WIDENING THE GAP

amyang’s design philosophy for its lenses is simple – put everything into the optical elements and key physical components, and don’t worry too much about the frills. This has resulted in a line of highperformance prime lenses with manual focusing that represent huge value for money as there’s no autofocusing and no zooming. Optical quality is king. Prime lenses are still Samyang’s sole (ahem) focus, but it has ventured into autofocus, specifically for the lenses designed from the ground up for mirrorless cameras. In the days when it was considering an autofocus 35mm SLR system, Leica decided not to bother because it would have compromised the optical performance of its much-lauded R series lenses. And prime lenses are still Leica’s thing too, so Samyang is in very good company here… the various laws of physics and optics mean it’s