A First Look at the Lightweight Samyang 75mm f/1.8 Lens

Samyang recently announced their new 75mm f/1.8 autofocus lens for Sony E mount cameras, and it looks to be a fantastic portrait lens for photographers who want to travel light. This great video takes a first look at the lens and what you can expect from it. 

Coming to you from John Sison, this excellent video takes a first look at the new Samyang 75mm f/1.8 lens for Sony E mount cameras. Weighing in at a mere 8 oz (230 g), the lens looks to be a great match with a compact Sony body for anyone looking for a highly portable portrait setup. It is also only 2.7 inches (69 mm) long, or a little less than the width of the average hand (you can read about its full specs here). It also contains a unique feature: the focusing ring can be switched to control the aperture instead — quite useful if you only use autofocus. Price and availability have not been announced yet, but if the cost is in line with typical Samyang prices, it looks like they have a winner on their hands that will be a great alternative to a lot of more expensive portrait lenses. Check out the video above for Sison's full thoughts. 

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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3 Comments

It funny how people pooh-pooh lenses like these as being too slow and unprofessional, but consider a 70-200 f/2.8 top pro gear.

I do wish Samyang would release this series in MFT. This lens series would also serve the orphaned Z50 well too.

M43 if that what you mean by MFT has this exact lens practically already but all metal. The Oly 75mm 1.8 is practically the same size and glass. It's been out for 5+ years. I think Z50 might have to wait a bit, but makes sense for it.

The Olympus is stupidly overpriced. We'll have to see how this Samyang formula fares, but I suspect the lens will be between 1/2 to 2/3 the price of the Olympus.