Photography - cheap AND good 85mm f1.4? Yeap!

Audience : SLR/DSLR owners (Nikon/Pentax/Canon/Sony/Olympus) who want to shoot in low light and/or with very narrow depth of field.

I REALLY, REALLY like fast lenses. I have a 30mm f1.4, a 50mm f1.4 and both of my zoom lenses are constant f2.8. But I've been drooling for a fast 85mm lens for a while now. But a 85mm f1.4D Nikon Nikkor lens sells (now) for $1175 !!!!! and the similar lens for Canon, Pentax, Sony and Olympus are similarly priced (i.e. way out of my range).

Then I accidentally found an article about the Rokinon 85M-N 85mm F1.4 Aspherical Lens for Nikon which sells (now) at Amazon for $259. $259? That's surely a piece of crap was my first thought. Then I made some research and lo and behold, it's actually not (crap, that is)! Everyone seems to concur, it's a good lens in absolute terms but it's an AMAZING relative to the price!  See a few samples here : Sample 1 Sample 2 Sample 3

There are versions available for Nikon, Canon, Pentax, Sony and Olympus and for the Nikon version they have one that has the metering chip in case your camera is not AIS backward compatible (like D90, D80, D70, D70s, D50, D100, D5000, D3100, D3000, D60, D40, D40x). Any of these cameras will required the chipped version for the metering to work.

Please note that this lens is not autofocus, you will have to focus it manually. Check carefully compatibility to your SLR.

Note : This article is based on extensive on-line research (reviews/sample shots/MTF curves/etc). I am not in US now so I have not yet acquired the lens, but I will once I get back. Can't wait! Naturally I'll update this article once I have the lens.