Though smartphone cameras can snap stunning images, most pros will haul a dedicated camera to assignments. Space inside camera bags is at a premium, but a nifty lens from Samyang could lighten the load by allowing optical elements to be swapped out.
If your shoot requires a selection of different focal lengths from your prime lens, then you have to carry a bunch of different lenses. Samyang's Remaster Slim setup changes that by allowing the photographer to simply remove one central optics module and replace it with another – a magnetic mount system keeps everything in place between swaps.
At launch, the company is offering 21-mm, 28-mm and 32-mm optical modules but all sport the same f/2.8 aperture. The lens is compatible with Sony E-mount cameras only at the moment, with the lens housing jutting out some 2 cm (0.8 in) from the camera body and weighing in at less than 80 g (2.8 oz). Autofocus is also cooked in, though there is an AF/MF switch and slim manual focus ring included too.
The "world's first optical exchange AF lens" takes inspiration from classic film point-and-shoot cameras, and this trickles through into the kind of images captured through the optics.
"Remaster Slim provides a genuine analog sensibility that is distinctly different from smartphone images created with digital technology," explains the company. "This lens creates warm and profound images that cannot be imitated by the digital world, giving photos a natural and soft tone. It retains the detail and texture of classic optical systems while meeting modern photography demands. Through this, users can experience a unique connection between the past and the present."
And now the bad news. As of writing, LK Samyang isn't making this novel lens system available outside of its home turf of South Korea. It has a list price of 308,000 won (which converts to around US$230) but can currently be pre-ordered with a 5% discount. Sadly, there's no word on future availability to other markets.
Source: LK Samyang via SonyAlpha Romors
