Not yet officially announced, the Samyang 135mm F/2.0 ED Aspherical Telephoto Full Frame Lens has surfaced from an eBay seller in Hong Kong. Speculation about the new lens has been buzzing since Samyang's December 22nd blog post on their news section. A series of vague photos have been released in the past few weeks teasing the new lens, leading up to todays leaked images and specs. Though if you were to inspect the file name of the original teaser poster on Samyang's site, you would see the image is named "SYO Poster 135mm En". (Can I get an LOL?)
Here's what we know:
- 135mm Fixed Focal Length
- f/2.0 to f/22 Aperture
- Manual Focus
- Canon EOS Mount
What we can expect:
Likely the official announcement will come from Samyang Optics at the 2015 Camera & Photo Imaging Show knows as CP+ in mid-February. The lens should be available in an additional 8 mounts ( Nikon, Pentax K, Sony A, Sony E, Fujifilm X, Samsung NX, Four-Thirds, Micro Four-Thirds). The MSRP will be roughly $570 USD, so you can expect to get this for a bit less from third party retailers.
Is a 135mm something to get excited about?
135mm is beautiful focal length, my favorite in fact. 135mm has a narrow enough field of view that you can really aim in on a subject and clearly define your composition, with a wide enough field of view that you don't have to be a block away to frame a shot. It's the most versatile prime telephoto focal length in the 85mm to 250mm range. I also find it to be a great focal length for portraiture, though some would argue it's a bit too far into the telephoto realm and flattens the facial features. For amateur photographers and hobbyists, the versatility of zoom lenses are often preferred while primes go less understood, so it's great to see Samyang continue to diversify their product line offering appealing primes and zooms for all of us. It's got a 2/3 stop aperture advantage over the popular and comparable $800 Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM Lens, so the Samyang gets the advantage there. Samyang's been gaining ground in the last few years but is still considered an off-brand to most. With a lack of image stabilization but a quality off-brand and f/2.0 advantage, I'd say the the price point of $570 is right on.
[UPDATE]
The Samyang 135mm f/2.0 is official and you can purchase it today for $549.