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Lens review

Samyang AF 85 mm f/1.4 FE/RF

5 July 2019
Arkadiusz Olech

10. Autofocus



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Autofocus of the tested lens when joined with the Sony A7R II is literally noiseless and sensibly fast. In typical conditions running through the whole distance range and confirming the focus takes about 0.5-0.6 of a second. These are not record values but they are more than enough for normal work. In weaker lighting conditions the lens can get lost from time to time; often you have to wait, observing one or two focus hunting passes near the proper position.

In controlled studio conditions the autofocus wasn't problematic at all and the number of misses didn't exceed 2-3%. During outdoor sessions the situation was a bit worse. Even with good lighting the lens sometimes got lost and misfocused. We didn't notice an especially high percentage of misses but still it could reach 5-6%.

When it comes to front or back focus tendency we didn't observe any serious problems. The photo below shows a slight DOF shift forward but the effect is slight, enhanced by a very close position of the target - it might stem from not only autofocus errors but also the layout of field curvature.

A7R II, f/1.4
Samyang AF 85 mm f/1.4 FE/RF - Autofocus