Samyang 12mm f2 appreciation

I have owned the Samyang Samyang 12mm f2.0 NCS CS Lens for around 5 years now and while 12mm (18 full frame equivalent) is not a focal length that I use often I always carry it with me.
Such a wide focal length is difficult to use, it requires very specific scenes and compositions to work well, an interesting foreground that can be stretched out, proportions that work well when exagerated or just a very expansive scene. Without finding such elements images at a focal length this wide can end up with the subject looking far too small and distant or with clutter and unwanted elements entering the scene from the edge of the frame. Finding these scenes that work can be challenging however when you do come across them you will likely find that they just will not work the same on a tighter focal length.
The 4mm difference between 12mm and the 16mm of my 16-80mm general purpose zoom lens is significant. While 16mm (24 full frame equivalent) is generaly more than wide enough for most landscape scenes it does not have the abillity stretch proportion of elements near the edge of the frame to the same degree and is to tight when trying to incorporate close foreground elements.

The Samyang 12mm lens can be picked up for under £200, it is a wonderful value proposition in comparison to other lenses of the focal length that are available. There are significantly more expensive autofocus options available and cheaper manual focus options from other bransds such as 7artisans and rokinon, Samyang sits right in the middle of these, offering image quality on par with the top end while having pricing relatively close to the bottom end models.


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