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Right out of the gate, let me say that I've been shooting manual focus cameras for almost 34 years(!). All this to say: I'm not afraid of manual ANYTHING...and you shouldn't be either. You don't even need good eyesight anymore to focus manually, just need the right camera and lens combo for you. Furthermore, don't expect this 35mm lens to change your photography one bit, any more than carrying around a Milwaukee Sawzall will make you a better carpenter. This giant, uncoupled manual lens is a craftsmen's tool, and you'll be rewarded with incredible sharpness and image quality (IQ) if you master wide open aperture focusing techniques, like you'd use in digital LiveView. If your digital camera does not have a live view monitor with zoom or some sort of focus assist, like in camera focus peaking like I have on my Alpha A57, you won't be happy with it's razor thin depth of field at 5.6 and wider because you won't find the focus points you want quickly and because of that factor, this is not a camera for framing fast moving subjects, street photographers take note. For video, as a short tele on the Sony A57,it's gorgeous and that razor thin DOF is wonderful for near subjects. However, I bought this camera for wide theater shots of the full-stage where I need to work in low light (for the faster shutter speeds) and the ability to achieve focus smoothly and accurately. Note that I could have picked up the de-clicked CINE version of this lens, like I have on the Rokinon 85 T1.5 UMC lens, but huge lighting changes don't happen that often in performing arts photography and when they do, I'm hopinig it will matter more on the 85mm than on this lens. Plus, I saved $200 on the non-CINE version on eBay, so that counts for something too. The f-stops are solid clicks and not every half-stop is indexed. Again, for video get the CINE version if you must have a smooth aperture-changing experience. Keep in mind too, that 35mm focal length is like a 50mm on APS-C sensors and 63mm on the Sony's 1.8x crop factor for video, compared with the full-frame video sensor on my Nikon D800. This lens has almost no chromatic aberration that I could see and no distortion to correct either. The bokeh is always smooth and lovely symmetrical around the out of focus areas, but you have to be exacting with choosing your in focus area, because slightly soft just FEELS wrong and this lens is VERY unforgiving, rendering slightly soft areas a little mushy. For that reason, treat f5.6 for DOF like you would f2.8 on a normal full-frame lens and don't shoot this handheld at anything longer than 1/160th of a second because of it's size and heft. The plastic lens hood is nicely contoured, and will keep moisture away, but a little too thin and the caps are of reasonable quality. It comes with a black velveteen bag that looks nice until it falls on the floor attracting dust. Keep this lens away from pets, small children, and Leica-toting hipsters, who won't appreciate the amazing value of this $500 gem.Read full review
This is an excellent lens for the money. Build quality is outstanding, as is sharpness, even wide open at 1.4. Very happy I acquired this lens after seeing so many positive pro reviews. Manual Focus so be prepared for old school. But with the F/1.4 ap you are going to get amazing DOF if that is what you are looking for. Highly recommend this lens.