Testing the Samyang 100mm Macro Lens - With Paul Williams
Hi everyone,
Welcome to my take on the Samyang F2.8 100mm Macro lens loaned to me by the guys at Intro2020. In the interests of self-disclosure I have not been paid for this review, nor am I employed in any shape or form by Intro2020.
This is not a technical article with pages of graphs about the construction of the lens, but it is a practical piece by a full-time professional wildlife and landscape photographer, author and mental health campaigner who’s won awards, has a highly acclaimed photography and wellbeing book out, and who runs workshops and presentations around the UK. I am the photography ambassador for Castle Cameras but again, this is not an article influenced by my role with them. These are my personal observations based on using the lens for the last month – albeit under lockdown conditions which have limited me to photographing indoors and out in my garden. The image below was taken first thing in the morning with overnight dew creating texture and bluebells in the background to accentuate the greens:Blade of grass
Having recently moved from Canon DSLR’s across to Sony mirrorless I was interested in trying out different lenses on my A7Riv and A9ii bodies, so Intro2020 kindly lent me the macro and a 14mm wide-angle which I’ve yet to use to good effect thanks to lockdown. The minute I’m good to go and travel further afield I’ll be putting this to the test including some astrophotography.
The macro lens itself appears and feels robust with well-placed, easily visible distance and ratio markers, and a build not dissimilar to my Sony lenses. Running from f2.8 through to f32 the aperture ring is solid, well placed and has a definite click mechanism which is reassuring as it’s all too easy to unknowingly move some lenses out of the aperture you’ve set. The lens itself weighs 775g including the lens hood which also feels robust and again has a definite click to ensure it’s in place and unlikely to fall off. It’s manual focus only, but the focus grip is nicely placed to move without feeling you’re losing control of the camera and the ridges make it easy to turn even with gloves on. The reach of the focus can appear a bit long at times, but I soon learnt to adapt to this and got used to it in just a few short sessions.
The lens connected well onto both bodies and half a turn later it’s solidly sat on the body with the combination feeling well balanced in the hand. Aperture is not displayed in my viewfinders, but this was never a problem for me as I was tending to work at the f32 end apart from some f2.8 work to show bokeh. Usefully the lens doubles up as a more than acceptable prime lens as shown in this image of my local church:
Tolpuddle church
As you might hope with a wildlife photographer my garden is set up for the benefit of the wildlife so I have a pond with resident frogs, insect houses, hedgehog houses with occupants, mice and vole homes, bat boxes, nest boxes including a tawny owl box (currently unoccupied but I live in hope), and lots of rough ground designed to attract a wide variety of insects and mammals. I’ve added significantly more bee and butterfly friendly plants with the result I’m getting far more visits from hawk moths, bumble bees and over ten species of butterfly.
Red Valerian
I have PTSD from my careers as a soldier and police officer and credit photography with saving my life after several suicide attempts. In particular I would say macro photography offers me greater respite from my symptoms in that you have to concentrate on both technique and the subject and your mind is kept occupied as you visit this often unseen yet fascinating world that’s right in front of us. Wandering around the garden with my camera and the Samyang lens looking for things to photograph as the Spring sun warmed me became a daily tonic for not only my ongoing symptoms but the anxiety COVID-19 has brought into many of our lives.
Some of my shots were taken on the Slik tripod also loaned to me by Intro2020 whilst others were shot hand-held. On the tripod the camera and lens feel solid and balanced with little movement once it was all locked down. Handheld the lens is a delight to use allowing you to either sit back and give the subject some space or letting you get as close as 10 cm away. With the lens stopped down sharpness was excellent, especially in the centre. Like many macro lenses there was some softening at the edges at lower apertures, but nothing I was concerned about. I’ve added some more examples of the images I’ve taken to date:
Olive oil and Fairy washing up liquid side lit with a torch
More oil and water
Dandelion Seeds
Venus fly trap
Garden frog
English lavender
South African sundew
Conclusion
A well priced, very competent macro lens from Samyang with a robust, premium feel to the exterior backed up by a solid performance from the glass. If you haven’t tried macro work yet or are looking to move up to a more specialist lens for your macro work then I’d strongly suggest you consider adding this lens to your kit.
Stay well. Have hope. Keep taking photographs.Paul Williams
BSc Hons
Photographer. Author. Mental health campaigner.
W: www.paulwilliams.photography
E: paul@paulwilliams.photography
F: Facebook Paul Williams Photography
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Posted by Graham Fry
28th April 2020
