Review Bower 14mm 1: 2.8 ED AS IF UMC EOS

For the opportunity to review lens Bower 14mm 1: 2.8 ED AS IF UMC EOS many thanks to Roman Kononov, who sent I have a lens from another area.

Review Bower 14mm 1: 2.8 ED AS IF UMC EOS

Review Bower 14mm 1: 2.8 ED AS IF UMC EOS

This lens can be found under other names: Samyang (most often), Rokinon, Vivitar, Walimex, etc. Optically, such lenses are identical. True, there is a version with the designation UMC and without it. The UMC version is said to be noticeably better. Bower 2.8 / 14 Made in Korea.

Enlightenment of the front lens Bower F 2.8 14 mm

Enlightenment of the front lens Bower F 2.8 14 mm

Since my copy says 'Bower', I will refer to this lens as Bower 2.8 / 14 in the review. Although this lens does not have autofocus, it is not an old lens. In fact, Bower 2.8 / 14 is a modern manual high-aperture ultra-wide-angle prime lens for full-frame cameras. The lens is available for different systems with different mounts. Now you can already find 'AE' lenses which have a chip for confirming focus on Canon and for metering exposure on younger Nikon cameras. If you got an unchipped version, you can attach Dandelion Lushnikova (he's a chip) himself. The copy from this review is equipped with a Canon EOS mount and does not have any electronics on board.

Metal bayonet mount Bower F 2.8 14 mm

Bower F 2.8 metal mount 14 mm and rear lens view

The lens attracts to itself with a huge convex lens. Filters cannot be used on the Bower 2.8 / 14. By the way, some other lenses with a 'problem' front lens may use filters that are attached near the rear lens. For example, they know how Zenithar 16mm F2.8 MC Fisheye, MS Bearing 3,5 / 8A, Nikon 300mm f / 2.8 ED AF Nikkor, etc. Bower 2.8 / 14 does not have such an opportunity. The Bower 2.8 / 14 has a protective tulip-like built-in hood. The lens cap is thought out very well, unlike other similar lenses, the cap on the Bower 2.8 / 14 does not just put on, but snaps onto two petals of a tulip hood.

Side view Bower F 2.8 14 mm

Side view Bower F 2.8 14 mm

Lens focus internal (IF) and very smooth. When focusing, the rear lens also remains stationary. The focus ring is rubberized and rotates 270 degrees. The lens has a focusing distance scale with an MDF of 28 cm. Infinity 'starts' after 3 meters on the focusing scale. The lens has noticeable infinity flight when focusing at the extreme position of the focusing ring. But there is no depth of field scale on the lens, it's strange that the creators did not put such a useful thing for a manual lens on the Bower 2.8 / 14 body.

Bower F 2.8 14 mm Lens Indicators and Aperture Blind View

Bower F 2.8 14 mm Lens Indicators and Aperture Blind View

The aperture control ring has one intermediate value between the indicated values ​​of F / 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22 (except between F / 16 and F / 22). There are only 6 diaphragm blades. Optically, the Bower 2.8 / 14 is a fairly complex lens, with 14 elements in 10 groups. Moreover, 2 Low Dispersion (ED) elements and two aspherical elements (AS) are used. And don't forget about UMC enlightenment.

Sample Photos

Still, even on a cropped DSLR APS-C Canon EOS camera 350D you may notice distortion. But there is no vignetting. The lens is very sharp and contrasting. Because of the small MDF, bokeh can be achieved, and the bokeh itself is pretty good. Optically, the Bower 14mm 1: 2.8 is a good lens. True, the flight of infinity ruined many photos for me. Usually, using manual focus ultra-wide-angle lenses is easy - just set focus to infinity and shoot. The Bower 14mm 1: 2.8 turned out to be more complicated.

Personal experience

Samyang now has a couple of very interesting lenses: 2.8 / 14 (from this review), 1.4 / 24, 1.4 / 35, 1.4 / 85, 3.5 / 8. All of them have a high optical quality and a very pleasant price, which is several times cheaper than the native autofocus counterparts. I do not recommend this Bower 2.8 / 14 for use on Canon crop cameras. Crop factor turns Bower 2.8/14 into a regular wide-angle with EGF 22,4 mm. It will be much easier for owners of cropped cameras to use for a wide angle of 18 mm (EGF 28,8 mm) standard kit lens with autofocus and all the charms of automation. If you want to get a real super-wide crop, then you need to look towards lenses with a focal length range of 12mm and below. But for full-frame cameras Bower 2.8/14 is a very attractive lens, it can even be used for serious photo tasks.

This is what Bower F 2.8 14 looks like on CZK

This is what Bower F 2.8 14 looks like on CZK


Conclusions

The Bower 14mm 1: 2.8 ED AS IF UMC EOS is a high-quality modern lens without autofocus. The Bower 2.8 / 14 has just an excellent price / quality, such a lens can become a real boon for owners of full-format cameras, because 'native' autofocus counterparts are at least 3-4 times more expensive. Small flaws such as a convex lens and infinity flight can be tolerated.

With this lens I will stop a little 'marathon' with reviews, a lot of basic work has accumulated. Thanks for attention. Arkady Shapoval.

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Comments: 69, on the topic: Review Bower 14mm 1: 2.8 ED AS IF UMC EOS

  • Rostislav

    Everything is fine with this glass, except for the disgusting non-linear distortion - the so-called. "Mustache". Therefore, this glass cannot be used for solving serious problems, since it is impossible to correct distortion, at least I did not succeed.

  • Basil

    If we discard different aperture, zoom, focus and so on, what will be more interesting and better in the picture, this or Tokina 12-24 f / 4?

  • Novel

    There is also only such a Rokinon 14mm 1: 2.8 ED AS IF UMC. As for “sticking the Lushnikov chip itself on the unchipped version” this is a little bit you got excited .. to stick it, you need to remove the backdrop, cut out the place (and for sure !! and not just stick it according to the pattern, namely cut it out!) Under the chip and only then stick it there ... Samyang, on the unchecked version, followed a simplified path, made a solid bayonet ring for Nikon, it has no recesses like Nikons, where it is enough to glue Lushnikov's chip along the pattern.
    And Samyangov sore 14mm 1: 2.8 (well, and other Rokinon Bower, etc.) Poor quality of antireflection coating. On mine I found a small dash on the back lens, similar to a grease mark from a finger, I decided that Lenzpen will now cope with this matter in 5 seconds .. as usual, on other lenses .. "I did it", - part of the coating size 2x3mm was erased and not just scratches, but with a "burdock", i.e., the edges were torn as if a piece of film had been torn off .. I got upset .. decided to wipe it with isopropyl alcohol .. And-ah .. in 10 minutes with a soft cloth from the DigiCare set for cleaning the optics, slowly washed off all the enlightenment from back lens !!! Later I found on the Internet “recommendations” it turns out on the fishay samyang 8mm enlightenment is washed off with bleach, isopropanol .. it looks like it is of the same quality in 14mm .. In general, not a zeiss and not a nikon. on the front and on the REAR !! lenses .. So be perdelno careful with the enlightenment, I don't even advise you to touch it with your fingers, otherwise you will have to gently wash it with water .. and not any lenzpen ..

  • R'RёS,R ° F "RёR№

    The lens has a noticeable coma on an open hole, which is very bad for astrophotography. Aperture corrects the situation, but aperture is lost. Maybe I got a bad copy.

  • Matthew

    Ordered a used one today. I hope he will not be killed and will not disappoint))) Thanks to Arkady for his work!

  • Jury

    Dear Arkady! Please tell me an inexpensive width on the Canon 5D classic, shoot the sea / rocks, so that subjectively the picture is beautiful

    • B. R. P.

      I don’t know what Arkady will advise, but than this 14mm. do you feel bad? Or are you wider? Or already? Or prettier?

  • Sergei

    Please advise, I can’t decide what is better to take on Nikon d3200 samyang 14 mm f2.8 or samyang 16mm f2.0?

    • B. R. P.

      16mm. narrower angle, but a step brighter. But more expensive. According to reviews, the quality is better. And newer.

      • Sergei

        The price on the secondary is 16mm for some reason a little cheaper than 14mm. Another point, 14mm on Nikon for some reason is more expensive than on other systems

        • Viktre

          It may not be that 14mm is usually cheaper than 16mm.

          You need to keep in mind that 16 is only for crop, and 14 is also suitable for full frame (where it becomes straight ultra-wide (
          Plus 14 has a huge convex front lens, and you can’t wind a regular filter there.

          16mm is very sharp across the frame, including the corners, already at f/2.8

          • Sergei

            I know these subtleties, I don’t plan to switch to a full frame in the near future. At 16mm, there are somehow not enough reviews and reviews, it’s not popular or something ...., but those that are are all positive. I also looked at Samyang 10mm, there are also not very many reviews, but the reviews are different, both positive and negative, as I understand from the reviews and reviews, it is not sharp enough. At 14mm, I generally like the picture, but 16mm is faster, I think two degrees will not be so critical

            • Viktre

              It depends on the required angle, yet there is a huge difference between 24 and 15mm efr.

  • Dima

    1Dm3 and Samyang

    It seems to me that this width is just a gun in terms of price and quality. Without that, a rather big one did not do even more. Cool, compact.

    • Dima

      more

      • Dima

        more

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