Introduction
Released at the end of the DSLR era, these Samyang XP lenses had a very bad timing to begin with. And unlike many of Samyang’s other lenses, this Samyang 85mm 1.2 XP was only available for Canon EF-mount, where it faced fierce competition from the Canon EF 85mm 1.2L USM II, which also featured autofocus – and on a DSLR with its subpar focusing aids no one wants to give up on that. Today we have mirrorless cameras that actually work much better with manual lenses, time to find out, if this is an overlooked gem or just an outdated relic from the past.
Sample Images
You can find most of the sample images in full resolution here.
Contents
Specifications
Samyang has made a lot of 85mm lenses, but only one with a maximum aperture of f/1.2 so far, this Samyang 85mm 1.2 XP. It has the following specifications:
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- Diameter: 93 mm
- Field of view: 28° 52′ (diagonally)
- Length: 98 mm
- Weight: 925g (without hood [55g], without caps)
- Filter Diameter: 86 mm
- Number of Aperture Blades: 9 (rounded)
- Elements/Groups: 10/7
- Close Focusing Distance: 0.80 m
- Maximum Magnification: 1:7.1
- Released: September 2016
- Mount: Canon EF
buy from amazon.com | B&H | ebay.com | ebay.de (affiliate links) starting around $799
Handling/Build quality
If you had a look at my revies of the Samyang 50mm 1.2 XP and especially the Samyang 10mm 3.5 XP before, you will spot many similarities here.
The outer design of the XP series lenses resembles that of the Zeiss Otus, Milvus and Batis lenses and the big rubberized focus ring is the only manual control we have. It turns 180° from 0.8 m to infinity and has a nice, high resistance.
This is an EF-mount lens with electronic contacts and electronically controlled aperture diaphragm.
Also a bayonet style hood is part of the package. The build quality is a bit better compared to the cheaper Samyang lenses like the Samyang 18mm 2.8 AF FE.
On focusing close the lens elements move quite a bit, but they stay within the outer barrel, so when adding a protection filter nothing moves externally. Going by its performance, I am pretty sure this lens features a floating elements design, but Samyang doesn’t disclose that.
From the picture above it looks like the Samyang is noticeably bigger than the Canon EF 85mm 1.2L II USM, but the Canon extends on focusing closer, whereas the length of the outer barrel of this Samyang lens stays constant, as shown before.
On my Sony cameras I tried the lens with the Sigma MC-11 as well as the metabones MK IV and it generally worked well with both of them. The metabones adapter allows for focusing with working aperture in its advanced mode, but the Sigma MC-11 cuts bokeh highlights less (see Optical Vignetting section).
On the Nikon Zf I also tried it with the Megadap EFTZ21 adapter and that did not go well. The Exif data are not transmitted correctly, creating bogus focal length and aperture values. The lens is officially supported by the Fringer EF-NZ (II) adapters though and here it works flawlessly.
Vignetting
light falloff
| Sony A7rII | Nikon Zf | |
| f/1.2 | 2.4 EV | 1.9 EV |
| f/1.6 | 1.9 EV | 1.5 EV |
| f/2.0 | 1.2 EV | 1.0 EV |
| f/2.8 | 0.7 EV | 0.5 EV |
| f/4.0 - f/16 | 0.3 EV | 0.3 EV |
All the fast 85mm lenses I tried show a very similar performance in this category. The vignetting figures of this Samyang 85mm 1.2 XP are the same as those from the Canon EF 85mm 1.2L II USM within the margin of error.
This Samyang 85mm 1.2 XP, the Canon EF 85mm 1.2L II USM, Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM, Sigma 85mm 1.4 DG DN Art, Nikon AF-S 85mm 1.4G, Nikon AF 85mm 1.4D – they all show around 2.3 EV at f/1.4, 1.5 EV at f/2.0 and almost none stopped down (except for the Sigma 85mm 1.4 DG DN Art, that still has 1 EV stopped down).
It is recommended to have a look at this article first to get an idea how this brightness graph works.
optical vignetting
Fast lenses usually show a noticeable amount of optical vignetting. Without going too much into technical details optical vignetting leads to the truncation of light circles towards the borders of the frame.
In the center of the frame almost every lens will render a perfect circle, but only lenses with very low optical vignetting will keep this shape in the corners.
So in the following comparison we move from the center (left) to the extreme corner (right) and see how the shape of the light circle changes.
I did not shoot the lenses side by side, so the size of the out of focus shapes is not directly comparable.
The amount of optical vignetting is very similar to the Canon EF 85mm 1.2L II USM. As usual I included the Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM, as it is a lens with comparably low optical vignetting.
There is something else we need to talk about here. This lens has a pretty big entrance pupil and it is possible that defocused light circles are being “cut” by adapters (or by the mirror box when using a Canon (D)SLR). The same was already the case for the Canon EF 85mm 1.2L II USM.
I tried one Canon EF to Nikon Z and two Canon EF to Sony E adapters and as you can see the narrow E-mount is a bit of an issue, as here the light circles are being cut. You will also find some samples throughout this review where you can spot this effect.
Sharpness
MTF Graphs
These MTF graphs are promising a very good performance with only a little falloff close to the corners. Let’s see if the performance in the real world matches this.
These graphs also look better than those of the Samyang 50mm 1.2 XP, as astigmatism seems to be better corrected here. Astigmatism hurt the 50mm’s off center performance at f/1.2 quite a bit, so let’s hope these graphs are telling the truth and that won’t be the case again here.
Focus shift
As was already the case for the Canon EF 85mm 1.2L II USM, I do not see any focus shift issues here. Compared to the Canon lens this Samyang performs a lot better at close distances though, yielding a much clearer picture without strong color aberrations in the focal plane.
infinity (42mp Sony A7rII)
At infinity this Samyang 85mm 1.2 XP sure shows a good performance. It you compare it to the Canon EF 85mm 1.2L II USM it looks significantly better.
If we compare it to the Samyang 50mm 1.2 XP, I have to say the 50mm looks more impressive, as it already shows a flat field at f/1.2 and also the latest 85mm 1.4 lenses do show a more impressive performance at wider apertures. Nevertheless, latest on stopping down to f/4.0 this 85mm 1.2 XP also shows very good across frame performance and this is not something I could say about the Canon EF 85mm 1.2L II USM, which needed f/11 for that.
portrait distance 2.0 m (42mp Sony A7rII)
Now obviously the main application for a 85mm lens as fast as f/1.2 is for portraiture and I would also expect this lens to have been optimized for these distances, so let’s see how it fares at a typical portrait distance of 2.0 m.
I refocused for every shot and aperture to get the best possible result at different locations in the frame (center, inner midframe and outer midframe).
The circle of the dollar bill is more or less the size of a human eye.
f/1.2 <—> f/2.0
My biggest gripe with the Samyang 50mm 1.2 XP was actually the performance in the outer midframe at portrait distances when set to f/1.2, so I was really curious how this 85mm 1.2 XP will perform here.
I am happy to report, this 85mm 1.2 XP performs very well at portrait distances – even in the outer midframe area. Not only does it look better than the Samyang 50mm 1.2 XP here, but also much better than the Canon EF 85mm 1.2L II USM.
The latest 85mm 1.4 lenses like e.g. the Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM II easily outperform this Samyang lens though, offering an impeccable performance at f/1.4. I expect similarly high performance from Canon’s latest 85mm 1.2 RF and Nikon’s Z 85mm 1.2 S, but I haven’t tried either of them persoanlly yet.
close 0.80 m, 1:7.1 (42mp Sony A7rII)
A maximum magnification of 1:7.1 is actually the best I have seen in an 85mm f/1.4 or faster lens. It also performs very well at these distances, least as good as the less close focusing Canon EF 85mm 1.2L II USM and Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM at shared apertures.
Flare resistance
As always evaluating flare is a complex matter since you can get any lens to look bad if you push it hard enough and a slight change of scenario can affect results a lot.
These fast portrait lenses often have issues with veiling flare and the Canon EF 85mm 1.2L II USM actually gave me a lot of trouble here, so what to expect from this Samyang 85mm 1.2 XP?
The good news are, I have seen significantly worse from Samyang lenses in the past. Some artefacts can appear in certain situations, but nothing too crazy here.
Stopped down we can see that ghosting isn’t a problem, which is always good. Veiling flare can show up at times, as can be seen from the following example.
At the end of the day, I see a typical performance for a fast 85mm lens here.
Coma
100% crops from extreme corner
Samyang’s optical engineers usually put a lot of effort into correcting Coma properly and this 85mm 1.2 XP is no exception. There are only small artefacts visible at f/1.2 to f/2.0, but also here this looks much better than the Canon EF 85mm 1.2L II USM.
The performance is least as good as most modern 85mm 1.4 lenses, only the latest ones like the Sigma 85mm 1.4 Art DG DN and Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM II show a better performance.
If you ever find youself in the situation that you need to take a picture of a blue hour city scene at f/1.2, you will still get a pretty clean picture without any big, distracting Coma artefacts.
Distortion
Sony A7III | Sigma MC-11 | Samyang 85mm 1.2 XP | f/4.0
The Samyang 85mm 1.2 XP shows a low amount of pincushion distortion. There is no correction profile available in Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop, but dialing in -3 does a very good job at correcting this.
Bokeh
An 85mm lens with a maximum aperture of f/1.2 obviously has the potential to create a lot of background blur. There is not only quantity, but also quality, and the Canon EF 85mm 1.2L II USM with its busy bokeh has certainly shown that.
Close Distance
Most lenses draw a nice bokeh in close focus scenarios and this Samyang 85mm 1.2 XP is no exception.
Mid Distance
At mid distances we see that this Samyang 85mm 1.2 XP is nothing like the Canon EF 85mm 1.2L II USM, as it creates a smooth transition from in-focus to out-of-focus and generally smooth backgrounds devoid of any distracting double edged structures.
While the Canon gave me more of a vintage vibe, this Samyang is more in line with recent lenses optimized to create pleasing out of focus backgrounds like the Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM or the Sigma 105mm 1.4 Art.
Long Distance
If you haven’t done so already, now might be a good time to have a look at the Canon EF 85mm 1.2L II USM for comparison.
Even with complex messy backgrounds like leafless winter trees this Samyang manages to create unobtrusive backgrounds that won’t start a battle with the actual subject for your attention.
Now I have mainly been talking about how this Samyang 85mm 1.2 XP from 2016 compared to its main competitor, the Canon EF 85mm 1.2L II USM, whose design dates back to 1989. Not entirely fair, so let’s see in some direct comparisons how it compares to the Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM.
Compared to: Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM
Scene 1: Forest 4.0 m
Scene 2: Forest 4.5 m
Scene 3: Forest 4.8 m
Scene 4: Forest 3.7 m
Scene 5: City Lights 2.3 m
Scene 6: City Lights 5.3 m
Scene 7: City Lights 4.7 m
Observations
Now obviously you should have a look at the comparisons and decide for yourself, which lens you would prefer for your applications, but I am sure people would ask my opinion in the comment section anyway, so here is what I am seeing.
First thing is, the Samyang’s bigger f/1.2 opening actually makes a visible difference, not only in the center of the frame (as was to be expected) but still in the corners (which I wasn’t sure would be the case, thanks to the Sony’s low optical vignetting).
In the focal plane the Samyang has higher contrast and resolution at f/1.2 compared to the Sony at f/1.4 and the Samyang generally handles flare better (see especially Scene 5).
In Scene 6 (crop focus point) we see what is special about the first generation Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM: the undercorrected spherical aberration reduces the harsh contrast and thereby almost completely cancels out the purple fringing.
Both these lenses create – to my eyes – amazing bokeh, that actually accentuates the subject instead of drawing attention from it. In all these comparisons (except for Scene 6) I prefer the look the Samyang creates. These have all been static subjects though – which is mandatory for accurate comparisons – and taking pictures of actual humans that move, the autofocus capabilities of the Sony lens can and will make a huge difference in actually getting the shot.
On our Discord Server I also conducted a blind test: a picture of the same scene taken with this Samyang 85mm 1.2 XP, the Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM and the latest Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM II. Most people preferred the look from this Samyang, the original GM followed not far behind and only a low percentage of people preferred the look from the GM II. Go figure…
Sunstars
Nice sunstars are really not a staple of Samyang lenses and being a portrait lens first and foremost I definitely support using a high number of rounded aperture blades. To my surprise this 85mm 1.2 XP still produces decent, well defined sunstars from f/8.0 to f/16 though.
If you want to learn more about this topic have a look at this article.
Chromatic aberration
lateral
Lateral CA are on a low level and they are easy to correct in post.
longitudinal
Another category where this Samyang looks a lot better than the Canon EF 85mm 1.2L II USM. There is a little bit of bokeh fringing, but it isn’t worse than what I have seen from lenses like the Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM – not bad considering this is an f/1.2 lens.
There is a bit of residual spherical aberration at f/1.2 that can help mask the purple fringing a bit, so slightly stopped down there can actually be a bit more purple fringing than at f/1.2.
Many of these fast 85mm lenses struggle when taking pictures of shiny stuff, but this Samyang does a pretty good job at that.
Conclusion
good
|
average
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not good
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When you have used as many different lenses as I have, only rarely you are being suprised anymore by the performance of a lens you haven’t used before. And even less rarely you are being positively surprised.
When it comes to the Samyang 85mm 1.2 XP, I didn’t expect much of it. The Canon EF 85mm 1.2L II USM didn’t really convice me and neither did the Zhong Yi 85mm 1.2, so I thought creating a well performing 85mm 1.2 lens for the DSLR mounts might simply not be possible. The Samyang 50mm 1.2 XP being a good but not a great lens also didn’t really help its case. There was a member on our Discord Server who kept vouching for this 85mm 1.2 XP though, so when a used one at a decent price showed up, I decided to give it a try.
What can I say, using it was a real surprise. I often have lenses I “need” to review, but using them is not a lot of fun. This wasn’t the case here, the Samyang 85mm 1.2 XP proved to be a lens I was always happy to put to good use. For an f/1.2 lens it is very well corrected with very good sharpness from f/1.2, but at the same time it also offers beautifully smooth bokeh rendering. As you have seen I did a lot of side-by-side comparisons to the Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM and in most of these comparisons I preferred the rendering from this Samyang lens. And that is after I have been telling you for years, that out of all the lenses I have used that Sony lens creates the – to my eyes – most appealing bokeh.
Being a manual focus lens can of course be a disadvantage for an 85mm 1.2 lens, as an auto focus lens on a camera with eye AF certainly makes life a lot easier. But for those cases you don’t need AF, a used Samyang 85mm 1.2 XP is amazing value for the money.
buy from amazon.com | B&H | ebay.com | ebay.de (affiliate links) starting around $799
Alternatives
For (D)SLRs there have only been two other 85mm lenses with a maximum aperture of f/1.2. The Canon EF 85mm 1.2L II USM and the Zhong Yi Mitakon 85mm 1.2 Speedmaster. I have already compared this Samyang lens to the Canon is most of the categories above. When I tried the Zhong Yi it didn’t leave a great impression and obviously the Canon is the only lens featuring autofocus among those.
The Sigma 105mm 1.4 Art offers a similar performance with even better sharpness, a bigger entrance pupil and on top of that also autofocus. It is also noticeably bigger and heavier than this already big and heavy Samyang lens though.
In the mirrorless era Canon and Nikon also offer new 85mm 1.2 lenses – which I haven’t used yet. These are huge and very expensive lenses, but they should also offer the most capable autofocus performance.
I also used and reviewed many 85mm 1.4 lenses, you can find a lot of those and many more alternatives discussed in our Guide to Portrait lenses for the Sony A7, A9 and A1 Series.
Sample Images
You can find most of the sample images in full resolution here.
Further Reading
- Guide to 85-135mm Portrait Lenses
- All lens Reviews
- Review: Zhong Yi 135mm 1.4
- Review: Canon EF 200mm 1.8L USM
- Reviewing Lenses isn’t really worth it
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