Samyang’s new ultra wide XP 10mm f3.5 is the worlds widest (non fish eye) prime lens.
Samyang have just announced what is being billed as the worlds widest (apart from fish eye lenses), most distortion free prime lens ever made. Samyang (also known as Rokinon) have always made very affordable, optically sound wide angle lenses, but they have pulled out all the stops with their latest lens, the ultra wide angle XP 10mm f3.5.
The Samyang XP 10mm f3.5 is a wild departure from Samyang lenses of yesterday. A recent report on Canon Watch shared the news of the new lens. While older offerings from the company always performed well optically, they were never really considered to be premium lenses, but the XP 10mm f3.5 is different, and it has a larger price tag to go along with it.
The Xp 10mm f3.5 features 18 elements in 11 groups. There are 7 special optical elements that will help keep the image sharp from corner to corner, and will ensure that colors captured are vivid. There are also 3 aspherical elements, 1 high refractive element, and 3 extra-low dispersion elements which make the lens distortion free. If this is really the case, then it’s an impressive feat for such a wide angle lens. The glass is also treated with multi-coating technology to help with flaring, and ghosting.
Being a photographer who loves to capture stunning landscapes, I have to admit that this lens has me incredibly excited. The thought of having an ultra wide 10mm lens that is distortion free will no doubt please many out there who dabble in landscape, architectural, real estate, and cityscape photography. Being able to have a 130 degree field of view that is distortion free sounds like a dream, and if that truly is the case, we may have just witnessed the arrival of one of the best lenses for landscape photography that has ever been made.
Having used many Samyang and Rokinon lenses in the past I know, as do many others, that image quality has always been great. The new xp 10mm f3.5 adds in a premium build quality too. The Samyang XP 10mm f3.5 will compete more closely with offerings from the likes of Irix and their lenses like the 11mm f4 Blackstone. If they can pull this off and the lens is everything Samyang say it is, it will be a game changer.
There is no firm release date for the Samyang XP 10mm f3.5 yet. The lens should hit store shelves sometime this spring, but don’t be expecting a cheap fling. The Samyang XP 10mm f3.5 has a price tag of 1,099 Euros, and the price in the US is expected to be about the same. It will be released with a Canon EF mount to begin with, but there will be a Nikon F mount version that will join it jshortly after. This is definitely a lens that landscape photographers need to keep their eyes on.