Rokinon 85mm f1.4 Aspherical Lens for Canon or Nikon $240 Amazon Lightning Deal till 4pm PST or gone

Quote from warlock110 : pretty much... but it can be use with some practice.... not sure how much the canon AF version costs, I think it might be close to 800 bucks?

The closest price point is the Canon 85mm F/1.8. That is $369 full price at Amazon right now.

Dead deal now. Sorry I didn't have much time to elaborate on the product, just caught the deal as I was walking out and wanted to share as quick as I could.

I would concur with much of what was said here. People who buy this lens do so preciously because they intend to shoot at f1.4 because of what it does for them and understand clearly how it works and the challenges it poses (manual focus, shallow DOF etc). This is a nice bright and sharp lens with quality bokeh that requires a certain level of skill, experience and patience to use. If you're an amateur who's strictly looking at that f1.4 spec and planning on shooting with that, you should know that there isn't any margin of error at all if your focus area is off even slightly at f1.4 (this really isn't an exaggeration).

Yes, the Canon 85mm f1.8 is a solid lens with good autofocus that doesn't have the manual focusing "limitation" of the Rokinon 85mm f1.4. If you're worried at all about not getting the shot because you didn't have time to stop and carefully focus before you missed it, then the Canon is the lens for you. For most people, the Canon is a better choice and is certainly a great lens on it's own merits; the cost isn't much more than the Rokinon either.

A slower lens, or shooting stopped down, is a little more forgiving of focusing variations... but if you're going to shoot stopped down, it mitigates the biggest reason of all in getting the Rokinon: f1.4! The Rokinon really caters to a unique breed of photographer, or someone wanting to learn how to shoot with such a specialized lens.

Quote from mclldavidson : Joke post? Big difference in price

No joke. If you are serious about portrait photography, you eventually get the 85/1.2L. This Rokinon/Samsung lens is not worth the time and money because it won't have any resale value when you decide to upgrade.

On the price side, I got my Canon EF 85/1.8 for $350, a Contax CZ 85/1.4 AEG for $500 a few years ago. So I don't really see the value of the Rokinon lens here. BTW, I still keep the CZ85/1.4 and the Canon 85/1.2L.

Quote from GunMan : Title says until 4PM pacific. According to Amazon there is less than 14 minutes left right now... Or maybe that's just how long it will stay in cart?

Amazon's Lightning Deals stay in your cart 15 minutes. If you successfully add it to your cart then it means that, as long as you complete your checkout before the 15 minutes has expired, you're guaranteed to get the item (they won't sell out before you finish checking out). It's a pretty decent system that works better than many other sites. But if you don't finish your purchase before the 15 minutes is up, assuming there's still time on the deal, the item in your cart gets freed up for somebody else either in the main pool or who jumped on the waitlist.

Quote from jamespayne : No joke. If you are serious about portrait photography, you eventually get the 85/1.2L. This Rokinon/Samsung lens is not worth the time and money because it won't have any resale value when you decide to upgrade. On the price side, I got my Canon EF 85/1.8 for $350, a Contax CZ 85/1.4 AEG for $500 a few years ago. So I don't really see the value of the Rokinon lens here. BTW, I still keep the CZ85/1.4 and the Canon 85/1.2L.

I think you're seriously underestimating this lens.

Also, what you say may or may not be true, but there is absolutely nothing to lose on this lens at this price point.