Introduction
When I first got my hands on the Samyang 24mm f/2.8 FE, I was excited about its promise: a lightweight, affordable wide-angle lens perfect for street photography and travel. I won my copy from an auction on Yahoo Auctions (now called JDirect Auctions). After a few test shots, I immediately noticed something troubling—the corners were terrible. I didn’t even need to zoom in much to see that the corners were blurry and smudged. Is this a quality control issue?
Build and Handling
Weighing in at just 93 grams, this lens is incredibly light. The plastic construction contributes to its featherweight feel, but it doesn’t inspire the same confidence as more robustly built lenses. Honestly, it feels kind of cheap because of the plastic.
The focus ring is smooth but a bit stiff, making it somewhat difficult for me to fine-tune the focus—especially considering it's a focus-by-wire mechanism. The lens hood is also made of plastic. It fits snugly and locks in place without any wiggle, which is good, but it doesn’t do much to block stray light from hitting the lens.
Image Quality
Sharpness
In the center, sharpness is impressive—even wide open at f/2.8. However, the corners tell a different story. There’s noticeable softness at the edges, which only starts to improve as you stop down further. By f/16, it becomes acceptable (not great, right?). If this were just spherical aberration, should it really be this bad?
Vignetting
With lens corrections turned off, the vignetting is one of the worst I've ever seen. Stopping down to f/5.6 helps reduce this effect, and by f/8, it’s much less noticeable. Of course, post-processing can also correct this fairly easily.
Sample Image: Vignetting at f/2.8
Sample Image: Vignetting at f/5.6
Sample Image: Vignetting at f/8
Chromatic Aberration
The lens handles chromatic aberration surprisingly well, showing only minimal fringing even in high-contrast scenes.
Flare
When shooting into strong light sources, this lens reveals some clear weaknesses. While it’s not excessively prone to flare, it's definitely present in certain conditions. Thankfully, the included lens hood helps reduce it to some extent. Interestingly, I actually quite like the look of the flare it produces.
Sample Image: Flare Example
Sample Images
Bokeh
At f/2.8, the Samyang 24mm produces generally pleasing, round bokeh. Here’s a sample shot using the Christmas lights from back home.
Sample Image: Bokeh Testing At F/2.8
Autofocus Performance
Autofocus is generally reliable, operating quickly and silently in good light. However, I noticed occasional hunting in low-light situations. It’s not a consistent problem, but it's worth mentioning for those who frequently shoot indoors or at dusk.
One odd thing I found is that continuous autofocus (AF-C) performs noticeably slower compared to single-shot autofocus (AF-S) on this lens. This could be firmware- or design-related, but it's definitely something I noticed.
Common Points of Failure
After checking online marketplaces and forums, I found a concerning trend: the most common failure point on the Samyang 24mm f/2.8 appears to be the adhesive used on the rear glass element. Once it fails—usually due to a minor drop—the rear element can become loose and rattle around inside the lens. That’s pretty worrying for anyone planning to use this lens long-term or in the field.
Conclusion
The Samyang 24mm f/2.8 FE is, in many ways, a good lens. It’s compact, lightweight, and sharp in the center. But I worry that I ended up with a bad copy, possibly due to quality control issues. Seeing similar complaints and patterns in other user reviews only strengthens that suspicion. P.S. Remember to leave lens corrections on if you don't want to see horrible vignetting and distortion.
