Gear Review: Rokinon Z 14mm f/2.8 Lens
The Comparison
This review is for the Nikon mirrorless Z mount specifically, however it applies to all the various camera mounts Rokinon offers.
I have owned the F Mount version of the Rokinon 14mm lens for almost 10 years. This lens is incredibly sharp edge to edge and has minimal coma aberration and next to my Nikon F 14-24mm f/2.8 lens it is my favorite Astro lens. Since I purchased my mirrorless Nikon I have used the FTZ adapter to use it with the F mount lens. Over time, I have added a couple of Z Mount lenses to my kit, specifically the Nikon Z 20mm f/1.8 lens and the Z 28-400mm lens. Since I shoot with a couple of cameras at any given time I wanted to see if Rokinon also made a Z version of the 14mm manual lens. I was happy to discover that they do. I recently purchased this lens for $369.95 (on sale) and I put it through its paces at a lighthouse on Cape Cod. It was the first time I used the lens and I expected to have a similar experience as I did with the F Mount version of the lens whereby the first lens was soft and had to do the test/return/test dance since I didn’t get a sharp lens until the fourth one. Luckily through B&H, their return services make it easy and within a month I had a very sharp lens with beautiful edge-to-edge sharpness. Rokinon/Samyang manufactures solid lenses. However quality control can be a hit or miss.
This Z Mount version of the 14 mm lens is substantially heavier and larger than the F mount lens. Just like the version for F mount this also has an aperture ring. The difference between the F Mount and the Z Mount Rokinon is that the aperture registers in the metadata on the F Mount thanks to the AE chip when the aperture is set to f/22. The AE chip works with the camera focus confirmation, exposure, metering, and white balance. The Z Mount version lacks the AE chip. So you’re not ever knowing where you are in terms of aperture. Yes, you can start from either end and count the clicks to figure out where you are or visibly look at the aperture ring on the camera and add a voice note to your image. However, this isn’t often feasible because you’re shooting at night, at least this is how I use this lens specifically. It is a dedicated Astro landscape lens. I always shoot wide open at f/2.8 on this lens and my Nikon 14-24mm for Astro landscape photography. On my Z 20mm lens, I shoot the lens at f/1.8 (its widest aperture) as it is tack sharp even at f/1.8. The lack of aperture information is more of an annoyance when I look at the resulting raw file metadata but overall it’s just a quirk and I’ll live.
Don’t Fear Manual Lenses
This is the third Rokinon/Samyang lens that I purchased. I own the Samyang 135mm F mount lens as well. This lens was perfect on the first shipment. Just like the F mount 14 mm lens, it is a manual lens. It can take a gel filter at the body mount end of the lens. It has a built-in lens hood which is handy- nothing to lose. The lens is also weather-sealed, which is a nice perk to have on such an inexpensive lens.
What I like about third-party manual lenses is that I never have to worry about a firmware update to potentially render a non-OEM lens useless like it can happen and has happened in the past on third-party lenses with autofocus. Lately, some third-party auto-focus lenses have USB ports that offer firmware updates. It’s a great feature to have.
Note: It helps to add these lenses to the camera’s Non-CPU lens list. Enter the focal length, aperture, and name. Select the lens when using it so the metadata correctly reflects the lens used.
The Tests
Just like most wide-angle lenses, the lens does suffer from chromatic aberration and some coma aberration. Coma abberation should be minimal for a good Astro landscape lens.
The lens is sharper in the center with inconsistent sharpness on the left vs. the right of the frame. The right side has better quality than the left, where it has significantly more severe aberrations. I use DXO PureRAW to minimize noise on high ISO images when necessary. This also has built-in lens correction processing that removes the chromatic aberration but it couldn’t completely eradicate the issue on the left side. I also used Focus on Stars to focus the lens. The calibration pattern was distorted on this lens, which further confirmed it was not a keeper. The lens return dance has commenced with B&H.
Focus on Stars focus pattern on the Rokinon 14mm Z lens. Notice the bloat on the center and the flare on the left spike.
Zoomed in unedited RAW file with the left side accentuated aberration in view. The stars are elongated and not round. This was a 4 second exposure on a Nikon Z9. The NPF rule calls for a 7.73 second shutter speed for pin point stars.
(Above) Center frame zoomed in unedited RAW file with the aberration in view. It is not a satisfactory result. (Below) An example of what the stars SHOULD look like for comparison. Detail of the sky zoomed in at 200%.
(Below) Detail of the sky of an expected quality result zoomed in at 100%.
On Location with the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 Z Lens
Lighthouse 📷 – Nikon Z9 |🔘 – Rokinon Z 14mm |🎞 – ISO 500 | 🔘 – f/2.8 | 🕒 – 1/5 second
Sky 📷 – Nikon Z9 |🔘 – Rokinon Z 14mm |🎞 – ISO 6400 | 🔘 – f/2.8 | 🕒 – 8 seconds
Nobska Lighthouse in Falmouth Massachusetts. It’s one of my favorites to photograph and also one of the most difficult due to the light that’s around the base of the lantern room of the lighthouse. This image is a composite of the Milky Way and the lighthouse, both shot on the same night. The sky and the lighthouse were shot separately and stacked in post-processing. The sky is comprised of 28 images stacked in Sequator, and the lighthouse is a single frame. This image was photographed using the first lens. It was better than the replacement I received.
Conclusion
Since I purchased the Rokinon F mount version years ago, it appears the consistancy of quality control, or lack of remains. So far I am on the second return of this model. However, it is worth the pain of testing and returning because when you get a good one, it is an amazing astrolandscape lens on the cheap.
Since I own the F mount version of this lens which I use on my mirrorless and DSLR bodies, I have decided to opt for a slightly different focal length, specifically the Viltrox 16mm f/1.8 Z lens. A review of this lens is in the works. So far, I find the Viltrox glass impressive. Rokinon now has serious competition in the affordable lens arena. Maybe they will finally be forced to address their QC problems.
What is your favorite Astro landscape lens? Let’s hear it in the comments.
Gear review – Focus on Stars Filter
© Silvana Della Camera
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[…] Rokinon/Samyang are well known in the Astro photography arena, both for deep space and landscape applications. They are also well known for their QC issues. However, don’t let that stop you from buying their lenses. A little pain is worth a sharp, fast lens on the cheap. Gear review on the Rokinon 14mm f.2.8 Z. […]
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