job with contrast and Image Stabilization. I was hesitant about switching from my Canon 6D to my Sony A7iii after my first two lens purchases (The Zeiss Batis 25mm f2.0 and the Tamron 28-75 f2.8) but now I’m quite happy. My only complaints are that the lens is pretty girthy so it can ALMOST get in the way of the grip if you have fat fingers… and it does that “breathing” thing with the autofocus so using it for video is challenging. Otherwise I adore it and can’t recommend it enough!

4. 

   5 out of 5

   JB – July 12, 2020

   I bought this as a portrait lens for my A7R3–mostly for outdoors natural light–and it delivers big time. Autofocus is not blazing fast, but it is pretty quick and very accurate (high keeper rate in burst mode). The lens is more than acceptably sharp wide open, but it’s not clinical sharpness, which is nice. The lens sharpens up when you stop down, even just down to 1.8. Contrast is good. Bokeh is good. It’s a good lens. I know many will be deciding between this and the Sony 1.8, and it think it comes down to this: get the Sony if you want a more compact lens with faster autofocus and maybe if you’re shooting video (which I don’t do and didn’t test). Get this lens for literally any other reason. And, if you’re a stills shooter like me, unless you’re shooting action/wildlife with this lens (and you’re not), you really don’t need faster autofocus.–*–There were some stability issues that I thought were battery-related, but they were all completely fixed by the Version 3 firmware update. In camera it shows up as “Ver. 03”. After regularly using the lens since the update, I have determined that my prior comments relating to stability are no longer useful, and I have deleted them. With the V3 update, this lens is absolutely perfect.–*–

5. 

   5 out of 5

   Reed – August 6, 2020

   Exceptionally sharp! Its beefy, but not in a obnoxious way. Looks great on the camera. Shooting with a Sony A7iii.

6. 

   5 out of 5

   DrewDrew – August 6, 2020

   I have now owned this lens for 3 months and have shot numerous weddings and portrait shoots with it. During that time I have also been able to compare the lens to the Sony 85mm 1.4 GM. All of my testing was performed on the Sony A7iii camera bodies and please keep in mind that using another camera body could yield different performance. Also, my impressions are from the perspective of a wedding photographer.To start with, image quality from the Rokinon (also sold as Samyang) is very good. In back and forth testing (and testing in different conditions) I believe the Rokinon/Samyang is a hair sharper in the center with the Sony GM being sharper in the extreme corners. I want to add that the performance difference is minimal and requires pixel peeping. I would not choose one lens over the other in regards to sharpness.Both lenses differ in terms of color. The Sony 85mm GM has a neutral color balance, whereas the the Samyang/Rokinon often gives a slightly warmer and magenta color tone. This difference is subtle but noticeable when comparing them side by side. I shoot RAW files and always edit my images for color. The Samyang/Rokinon lens delivers great colors (Some prefer the colors over the Sony) and I have not found any issues with editing images and ensuring colors are accurate. This would only be a factor if you’re shooting to JPEG.Autofocus performance is the real discussion. Let me start by saying that I have not run into a scenario where using the Rokinon prevented me from getting an in focus shot. There is too much to discuss in detail so I am forced to summarize. For still subjects or objects both lenses act identically and neither offers any autofocus advantage over the other. For moving subjects (Tracking in APS-C or Eye AF) the Sony offers around a 5% advantage. For example, if I’m tracking a bride walking towards me, the Sony 85mm GM will achieve around 85% in perfect focus and the Rokinon will achieve around 80% in perfect focus. For video autofocus, I would honestly recommend the Sony 85mm 1.8 over both of these lenses. My final thoughts are that the Rokinon isn’t perfect in terms of Autofocus…..but neither is the Sony 85mm. Both lenses work equally well in low light scenarios.There are many other things to consider: Flare performance, the Sony GM has an additional button on the lens, build quality, firmware updates, etc. These are all minor points that you should only consider if they are important to you.The final consideration (and one of the most important) is the PRICE. This Rokinon lens is delivering fantastic image quality and autofocus performance for a fraction of the Price of the Sony. The Rokinon isn’t perfect, but neither is the Sony lens. This lens is fantastic, well worth the price and creates amazing images. I highly recommend people to consider this lens. As for me, I’m going to keep it.

7. 

   5 out of 5

   Michael O’Donnell – September 17, 2020

   I’ve had this in my wishlist for a couple years. I don’t do much portrait photography so it wasn’t a first pick. I got it for $360 on black Friday which was too cheap to pass up. It gives such a creamy background. The bokah balls go into “cat eyes” closer to the edges, but gives it almost a circular affect which really draws focus on the center. The autofocus is great, maybe only a tiny bit slower than my Tamron lenses. No image stabilization

8. 

   5 out of 5

   Johnny Palaphanh – September 25, 2020

   Sold my Sony 85mm F1.8 which I originally bought for $598 and bought this for 2 reasons. 1) for $699 its a 1.4 instead of 1.8, & 2) for $699 its also weather sealed.So far, I have no complaints about this lens. The pictures are phenomenal, and the eye auto focus works just as well as a sony lens.For $100 more than the Sony 85 f1.8 its definitely worth it. Why spend $1800 on the Sony 85 f1.4 G Master when you can get all the bells and whistles for a lot less.It’s a no brainer

9. 

   5 out of 5

   Markiss – September 25, 2020

   VERY GREAT LENS but AF can be hit or miss. (indoors it works great but the problem is only apparent with heavily backlit situations. so dont take portraits against the sun out of the box) I heard the lens station can correct it with its latest firmware but im used to manual focus lenses anyways so im fine until I decide to order it.the jaundice color can only happen if you shoot with the white balance set to AUTO..if you adjust it yourself, it’ll produce pretty close to the colors of my zeiss…and obviously you can edit it in lightroom, capture one, etc. afterwards if you want. but the colors turn out pretty good already as long as you adjust the white balance.the sharpness is great, the bokeh is great, and absolutely no purple fringing against light and edges…or at all for that matter. i own a few different lenses and they all produce an average level of fringing wide open (including my zeiss thats almost double the price) but somehow this doesn’t at all! very impressive being it’s a budget option.everything about this lens besides the autofocus out of the box is a 10/10.this lens is larger in person but also very light. gots that plastic light feel to it. not really a pro or a con for me. i’m not always fond of attaching a dumbbell to my camera anyways but i thought i would at least mention it.

10. 

    5 out of 5

    SUBDSGNR – February 10, 2021

    I was deciding between this and the Sigma Art equivalent that’s about twice the price. Without having the Sigma to compare, I can say this lens is hard to beat. So sharp, and I’ve had good luck with the autofocus on my Sony a7rII–including eye AF. Of course tricky lighting and wide open situations aren’t the fastest AF, but I’ve still been happy. Keep in mind that you can buy the Samyang lens dock that lets you update lens firmware, and that’s worked well.