fbpx
Lenses

Review: Rokinon 35mm f2.8 FE (Sony FE Full Frame E Mount)

Chris Gampat
No Comments
09/01/2017
5 Mins read
Chris Gampat the Phoblographer Rokinon 35mm f2.8 FE product images review4001-160s1.4XF23mmF1.4 R

Last Updated on 09/01/2017 by Chris Gampat

The Rokinon 35mm f2.8 FE comes in at a significantly more affordable price point than what Sony’s offering is–and the only major difference is its lack of weather sealing vs it’s Sony counterpart. In fact, that’s the only difference most people may consider besides marginally slower autofocus performance. The lenses even look alike in some ways in that they’re pretty much the same size but with different casings. But Rokinon has brought out autofocus abilities with the Rokinon 35mm f2.8 FE–making this the company’s first autofocusing lens for the Sony full frame E mount system. Indeed, it fills a niche of the photography market that is not really saturated: a place for good, affordable lenses of the Sony FE camera space.

So if you’re one of those folks that doesn’t need weather sealing, then the Rokinon 35mm f2.8 FE could just be a lens that you’ll want.

Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Sharp image quality
  • Good bokeh
  • Focuses pretty much as closely as the Sony version. It isn’t as accurate in low lighting or as fast though.
  • Affordable

Cons

  • Weather sealing would have been nice but I understand why it isn’t there.
  • Focus motors can be a bit loud at times with later cameras.

Gear Used

We tested the Rokinon 35mm f2.8 FE with the Sony a7 camera and the Sony a7r II.

Rokinon 35mm f2.8 FE Tech Specs

Specs taken from the Rokinon listing page.

Model: IO35AF-E
MSRP: $399

UPC: 0-84438-76565-6

Focal Length: F2.8

Maximum Aperture: F2.8

Coverage: Full Frame (FX)

Optical Construction: 7 Glass Elements in 6 Groups

Aperture Range: F2.8-22

Diaphragm Blades: 7

Coating: Ultra Multi-Coating (UMC)

Minimum Focusing Distance: 13.8ft (0.35m)

Filter Size: 1.93″ (49mm)

Lens Hood: n/a

Maximum Diameter: 2.43″ (61.8mm)

Weight: 3.02oz (85.64g)

Length: 1.3″ (33mm)

Ergonomics

If you look at the Rokinon 35mm f2.8, you’ll see a very similar lens to the Sony offering which is cobranded with Zeiss. When you look at the front here, you’ll see a bit of Rokinon branding here, but not a whole lot.

Turn to the top of the lens and what you’ll spot is the focusing ring and Rokinon’s pretty trademark glossy red ring. But that’s really about it as far as controls go.

Turn the Rokinon 35mm f2.8 on its side and you’ll see just how small it is. It’s nice and lightweight.

Build Quality

For the folks who felt like older Rokinon lenses felt a bit cheap, the Rokinon 35mm f2.8 may probably change your mind. It’s a step up, but more akin to something like a Canon lens vs Zeiss. The Rokinon 35mm f2.8 also doesn’t have weather sealing so keep that in mind for sure.

Ease of Use

When you use the Rokinon 35mm f2.8, you’ll note it is mostly an autofocusing lens. So there is no depth of field scale on this lens. Instead, just use Sony’s autofocus peaking abilities and the ability to choose the focusing area.

Focusing

In low lighting, the Rokinon 35mm f2.8 and the Sony a7 aren’t the absolute best combo–Sony’s own lenses and Zeiss’s are better at focusing when it comes to accuracy. The Rokinon 35mm f2.8 is also slower than both options. I tried this lens with Eye AF from Sony and it still couldn’t totally nail his eyes. Granted, Waldo has a hat on and it’s tougher. But this is surely a real situation that happens pretty often.

However, in good lighting outdoors the Rokinon 35mm f2.8 focuses pretty fast. If you’re a street photographer or simply just photographing candids, then that will work better. With the Sony a7, the focusing is silent, but with the Sony a7r II, it wasn’t as much. It is still pretty quiet, but you’ll hear something from the motors for sure. The focus is also marginally faster on the Sony a7r II.

Image Quality

Despite some of my qualms with the autofocus I have to admit that the colors, sharpness and bokeh of the Rokinon 35mm f2.8 are all rather fantastic. The Sony Zeiss version gives off one look where as the Rokinon 35mm f2.8 has a different one. The images are fairly saturated and look nice. Some folks may like the Zeiss version better but if you’re a good editor it will be difficult to tell the two apart.

Bokeh

The best bokeh from the Rokinon 35mm f2.8 comes when you focus closely and at f2.8. In this case the bokeh is nice and creamy but isn’t anything seriously worth writing home about. If you really want nice bokeh, you should spring for an f1.4 lens.

Chromatic Aberration

In my tests, I couldn’t find any chromatic aberration issues with the Rokinon 35mm f2.8 and nothing is really a problem when it comes to distortion. It’s a fine lens and for the most part I really want to retire this section of our reviews as modern optics have things that can easily be corrected via post-production.

Color Rendition

The way I shoot typically involves locking the camera to 5500K daylight or 3200K tungsten. The Rokinon 35mm f2.8 has very typical Rokinon colors. They’re saturated but not uber contrasty the way that Sigma will try to deliver to make an image appear sharper than it really is. But instead, Rokinon’s lenses have good color overall. The Rokinon 35mm f2.8 is no exception here. If you’re one of the folks who prefer to use auto white balance and aren’t as much of a freak about color as I am, then you can more or less skip passed this section.

Sharpness

In some ways, I want to say the Rokinon 35mm f2.8 is a bit sharper than the Sony Zeiss version. But I could be wrong. You see, every time I shoot with the Sony Zeiss version I always surprise myself. It’s pretty much as sharp as Sigma’s but not as sharp as the 35mm f1.4 Sony offers. It isn’t as sharp as the new Zeiss Milvus lens. But a lot of that work is done involving flash. When a flash isn’t used the Rokinon appears sharper which generally means that when a flash is going to be used, the Rokinon is still going to be sharper when doing a comparative test.

So in this case, Rokinon wins over Sony.

Extra Image Samples

Conclusions

Likes

  • Sharp and saturated look without being overbearing
  • Fast enough AF
  • Small size
  • Affordable price point

Dislikes

  • I wish it had a bit of weather sealing

The Rokinon 35mm f2.8 is a pretty awesome lens. For $399, you’re getting an arguably sharper lens than the Sony Zeiss version. But you’re not getting the faster autofocus or the weather sealing. Additionally, you may like the Sony Zeiss colors more. For that price point though, there isn’t a whole lot to complain about with the Rokinon offering. If Rokinon’s lens could focus closer, then it would really push it over the top. But it doesn’t. However, you’re getting an arguably sharper image and colors that don’t look like Sony’s if you’re one of those who doesn’t really digg Sony’s colors.

And more importantly, you’re getting a small prime lens that is affordable.

The Rokinon 35mm f2.8 receives four out of five stars. Want one? Check out Amazon for the latest prices.

autofocus Bokeh build quality Chromatic Aberration color color rendition ergonomics image quality portraits review Rokinon Rokinon 35mm f2.8 sample images sharpness sony Sony A7 street photography weather sealing
Shares
Written by

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.
You might also like
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Canon RF 24-105mm f4 L IS USM review product images Canon EOS R
Features

Did Canon Miss the Memo That Says Mirrorless Lenses Are Meant to Be Smaller?

3 Mins read
12/26/2018

When Canon introduced their new Mirrorless cameras earlier on this year (The EOS R) one of the stand out features was that the lens mount was so huge. While other manufacturers like Sony have made all things Mirrorless smaller, the late comer to the Mirrorless party seems to have decided that bigger is better. In a recently released interview, Canon engineers seem to be having a sly dig at Sony by saying that lenses with smaller mounts are far less capable than those with larger mounts. Read on after the break to find out more about what the Canon engineers are wafting on about.

P1000_BK_front34r_lo_t
News

The New Nikon P1000 Has a 125x Optical Zoom with a Laughable 1/2.3 inch Sensor for $999.95

9 Mins read
07/10/2018

Today, for some odd reason, the Nikon P1000 point and shoot camera is being announced. Odd, you ask? The fact that it is a point and shoot isn’t such a big issue at all; but the fact that it’s a superzoom camera being marketed as one with a 125x optical zoom is what’s insane. Kudos to Nikon for being able to do something like this; but then you read the fine print (or in this case, print that’s not even in the press release) and see the bait and switch–this Nikkor lens is having its potential wasted by being placed in front of a 1/2.3 inch sensor.