![]() I can so easily forgive the plastic and the quirks if this thing kicks butt when shooting. So How Does it Work in the Field?ĭespite my somewhat lukewarm first reactions to this lens out of the box, I was really interested in seeing how it held up compared to my Canon tilt shifts and how it would work on my camera. It operates smoothly and was for the most part, pretty accurate when focusing in live view. The manual focus ring is well-textured and wide enough to never miss. Check out the size of the Rokinon knobs compared to the beefy Canon knobs in the picture above and you'll see what I mean. There were times where it was actually painful to turn the knobs because I was gripping those little things so tight while fighting gravity with almost no leverage. They're also really small I have huge hands and to be honest I struggled a bit to adjust the tilt and shift accurately because of this. The knobs are again made of plastic and are pretty easy to push around and slightly bend, which, again, doesn't instill a ton of confidence. However, the rest of the controls leave a bit to be desired. The manual aperture ring was also nice and snappy, and easy to grip and turn without looking at it. There was no real slop or play in the connection to the camera, and despite the plastic build it fit pretty snugly. The glass is gorgeous and I had no problems screwing it onto my camera body, unlike some 3rd party lenses I've used which took a bit of force, possibly due to some sloppier tolerances, but I digress. Canon does it too, and it drives me to drink. I'll never understand the practice of not including hoods with lenses. This was mildly annoying, because when shooting architecture, light can come from the least anticipated directions and cause loss of contrast in your shots. For some reason the lens doesn't come with a hood. I would much prefer lenses with movements and manual everything to feel completely solid. It is immediately apparent that the lens is made of plastic, and for a $1000 tilt shift lens, this didn't exactly instill confidence. The lens is really good looking - somewhat reminiscent of a Canon L lens - but feels a bit plasticky in the hand. As soon as I unpacked it though, I had immediate mixed reactions. ![]() So far so good, nothing crazy to note here. Not the worst thing - as I'm not one for clutter and I don't need all the fluff that comes with most cameras and lenses that we buy today. Initial ImpressionsĪlright, so the lens arrives in a standard cardboard box with minimal accessories. While I'm a Canon shooter, I've heard much of the same about the Nikon version of this lens, and I know many photographers who use it day in and day out. Incredible color rendition, sharpness across the frame at all apertures, and the incredible benefit of being able to tilt and shift this lens across multiple axes make this lens one of the single greatest lenses for technical 35mm photography available today. Rokinon must have known that it was going up some of the best lenses ever made - there is no question in my mind that the new iteration of Canon's 24mm tilt shift is about as perfect as a lens will ever get. Both from photographers looking for backup lenses, photographers looking to get into the tilt shift game without dropping over $2,000, and from photographers who had always been curious but not curious enough to spend so much on one of these lenses. So when Rokinon announced that they were entering this market, there was, as you can imagine, a lot of buzz. I know many Nikon shooters who could say the same, as well. They are, for certain, the bread and butter lenses of my kit. I use the Canon 24mm and 17mm TSE lenses more or less daily - there isn't a single shoot that goes by where I don't use these lenses extensively. Being primarily an architecture and interiors photographer, I use tilt-shift lenses on a regular basis.
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