By site editor Dan Chung:

Korean lens manufacturer Samyang are creating new lenses at breakneck speed at the moment. Not content with their XEEN line of cine lenses they have announced four more today. The new 21mm T1.5 and 50mm T1.3 cine-ised lenses will be of great interest to owners of the Sony FS7, FS700, a7R II and Panasonic GH4, as well as prospective purchasers of the Sony FS5. Both lenses are designed specifically for mirrorless cameras with crop sensors – full-frame users are out of luck. The lenses are very competitively priced at £309.99 for the 21mm and £339.99 for the 50mm. They come in Sony E-mount, M4/3 and other mirrorless variants.

Also announced are photo versions of both lenses that are slightly cheaper and don’t have the smooth iris and cine gearings for follow focus.

It seems that designing for the smaller sensor size has allowed Samyang’s designers to build lenses that are both compact and with incredibly fast apertures. Indeed the only other ultrawide 21mm lenses of similar aperture to the 21mm T1.5 cost thousands of dollars.

We haven’t seen any example images yet but the company claims the 50mm in particular has excellent bokeh. Comparisons will surely be drawn with the more expensive Zeiss Loxias and Veydra Mini primes. Samyang doesn’t have a complete range of focal lengths in the more compact mirrorless range yet, but it can only be a matter of time given how fast they are moving.

This from Samyang:

September 21, 2015, Seoul, Korea – The global optics brand, Samyang Optics (http://www. samyanglensglobal.com) announce the introduction of four new lenses for mirrorless cameras: 21mm F1.4 and 50mm F1.2 for photo and 21mm T1.5 and 50mm T1.3 for cine cameras. All lenses feature bright F1.2 and F1.4 apertures and complement the existing Samyang range of compact lenses.

Experience the Depth and Breadth of Image – 21mm F1.4

The Samyang 21mm F1.4 ED AS UMC CS is a wide angle manual focus lens for mirrorless cameras with APS-C sensor size. The lens provides a wide 21mm angle of view so it is a perfect to capture landscapes and interior shots. Featuring Samyang’s exceptional optical technology, the 21mm F1.4 features eight glasses in seven groups, including one extra low dispersion lens (ED) and three glass aspherical lenses (ASP) to minimize the unnecessary light dispersion and deliver high resolution throughout the center to corner of image. The lens also features Ultra Multi Coating (UMC) to optimize the light penetration and minimize flare and ghost and has a minimum focusing distance of only 0.28m.

A Brighter and Lighter Lens for Mirrorless Cameras– 50mm F1.2

The Samyang 50mm F1.2 AS UMC CS is a standard angle manual focus lens also for mirrorless cameras with APS-C sensor sizes. The lens features a bright F1.2 aperture with impressive bokeh and incorporates nine lenses in seven groups with two glass aspherical lenses (ASP) and Ultra Multi Coating (UMC) to deliver outstanding image quality. This new 50mm F1.2 is an ideal portrait lens.

Cine for Mirrorless Cameras – 21mm T1.5 and 50mm T1.3

Additionally, the 21mm and 50mm cine lenses are available to correspond to the demands of consumers: both are optimally designed for professional follow focus system, thanks to the quiet and smooth de-clicked focus and aperture gear rings. Also, the distance scale and T numbers are marked on both sides of the lens for convenience when filming.

With the addition of these new lenses, the current line up consists of 13 photo and cine lenses: 7.5mm, 8mm, 10mm, 12mm, 21mm, 50mm photo and cine lens and 300mm photo lens.

These new lenses will be available from mid-October and are available for four mirrorless camera mounts: Sony E, MFT, Fujifilm X and Canon M.

Suggested retail prices as follows:

• 21mm F1.4 Photo Lens = £279.99

• 21mm T1.5 Cine Lens = £309.99

• 50mm F1.2 Photo Lens = £309.99

• 50mm T1.3 Cine Lens = £339.99