It has a been a long time since I’ve reviewed a Samyang lens (two years, to be exact). Samyang seems to have gone through a bit of a restructuring during that time, rebranding as LK Samyang. The LK Group is a South Korean conglomerate involved in various industries, including manufacturing, electronics, and engineering. It is known for its activities in producing a range of products such as electronic components, industrial equipment, and system solutions. In other words, they seem to be the financial backers for Samyang’s next chapter of optical development. Part of that next chapter includes a strategic partnership with fabled German optical company Schneider-Kreusnach, with the first lens from that partnership being the Schneider-Kreuznach x LK Samyang 14-24mm F2.8 FE that I am reviewing today. Now obviously “Schneider-Kreuznach x LK Samyang 14-24mm F2.8 FE” doesn’t exactly just roll off the tongue, so I will be referring to the lens more simply as the LK Samyang 14-24 in this review. It’s a very intriguing lens for a lot of reasons. You can find my full thoughts in the video review linked below or by reading on.

https://youtu.be/FwVhx7JuKJU

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*This product provided by LK Samyang under license from Jos. Schneider Optische Werke GmbH. As always, this is a completely independent review. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the Sony a7RV along with the Sony Alpha 1 that serve as my benchmark cameras for Sony lenses. You can visit the product listing for the LK Samyang 14-24mm here.

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Comparison to other E-mount Wide Angle Zooms

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Sigma released their first 14-24mm F2.8 zoom for DSLR mounts right as that chapter was closing in 2018. It was one of my favorite Sigma zooms of their “ART” era on DSLRs, so I was delighted when Sigma released a new version for Sony mirrorless in 2019. I had a blast with that lens, as Sigma did a good job shrinking it to be a better match for smaller mirrorless cameras. It had a few significant shortcomings, however, including the fact that a bulbous front element meant that you couldn’t use screw on filters. It was also still pretty big, a full 131mm long and weighing in at nearly 800g. It’s also expensive with an MSRP north of $1500 at the moment due to shifting market pressures.

LK Samyang has aggressively designed a lens that addresses all of those shortcomings. The LK Samyang 14-24 is compact and lightweight (445g), can use traditional filters (77mm), and is considerably less expensive at $1200 USD. That last point might still be a sticking point, however, as while Sigma has carved out a market position where they can demand a little higher price, Samyang has traditional occupied a more budget tier. This collaboration with Schneider is clearly a push upmarket, and it is too soon to see if consumers can mentally adjust.

I had a chance to check this lens out briefly at its public introduction at Japan’s CP+ convention back in late February, and I was immediately intrigued by this new direction for LK Samyang and the unique partnership with Schneider. I loved the compact size, the quick autofocus, and even the close focus capabilities of the lens, though it was hard to really evaluate the optics in a few shots at the LK Samyang booth.

But now I’ve had a chance to evaluate the lens more thoroughly, so let’s dive in!

Build and Handling

In many ways I feel like I’ve come full circle, as my very first Samyang lens review was actually of their original 14mm F2.8 manual focus prime, which I reviewed all the way back in 2013. At that point the number of wide angle primes available for Canon EF mount were pretty limited, and I gave that lens a positive review (and even ended up buying one) because it did give pretty good image quality for the price…even though it did have some flaws. What’s extraordinary is that that single 14mm F2.8 prime, with only manual focus and no features, weighed 552g. How extraordinary that we have a 14-24mm F2.8 zoom with autofocus and features that weighs just 445g…more than 100g less!

That prime lens was very, very wide, covering 115.7°. None of the 14-24mm zooms have been quite that wide, and the LK Samyang 14-24 is the exact same as the Sigma 14-24 DN, spanning from 114.2° at 14mm:

to 84.1° at 24mm.

That’s still extremely wide, and gives you a lot of options for framing scenes, for this:

to this:

That’s pretty sweet, and I’ve found lenses like this a blast in cities as a walkaround lens.

It’s that later point that is perhaps the biggest vote in favor of what LK Samyang has done here. The Schneider-Samyang 14-24mm is lightweight and portable in a way other lenses in the class only dream of. The Sigma DN is the only other 14-24mm F2.8 zoom on FE, and it is 131mm in length compared to 98.6mm for the LK Samyang (+32%) and weighs 795g compared to the 445g of the LK Samyang (+78%)/

That is two very different size and weight propositions! The LK Samyang is 84mm (3.3″) in diameter and 98.6mm (3.9″) in length. It weighs 445g or 15.7oz.

If I hop over to the Nikon Z space, I find the Nikkon Z 14-24mm F2.8 S at 124.5mm in length and a weight of 650g. I’m not quite sure how they’ve done it, but LK Samyang has done a great job of giving us the smallest, lightest lens in this class, and it isn’t really close.

What’s more, the Nikkor has a MSRP well north of $2000, which makes the Sigma look like a value at right over $1500 and the Schneider-Samyang a true steal at $1200. Nice!

So how have they achieved this? It is just a plastic fantastic?

Not really. The build quality feels similar to other “Series II” lenses (like the 50mm F1.4 II or 85mm F1.4 II). It is based on a metal mount though does largely employ quality engineered plastics in the outer shell. Tapping these gives a feedback more like metal than plastic. There is a thorough weather sealing inside, with at least seven seal points by my count.

What’s more, they’ve made an important move that should help. Older Samyang lenses used a “Lens Station” whereby you could update firmware and make custom tweaks to the lens using their free “Lens Manager” software. Finding that Lens Station was initially difficult, and just the idea of having to purchase a separate accessory (usually around $50) meant that most users just didn’t bother. LK Samyang has incorporated a weather sealed USB-C port right in the barrel of the lens (like Tamron), allowing you to just connect the lens via USB-C and do the firmware updates or tweaks.

In the software I could not only do firmware updates, but also tweak the behavior of the lens, including changing the speed of the manual focus ring (I liked the slow setting better for more precision) and even the ability to set the AF position on the switch to allow the manual focus ring to function as clickless aperture ring. Aperture racks in video will still show minor steps, but if you move slowly the effect is minimalized.

Other features include an AF | MF switch and Fn (Custom) buttons.

There is no aperture ring, but neither is there an aperture ring on the Sigma 14-24mm or the Sony 12-24mm F2.8 GM. The Nikkor lens does have a customizable control ring that can be used for aperture control.

The AF | MF switch is mounted transversely and works with good precision. The custom button (which you assign the value to from within the camera’s menus) has nice action with a definitive click when pressed.

The zoom ring has a unique texture to its rubberized ring and moves smoothly with right under 30° of rotation between 14mm and 24mm. The damping is consistent between 14-20mm, but feels a little lighter from 21-24mm. I would have preferred the zoom feel to stay consistent, though it is a minor difference. The probable reason for this can be seen above. The inner barrel extends slightly (right under 10mm) over the course of the zoom range. It is at its longest (98.63mm or 3.9″) at 14mm and actually retracts around 21mm to a shorter length of 88.8mm (3.5″). I suspect the zoom feel changes a bit once the inner barrel has finished retracting.

What’s interesting is that LK Samyang seems to be listing the longer (zoomed) length of this lens, which is the opposite of what I typically encounter. Typically a lens maker would be touting the shortest possible length of the lens, though, to be fair, other lenses in this class are often internally zooming. The front element in the Sigma, for example, does move back and forth, but that is within the confines of the fixed lens hood, so it is technically an internally zooming lens.

The manual focus ring has a texture that reminds of me of DSLR era Canon lenses. There’s only a tiny bit of barrel separating the two lenses, so LK Samyang used very different textures to distinguish them. The rubberized texture of the manual focus ring is thicker, causing it to stand out an additional millimeter to help you distinguish between the rings by touch. I don’t love that they are so close together, but that’s part of the compromise involved with make a lens so compact. I also feel like the texture pattern of the manual focus ring has the potential of dating the lens, so I don’t love that design choice.

The weight of the manual focus ring is smooth but light. Focusing with precision involves very careful movements, as it isn’t difficult to focus beyond your desired spot. I was able to adjust fine, however, and I liked the action better once I slowed down the speed in the software.

A shallow lens hood is included. Unlike the competing lenses, this is not a fixed hood but a removable one. It bayonets on with precision and can be reversed for storage. This is yet another win for portability.

Other than the compact size, the other biggest design win here is the flat front element and the ability to use traditional filters. There are common 77mm filter threads here, and I found that so long as I used slim filters, I had no problem with additional vignette when shooting long exposures.

Being able to use simple, common, inexpensive filters is fantastic and certainly adds to the value of this lens.

Standard rear caps and front pinch caps are included. The front pinch cap feels like it is thicker than it needs to be, but that’s a minor quibble with competing lenses will have the big cap that has to fit over a fixed lens hood and that doesn’t really fit in a pocket.

No pouch or case is included, unfortunately, but the new packaging that the lens came in definitely feels upscale from previous Samyang products.

The minimum focus distance is 18cm, and while that does get you very close to your subject, it has the potential to give you a class leading level of magnification. Most lenses in this class offer just a 0.14x magnification, but the LK Samyang 14-24 jumps all the way up to 0.26x.

This is incredibly useful, as it allows you to add some unique perspectives to your work. And, as you can see from this F2.8 shot of a dandelion up close, the lens delivers surprisingly good detail as well.

Being able to get close to your subject also means that you can create a little more bokeh with this lens than is typical. The aperture iris has 9 blades, which is a little lower than the 11 blades found in the Sigma but matches those found in the Sony GM or Nikon S lenses. Stopped down to F4, I found the specular highlights to be “roundish”.

Stop it down to smaller apertures and that same aperture iris will produce decent but not exceptional 18 pointed sunstars.

The barrel material has a fine flocked finish to it, with a chrome accent ring in the middle of the lens and a “hidden” blue ring near the front. Previously they have used red, so perhaps this is the German touch? (Zeiss always seems to like blue!)

A lot of the fonts and the overall design feels like a Samyang, though the Schneider-Kreuznach badging adds a different flavor. I don’t love every design or ergonomic decision here, but I love the using the lens in general. That compact size and ability to easily filter the lens is a game changer in this class.

Not perfect…but pretty fantastic!

Autofocus for Stills

LK Samyang states that there is a Linear STM motor in this lens, and the focus motor actually feels great. It is utterly silent in operation, even if I put my ear next to it. In my focus test benchmarks focus speed proved pretty much instantaneous either indoors or out. No problems with speed or noise here.

Precision proved good, too, with good focus results in a wide variety of situations…including up close.

I was able to nail focus with extremely shallow depth of field, like here:

But I also had no problem with pulsing or misses when shooting landscapes, whether filtered or not.

Tracking is a little hard with a wide angle lens, as the subject doesn’t really get picked up until they get closer. There’s just so much in the frame that the subject occupies a very small portion of it otherwise.

The shutter speed on these was a little low, as I wasn’t anticipating this opportunity, but Nala had followed me out to shoot, and her trotting through these lily-of-the-valleys was interesting.

Bottom line is that this is as good of focus as I’ve even seen from a Samyang lens, so I’m happy.

Video AF

Great news on the video AF front, too. Focus pulls are smooth and confident, with no visible steps, no pulsing, and confident focus lock. Focus breathing is very low as well, so focus changes are nice and subtle.

The lens doesn’t seem to be parfocal, however, so it will have to readjust focus as you zoom in and out.

My hand test went fine, though sometimes with a wide angle lens like this it is hard to block the camera’s view of my face!

One final positive is that natural focus changes (like when you are moving along from one subject to another) are very nicely damped and cinematic. I can see this being an excellent gimbal or vlogging option. It’s small and light enough to work one a wide variety of gimbals and short enough that you can do “Inception mode”.

Color me impressed. This is a well executed autofocus package.

Image Quality Breakdown

So far there has been a lot to appreciate, but can this lens hold up optically? This is a hugely demanding zoom range, and the choice to shrink the size to such a compact package brings additional engineering challenges. Has Schneider and LK Samyang managed to pull it off?

This is the place where we would expect the partnership with Schneider-Kreuznach to bear dividends, as, while that that company has not previously developed optics for photography lenses, they have a sterling reputation for their work in cine and industrial lenses, and the B+W filter brand is one of the highest regarded in the industry. Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, CEO of Schneider-Kreuznach, had this to say about the collaboration, “We are pleased to extend our presence in the still photography market with our expertise in optics. This initiative is an important step for our company, and we are proud to collaborate with LK Samyang.” My LK Samyang contact told me that this was an “extensive collaboration”, but I’m still not completely where Schneider’s specific collaboration comes into play. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the optical glass comes from them, however, as this is something that they are renowned for.

The optical design is 15 elements in 11 groups, including 5 HR (High Refractive), 3 Aspherical Elements, and 3 ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements. That leaves only 4 non-exotic elements in the design. You can see from the diagram that some of those elements are extremely curved, which takes some serious expertise to grind.

Here’s a look at the MTF charts from the wide (14mm) and tele (24mm) ends.

The MTF chart at 14mm shows incredibly high center performance at F2.8, with a bit of dipping up and down on the Sagittal plane. A shocking amount of the frame is above 80%, however, with even the extreme corners averaging to about 70%. Impressive! This wide open (F2.8) shot at 14mm has plenty of pop!

The 24mm end is even sharper in the center of the frame and shows a more linear drop to the corners, which are weaker at roughly a 55% average. In both cases the “rule of thirds” zone from the center to the outer mid-frame is all extremely sharp.

I considered the Sigma 14-24mm to be an excellent optical performance when I tested it, and it is considerably larger, heavier, and compromised filter use by using the curved front element for optical performance. How does the MTF compare?

First at 14mm.

I’ve lined up the two MTF charts and put a line through 80%. Anything above the 80% threshold looks amazing even on a high resolution body. What I see is that the LK Samyang is sharper in the center, but the Sigma gives a more even performance across the frame. It should also have a bit better contrast because the Meridional axis is more closely aligned with the Sagittal. The differences in real world shooting will be minimal, as both of them are excellent at 14mm even at F2.8.

At 24mm the Samyang is noticeably sharper in the center of the frame but will be weaker after the midframe. The Sigma is more consistent across the frame.

Still, the MTF suggests that the LK Samyang is very close in performance despite being so much more compact. That sounds like a win in terms of sharpness…but were there other compromises made?

Well, there’s definitely some issues with distortion and vignette on the wide end.

There is both a lot of distortion (a +29 to correct) and it also fairly complex with a mustache type pattern that doesn’t allow for a simple, linear correction. Vignette is also heavy, requiring a +91 to correct.

Unfortunately, the Sigma review came before I had modernized my test process to make it more scientific. It also has heavy distortion, but I can’t evaluate how these compare with precision. In the fortunate column is the reality that the very close focus distance at 14mm tends to exaggerate distortion somewhat, so real world distortion isn’t as bad. Also fortunate is that LK Samyang seems to have negotiated good camera profile correction support, as in camera corrections seem to be doing a great job of correcting vignette and distortion for JPEGs and video files. There is a lens profile available to download for Lightroom/ACR as well.

Real world images come out well corrected, like here:

By the middle of the zoom range most of the distortion is gone, and at 24mm I used only a -1 to correct a tiny amount of pincushion distortion, and vignette only needed a +43 to correct.

No problems there.

While you can focus closely enough to create a shallow depth of field at 24mm, F2.8, I didn’t see any issue with longitudinal style chromatic aberrations (LoCA). Everything looked nice and clean.

A far more common problem for wide angle lenses is lateral style chromatic aberrations (LaCA) which show up along the edges of the frame in the transitions from black to white. Fortunately the LK Samyang 14-24 is very well corrected for LaCA.

So, other than the heavy vignette and distortion at 14mm, the Schneider-Kreuznach x LK Samyang lens passed the tests with flying colors.

How about sharpness?

I’m using the 61MP Sony a7RV for these tests, which represents the highest resolution currently available on any full frame platform. I show the results at 200% magnification to really highlight any flaws.

At 14mm, there aren’t many to see.

The center is pin-sharp even at F2.8, while the mid-frame is very sharp (though with slightly lower contrast), and the corners actually look very good for a wide angle lens.

How about some perspective. I wish that I could show you apples to apples with the Sigma, but I can’t for the reasons mentioned before. But how about the $2300 Sony 16-35mm F2.8 GM II?

Here’s the center:

Wow! The LK Samyang definitely looks sharper and higher contrast. How about the corners?

The Sony looks a little brighter, but the sharpness and contrast at best is a wash. That’s pretty amazing, as it means that the LK Samyang is competitive with a first party lens that costs twice as much…and at a more difficult focal length. And, what’s more, this autofocusing zoom is sharper (according to MTFs) than LK Samyang’s own 14mm F2.8 II PRIME lens.

Stopping down to F4 makes little difference in the center, though there’s a bit more contrast in the mid-frame and the corners are noticeably brighter and exhibit a bit more contrast.

By F5.6 the corners are looking bright and fairly crisp.

At landscape apertures you’ll see good details all across the frame in real world images even when using high resolution cameras.

F8 looks largely similar to F5.6, but you’ll start to see softening from diffraction by F11. F22 is minimum aperture, and it looks fairly soft.

Moving on to the 17/18mm range shows even more consistent performance. Vignette isn’t as strong, and it feels like the sharpness and contrast is more even across the range.

Stopping down shows minor improvements, but not big enough to note at lower levels of magnification.

Real world shots in this range look fantastic, with consistently good details across the frame.

20mm looks very similar. I see a pattern emerging where peak center sharpness actually arrives wide open, and when you stop down, the center gets a bit less sharp while the midframe and corners improve. By F4, the corners are as sharp as I’ve seen.

Real world shots are full of detail.

At 24mm sharpness remains impeccable in the center of the frame, though with a touch less contrast. Stopping down to F4 kicks the contrast back up, however.

Real world images (even up close) are surprisingly good even at 24mm, F2.8:

Real world landscapes at 24mm and at landscape apertures look great.

Typically it wouldn’t be worth talking about the bokeh with a wide angle lens like this, but the close focus abilities of the LK Samyang 14-24mm allow it to defocus backgrounds reasonably well, as we can see from the lock photo above.

The background looks fairly soft in this image, as well.

This is certainly an area of strength relative to many other similar zooms, many of which just don’t have the close focus abilities that allow you to blur out the background like this.

Color also look good, with nice saturation levels. We had some hazy days during my review period because of the smoke from wildfires being blown our way, but even without peak conditions I was able to get great looking images.

I look forward to shooting with the lens in more optimal conditions.

Samyang has long been one of the better companies when it comes to controlling coma, and that remains a strength for the lens. Even without optimal conditions I found star points were crisp across the frame and there was minimal coma smear. This will be a great astro lens.

Flare resistance is mostly good, though there is potentially one issue to watch out for. If you compose in just the right way at 14mm, you can get a bit of a rainbow light leak.

Zooming in a bit in the identical conditions eliminates that altogether.

Generally I found that any flare artifacts were more noticeable if the lens was deeply stopped down. More moderate apertures like F5.6 were generally better.

I would say this latter category isn’t quite in Sony GM territory. Sony’s coatings are pretty fantastic, and I don’t feel that the LK Samyang 14-24 is quite there.

But my ultimate takeaway is one of being generally impressed. It’s rare that a company can shrink a zoom lens this much and simultaneously get such a good optical performance out it. I’m not sure if LK Samyang or Schneider-Kreuznach gets the credit, but this lens is good enough that I would be excited to see future collaborations (and it looks like at least one more zoom lens is coming!).

If you want to see more images, check out the lens gallery here.

Conclusion

Samyang is definitely back, even if name has changed. I was very intrigued when I first saw this lens the day that it debuted at CP+, and now that I’ve spent more time with it, I remain impressed by what emerged from unexpected partnership between South Korean and German optical companies. The Schneider-Kreuznach x Samyang 14-24mm F2.8 FE is a genuine improvement on this challenging zoom range for anyone who values portability.

This is a dramatically smaller lens than anything we’ve seen with this focal length, and I can attest to the fact that it fits mounted on a camera in all of my smallest bags, making it an easy choice to bring along when traveling. The ability to use traditional filters is another huge addition, making getting long exposures like the one above a piece of cake.

That fact that we also get great autofocus and close focus capabilities makes this lens a winner in my books. I could see it being great for travel, great on gimbals, and a fantastic companion for shooting landscapes, city, and astro. Yes, at $1200 it is expensive “for a Samyang”, but it is considerably cheaper than any competing lens in this space, and remember that this is also a Schneider lens. No one is getting German optics for cheap, so I think that as long as LK Samyang can overcome the perception challenge (and improve their distribution), they’ve got a potential hit on their hands.

Pros:

• Love the compact package!
• The partnership with Schneider was completely unexpected
• Smaller and lighter than any other lens in this class
• Amazing close focus abilities
• Can use screw on filters
• Nice build quality with thorough weather sealing
• Some customizable capabilities
• Fast, silent autofocus
• Good focus precision
• Low focus breathing
• Cinematic focus changes
• Very consistent sharpness across the zoom range
• Contends even with GM lenses for sharpness
• No issues with fringing
• Bokeh looks pretty nice
• Cheaper than competitors in this class

Cons:

• Heavy vignette and distortion at 14mm
• More expensive than people are accustomed to paying for Samyang
• Some minor flare issues

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GEAR USED:

Purchase the LK Samyang 14-24mm F2.8 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

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Purchase the Sony a7IV @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Sony Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany 

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