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Lenses

Field Review: Rokinon 85mm F/1.4 (Day 4-Video Testing)

Chris Gampat
No Comments
06/28/2011
2 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Rokinon 85mm f1.4 review product shots resized (2 of 4)

After testing the lens out for portraits with flash, then street photography and giving our initial impressions, I decided to test the Rokinon 85mm F/1.4 on the Canon 5D Mk II for shooting some street video. This was all done handheld.

Gear Used

Canon 5D Mk II

Rokinon 85mm F/1.4

Canon 580 EX II

The Video

In Use

Back in college, I used to shoot a lot of video. When I graduated, stills paid the bills: so that side just took a step forward into the limelight. It was nice to shoot video again, but shooting video with a DSLR can be tough without a follow focus, a viewfinder or a stabilizer of some sort. And that’s exactly what happened here: I got a lot of shaky video despite keeping my elbows tucked in. The reason for this is because of my focusing the lens in and out to show off what the bokeh looks like.

With that said, make no mistake: the image quality that this lens delivers on the Canon 5D Mk II for video is simply astounding and perhaps one of the best I’ve seen from a lens. I tested out video recording with the Sigma 70-200mm F/2.8 EX OS HSM a while back (see full review here). I really think that image stabilized lenses help with recording, and that’s one of the reasons why I love my Canon 24-105mm F/4 L IS.

If it were an even lighter focal length like the Canon 50mm F/1.8, it might have been easier. Indeed, that is still a great lens and I’ve used it for video previously.

If the 85mm lens had stabilization, it would have perhaps been a bit easier to use.

In Comparison…

The closest thing to this lens would be the Zeiss 85mm cinema prime for video. I had hands-on time with that lens a while back. Here’s what that video looked like.

The problem with this lens was that it was even harder to focus and was designed to be used with a follow focus and on a tripod or stabilizer of some sort. It’s also much heavier than the Rokinon lens and quite a bit more expensive. What you’re paying for though is better build quality, better focus falloff, and T stops vs F stops (which are much more accurate).

But once again, for the price point of the Rokinon, you can’t beat it.

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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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