Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC Lens for Nikon Review

Looking to take impressive sharp photos of landscapes, buildings, and more? Then an ultra-wide-angle lens is what you need! And if budget is a concern, then we might have just the lens for you in the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC Lens for Nikon. Check out if it ticks off your other requirements in this article.

Features

Here’s what you will love about the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC Lens for Nikon:

Wide Focal Length

The Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC Lens for Nikon has one of the widest rectilinear focal length options out there. On a full-frame camera, it fetches you a 115.7 degrees wide-angle view; whereas, on an APS-C camera, it offers you a 93.9-degree-wide-angle view.

It is great to take architecture, landscapes, cityscapes, and nightscapes with. It can also be used to get portraits, especially environmental photos or full body types.

Great Aperture

Many APS-C lenses easily cover a 14-mm focal length, but to find one with an f/28 aperture such as this lens makes it covetable. It offers an angle of view equivalent to that of a 22.4-mm lens on a full-frame camera with a bonus of a wide aperture.

Although f/2.8 doesn’t make it the fastest, it is fast. And with its ability to let a lot of light enter, you can expect well-lit photos. This makes the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC Lens for Nikon a good option even in low-light conditions. You don’t even have to use an especially high ISO setting.

Aperture adjustment can easily be done by simply turning the aperture ring with the click stops in 1/2 stop increments. This lens comes at an f/2.8-F/22 aperture range.

High-Quality Images

The Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC Lens for Nikon takes remarkably sharp images and shows very gradual shading gradient to almost none, depending on aperture adjustment.

Manual focusing with Focus Confirm Chip

The lens features a 252-degree rotation that lets you achieve precise focusing in a pinch. The lens body shows focus distances in both feet and meter.

As a manual lens, the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC Lens for Nikon supposedly requires manual adjustment and does not allow auto-focus. But since it’s made specifically for Nikon camera bodies, it has a focus confirm chip that “supports focus confirmation, auto exposure, auto metering, and auto white balance functions.”

Compatible with all Nikon DSLRs

The Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC Lens for Nikon works with full-frame to APS-C sensor Nikon cameras.

Pros

Has a solid feel to it
Captures a large scene in one shot
Can fetch you a panoramic like scene just by cropping the top and bottom parts
Takes razor-sharp images
Focus confirm chip on the lens allows it to send information to the camera for it to do exposure calculations
Allows focus confirmation, auto white balance, auto exposure, and auto metering
Good for a range of photography needs, including environmental portrait, night, architectural, and astrophotography
A more affordable option to the name brands

Cons

Not great if you’re going for a bokeh effect as the blurred background elements remain identifiable
Shows slight linear distortions

Summary

The Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC Lens for Nikon is a covetable lens in that you’ll seldom find an f/2.8 maximum aperture in a 14-mm focal length camera. Additionally, it is a Rokinon-branded lens for Nikon. While its more affordable version is not able to send information to the camera, this one can.

Comparison

If you love how sharp the photos come out from the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC Lens for Nikon but looking for a zoom lens with around the same specs as the product-in-review, then the more expensive Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X116 Pro DX II Digital Zoom Lens for Nikon is worth a look.

A standout difference between the two is that one is a prime lens while the other is a zoom lens with an 11-16mm range. Like the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC Lens for Nikon, it has an ultra-wide angle of view, only this one lets you zoom in and out a little. This makes the lens great for environmental portrait, architectural, and landscape photography.

While the price gap can easily be justified by the 11-16mm focal length in the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X116 Pro DX II Digital Zoom Lens for Nikon, you may be disappointed to know that the lens is only compatible with Nikon cameras with APS-C sensors; whereas, the Rokinon model can go with either crop or full-frame Nikon bodies.

Maybe you can count the fact that it isn’t a manual lens as a point for it, too, and to justify the need to shell out more money for this one than the product-in-review.

Nevertheless, the sharpness of the images in the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC Lens for Nikon is also present in this lens. With the same aperture range of f/2.8 to f/22, this lens allows in a lot of light. So, it’s fast and perfect for low-light action photography. Other than that, the Tokina lens makes for a versatile gear, too, that you can use for indoor, outdoor, day, and night shooting.

Apparently, you find the same weaknesses in this lens as what you can find in the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC Lens for Nikon. You have the slight distortion issue especially near the edges of the shot and the unremarkable blurring effect.

Verdict

If you’re looking for a great 14-mm lens that fetches you sharp photos, then the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC Lens for Nikon is an easy choice. And with a maximum aperture of f/2.8, you’ll love the versatility of this lens, allowing you to shoot indoors, outdoors, day, and night.

And because it has a focus confirm chip, it lets the supposedly manual lens communicate with your digital camera. Depending on the artistic treatments you’re going for, its weaknesses such as the slight linear distortions and inability to blur background elements significantly can work for you.