In an announcement that was originally scheduled for March 12th, Samyang/Rokinon has announced a new 75mm f/1.8 autofocus lens for full-frame Sony E-mount, part of their annoyingly named “Tiny but Almighty”1“Almighty” means “all powerful” or “omnipotent”. This doesn’t make sense in the context of a lens. “Mighty” would have made sense, and wouldn’t sound like a slogan written by an out of work priest. series of lenses. Unlike some previous Samyang lenses, the new 75mm uses a linear stepping motor for fast, quiet autofocus, making it a good choice for video as well.
The optical design of ten elements (with five special glass elements) keeps the lens compact and lightweight, weighing only 230g (8.1 oz) at 2.7 inches long. With a flip of the “custom” switch, the the focus ring (focus by wire) can be changed to the aperture ring, which is an interesting option to have. Perhaps firmware updates will allow this to be switched to exposure compensation more generally, which would be very useful. Unfortunately, the lens is not weather sealed.
Currently, no pricing or availability information is available, but I’d expect this lens to fall somewhere in the $350-400 price range, based on the prices of similar Samyang lenses.
