Samyang XP 35mm f/1.2: wide prime joins the Xpert club

Samyang has unveiled a new wide-angled and wide-apertured prime lens is its XP series. The new 35mm f/1.2 lens will be available for full frame Canon EF mount – for use for DSLRs such as the Canon EOS 5DS or the EOS 6D Mark II.

The lens claims to be aimed to provide the quality needs by 50 MP or higher cameras, and future 8K filming.

The metal lens incorporates 12 glass elements in 10 groups - including two aspherical elements, three HR high-refractive elements and one ED extra-low-dispersion element. It has a nine-blade diaphragm and a minimum aperture of f/16. It has a front filter thread of 86mm, and comes with a petal-shaped lens hood. 

Minimum focus is 0.34m, which provides a maximum magnification of 0.17x. The lens is 117.4mm long, and weighs a hefty 1,106g – that's over a kilogram!

The XP 35mm f/1.2 joins the XP 14mm f/2.4, XP 50mm f/1.2 and XP 85mm f/1.2 in the growing  Samyang 'XPert' family of high-quality manual-focus-only lenses.

Internal construction of Samyang XP 35mm f/1.2 lens

Internal construction of Samyang XP 35mm f/1.2 lens

Rokinon SP 35mm f/1.2

As is usual with Samyang, the new lens will be sold under the Rokinon brand in the USA - where it will be called the Rokinon SP 35mm f/1.2

The lens is due to go on sale in January for $999.

Read more:

Best wide-angle lenses for Canon

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Chris George

Chris George has worked on Digital Camera World since its launch in 2017. He has been writing about photography, mobile phones, video making and technology for over 30 years – and has edited numerous magazines including PhotoPlus, N-Photo, Digital Camera, Video Camera, and Professional Photography. 

His first serious camera was the iconic Olympus OM10, with which he won the title of Young Photographer of the Year - long before the advent of autofocus and memory cards. Today he uses a Nikon D800, a Fujifilm X-T1, a Sony A7, and his iPhone 15 Pro Max.

He has written about technology for countless publications and websites including The Sunday Times Magazine, The Daily Telegraph, Dorling Kindersley, What Cellphone, T3 and Techradar.