I paid just over £279 for it from Amazon "warehouse deals" and it was in perfect condition. I wanted a fast 85mm prime lens for my Sony Alpha A6000. Whilst this Samyang at F1.4 looked like great value on paper, what initially put me off was the lack of auto-focus. But the choices of fast 85 mm auto-focus primes for the Sony E mount are limited. I did consider seriously:

- the Sony G Master (£1,500) - was I going to pay a premium of over £1,200 just for auto-focus? I don't think so...
- the Carl Zeiss Batis (£978) - still pricey, and only F1.8...
- the Sigma A mount (£750) with the £120 Sony adapter - an £870 compromise? Naah...
- and even the Canon EF (£340 F1.8) plus £70 Fotodiox adapter - it just didn't work for me.

Whilst these are without doubt great lenses in their own right, the Samyang 85mm is a sharp, quality built lens at incredible value. And what's more, I'm finding that the A6000's focus peaking is amazing (never used it before) and it very often feels like it has the advantage over auto-focus in terms of control. The only thing I would point out is that, compared with the image shown on Amazon, the version for the E mount has a built in adapter (or rather extension?) that makes the lens a bit longer than for the Canon/Nikon mounts - which does make sense if you think about the relative difference in diameter. But this in not a problem for me, and actually gives good clearance between the lens and the A6000's grip.

I paid just over £279 for it from Amazon "warehouse deals" and it was in perfect condition. I wanted a fast 85mm prime lens for my Sony Alpha A6000. Whilst this Samyang at F1.4 looked like great value on paper, what initially put me off was the lack of auto-focus. But the choices of fast 85 mm auto-focus primes for the Sony E mount are limited. I did consider seriously:- the Sony G Master (£1,500) - was I going to pay a premium of over £1,200 just for auto-focus? I don't think so...- the Carl Zeiss Batis (£978) - still pricey, and only F1.8...- the Sigma A mount (£750) with the £120 Sony adapter - an £870 compromise? Naah...- and even the Canon EF (£340 F1.8) plus £70 Fotodiox adapter - it just didn't work for me.Whilst these are without doubt great lenses in their own right, the Samyang 85mm is a sharp, quality built lens at incredible value. And what's more, I'm finding that the A6000's focus peaking is amazing (never used it before) and it very often feels like it has the advantage over auto-focus in terms of control. The only thing I would point out is that, compared with the image shown on Amazon, the version for the E mount has a built in adapter (or rather extension?) that makes the lens a bit longer than for the Canon/Nikon mounts - which does make sense if you think about the relative difference in diameter. But this in not a problem for me, and actually gives good clearance between the lens and the A6000's grip.

Very very good

Amasing lens. Obviously it doesn't have auto focus and it's just a manual lens but the focus peaking on Sony a7 works perfectly fine with it and makes it easier. Very sharp even at f1.4. Solidly built, very happy wirh its performance.

Really amazing lens!!! I'm no expert but the pix look amazing, so it's totally worth the money. I'm really happy with it!

Fantastic image quality as you would expect from Samyang and I picked this up new for £160 so exceptional value for money. I use it on my a6000, so I have not tried it as a full frame lens.

This is my second lens from them and the Sony cameras make them very easy to use with focus peaking. The other lens I have is the 12mm, which is solid, but this 85 is BIG and HEAVY. Don't get me wrong, it is built like a tank and everything feels very well made, but it is so heavy that I do not take it out as much as I would like. It is actually heavier than the old school nikon 85mm I have. I think this lens, the 12mm and the kit 16-50 complement each other quite nicely. If Samyang made a compact lens in the 17-20mm range for Sony I would dump the kit lens as the Samyangs all seem to be superb.

Taking shots at f1.4 is a little challenging as the depth of field is so narrow (part of this lens' charm), but stop it down a bit and it is much more forgiving. Wide open the quality is pretty good, but zooming in you will see a bit of improvement from stopping down to f2.8 anyway.

Perfect for portraits and slow moving subjects, but be aware of the weight if you were planning on lugging this around.

If you found this helpful, please click on the 'Helpful' button. See my other reviews for similar good value photo products.

Fantastic image quality as you would expect from Samyang and I picked this up new for £160 so exceptional value for money. I use it on my a6000, so I have not tried it as a full frame lens.This is my second lens from them and the Sony cameras make them very easy to use with focus peaking. The other lens I have is the 12mm, which is solid, but this 85 is BIG and HEAVY. Don't get me wrong, it is built like a tank and everything feels very well made, but it is so heavy that I do not take it out as much as I would like. It is actually heavier than the old school nikon 85mm I have. I think this lens, the 12mm and the kit 16-50 complement each other quite nicely. If Samyang made a compact lens in the 17-20mm range for Sony I would dump the kit lens as the Samyangs all seem to be superb.Taking shots at f1.4 is a little challenging as the depth of field is so narrow (part of this lens' charm), but stop it down a bit and it is much more forgiving. Wide open the quality is pretty good, but zooming in you will see a bit of improvement from stopping down to f2.8 anyway.Perfect for portraits and slow moving subjects, but be aware of the weight if you were planning on lugging this around.If you found this helpful, please click on the 'Helpful' button. See my other reviews for similar good value photo products.

Just got this today and this is a amazing lens...a bokeh monster... i use on sony a6000...great outdoor lens as its 127.5mm after the apsc crop factor... but it is useable indoors believe or not...a nice feel of quality to the lens and nicely weighted...this is a genuine lens to have, you just have to look at the glass in and think wow....

My favourite lens for 9 months. I have lots of other lenses with AF for fast moving work but on 'days off' this is my favourite toy...Stunning piece of glass! I just had a look here to see how much I paid for it. I thought it was around £380 but now realise that was my Nikkor 85 f1.8g. Shaking my head in disbelief at the price tag...

Superb manual focus lens. A little heavy, to hang around your neck for a long time, but not too bad either. Enables great photos.

Lens is well constructed and seems to produce some very lovely photos. The lens has some plastic feeling parts like the lens hood and caps but if you ignore this, it's quality is up there.

Lens is well constructed and seems to produce some very lovely photos. The lens has some plastic feeling parts like the lens hood and caps but if you ignore this, it's quality is up there.