Today we are taking a look at a fast portrait lens – the Samyang AF 50mm F1.4 FE II a second version of the company’s normal lens announced back in 2016.
Second-generation fast portrait lens
Announced in late 2021, the Samyang second-generation full-frame 50mm f/1.4 E-mount lens is smaller and lighter than the first generation and comes with several design improvements including weather sealing and new controls as well as an improved AF motor.
Samyang 50mm f/1.4 II
Optical Design
The lens includes 11 elements in 8 groups with two U-ASP, 3 HR and 1 ED element.
Materials
The lens feels nice in the hand with a combination of aluminum and hard plastics. Holding it certainly gives the feeling of a lightweight lens.
Size and weight
The lens is about 9.5 cm long (3.5″) and is indeed pretty lightweight at around 420 grams (around 15oz).
Rings
Just like the Samyang 85mm lens, the new 50mm has a single wide ring that can be used for focus or to control the lens aperture (more on this in a moment). The ring has a nice grippy texture and it turns fairly smoothly although not as smoothly as our Sony-Zeiss 55mm lens which has a very smooth focus ring.
Buttons and switches
As with most recent Samyang lenses, the new 50mm has a focus hold button (which can be set via the camera) and a custom switch with two modes. As we noted in previous Samyang reviews, these modes can be set via the Samyang docking station and software to change between manual focus and AF or aperture control (we choose the first option but as we mentioned in past videos many times, we actually prefer the Sony way of doing things with a simple AF/MF switch and an actual aperture ring).
Samyang 50mm f/1.4 II focus hold and custom switch
Sealing
According to Samyang, the lens has weather-sealing in several locations.
Mount
The lens currently only comes in a full-frame E-mount version.
Hood
The included plastic hood adds about 4.5cm/1.5″ to the lens length.
Aperture
The lens includes 9 rounded blades (we will see later on how this effects the bokeh of the lens).
Filter
The lens can accept 72mm filters.
Performance
Focusing
We tested the Samyang as well as the 55mm f/1.8 Sony-Zeiss lenses in a series of AF tests shooting both stills and videos. Trying to shoot a fast-moving target in changing lighting conditions with our Sony A1.
In stills mode, the Samyang was able to get about 14 out of 16 images in focus.
The older 55mm lens only missed one shot out of a longer 37-shot burst.
We also tested the lenses in video mode. The Samyang seemed to perform relatively quickly with no significant misses in our testing. The Sony-Zeiss 55mm seemed to perform more or less the same in this test.
Finally, we tested focus throw on both lenses. Sadly, the two lenses are nonlinear in their movement which might not be very important for stills shooters but can be problematic for some video shooters.
Samyang 50mm f/1.4 II and Sony-Zeiss 55mm f/1.8
Image stabilization
The Samyang and for that matter, the Sony-Zeiss lens has no built-in image stabilization.
Sharpness
We tested the sharpness of both lenses using our special large professional Imatest high-end chart on our Sony A1.
In the center of the frame, the Samyang is fairly sharp even wide open with maybe a little improvement in contrast to closing down.
Samyang AF 50mm F1.4 FE II sharpness test center – top left f/1.4, top right f/2, bottom left f/2.8, bottom right f/4
In the corners we were actually surprised by how sharp the Samyang lens was, even wide open.
Samyang AF 50mm F1.4 FE II sharpness test corners – top left f/1.4, top right f/2, bottom left f/2.8, bottom right f/4
The Sony-Zeiss 55mm demonstrates about the same sharpness in the center although it is of course a slower lens and hence the Samyang has the advantage here.
Sony Sonnar T* FE 55mm f/1.8 ZA sharpness test center – top left f/2, top right f/2.8, bottom left f/4, bottom right f/5.6
In the corners, however, is where we see a huge difference with the Sony-Zeiss producing a pretty poor result up to about f/5.6 – this lens really shows its age here.
Sony Sonnar T* FE 55mm f/1.8 ZA sharpness test corners – top left f/2, top right f/2.8, bottom left f/4, bottom right f/5.6
Close up performance
When it comes to close-up focus distance the Samyang has a fairly decent close-up range of 40cm (38cm in our testing in MF) with a macro magnification ratio of 1:6.2.
The Sony-Zeiss 55mm has an official min focus distance of 50cm (48cm in our testing in MF) with a macro magnification capability of 1:7.1.
When it comes to close-up image quality the Samyang is not sharp close-up wide open in the center and you need to close to at least f/4 for decent results.
Samyang AF 50mm F1.4 FE II sharpness close up test – top left f/1.4, top right f/2, bottom left f/2.8, bottom right f/4
The corners are even worse and the lens might suffer from field curvature which also affects its corner performance close up.
The Sony-Zeiss 55mm on the other hand seems to perform much better with OK sharpness wide open and great sharpness across the frame close up at f/2.8.
Sony Sonnar T* FE 55mm f/1.8 ZA sharpness cloe up test – top left f/2, top right f/2.8, bottom left f/4, bottom right f/5.6
Breathing
The Samyang 50mm f/1.4 II surprised us with almost no breathing at all. The Zeiss on the other hand has a huge amount of breathing (see our video for the test).
Chromatic aberrations
When it comes to CA the Samyang seems to have very little longitudinal chromatic aberrations, the Sony-Zeiss 55mm seems even cleaner in our test but it might have to do with its better close-up performance more than it CA-reducing capabilities.
Samyang AF 50mm F1.4 FE II CA test – top left f/1.4, top right f/2, bottom left f/2.8, bottom right f/4
Sony Sonnar T* FE 55mm f/1.8 ZA CA test – top left f/2, top right f/2.8, bottom left f/4, bottom right f/5.6
Flare
The flare pattern of the Samyang is very different compared to the Zeiss with a yellowish circle in the center but less haziness against bright light sources (see our video for the test).
Vignette
Looking at corner darkening with the camera corrections turned off you can see that wide open the Samyang is very dark in the corners but it clears up pretty well at around f/2 with another big improvement at around f/2.8.
Samyang AF 50mm F1.4 FE II CA test – top left f/1.4, top right f/2, bottom left f/2.8, bottom right f/4
The Zeiss has much more vignette which is visible at least up to f/4 if not f/5.6.
Sony Sonnar T* FE 55mm f/1.8 ZA CA test – top left f/2, top right f/2.8, bottom left f/4, bottom right f/5.6
Barrel distortion
With the camera, corrections turned off both lenses seem to suffer from some degree of pincushion distortion. The Zeiss seems to be a little more affected by this.
Samyang AF 50mm F1.4 FE II – just a tiny bit of pincushion distortion
Sony Sonnar T* FE 55mm f/1.8 – maybe a tiny bit more pincushion distortion
Bokeh
The bokeh of both lenses did not impress us with small light circles which were clean on the Samyang but not round at faster apertures and on the Zeiss, side had clear onion rings.
Samyang AF 50mm F1.4 FE II bokeh test – top left f/1.4, top right f/2, bottom left f/2.8, bottom right f/4
Sony Sonnar T* FE 55mm f/1.8 ZA bokeh test – top left f/1.8, top right f/2.8, bottom left f/4, bottom right f/5.6
Sample images
We shot with the Samyang AF 50mm f/1.4 FE II over a period of several months in 2022 using our Sony A1 and more recently with our A7R V and here are a few image samples (all images are unedited, besides cropping, unless otherwise mentioned).
Conclusion
Just like with the Samyang 85mm lens we recently tested; the company’s goal was to create a lightweight, affordable fast portrait lens with all of its latest features.
To us this lens not only ticks all these boxes but actually has better all-around performance compared to the 85mm lens.
As for the Sony-Zeiss 55mm f/1.8 lens, this one is not really a competitor despite costing more as it is slower and has a much older design which really starts showing its age.
All around the Samyang performed very well in our testing and while we would really not use it for anything that requires close-up work, it is otherwise a very capable contender for your money if you are looking for a 50mm fast portrait lens.
The Samyang 50mm f/1.4 II f
Pricing
When it comes to pricing the Samyang AF 50mm F1.4 FE II currently sells for around $640 (the Sony-Zeiss Sonnar T* FE 55mm f/1.8 ZA sells for just under $1000).
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Iddo Genuth 
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