The Power of Controversy
The Samyang 800mm MC IF f/8 is a manual focus, fixed aperture mirror lens made
in Korea. It is a well-built metal construction styled in black and white. Having
no electronics, it reaches a weight of only 946 g. Its compact size makes it easily
portable. It has a good grip and lies good in the hand. Every copy of it comes
with a test certificate.

There is an optional 2x teleconverter with T2 threads on both sides, providing extreme telephoto capabilities.
A metal
lens hood is also available in the market (Samyang
Lens Hood 800mm f8 Mirror SH-105S). It is screwed on the 105 mm filter
thread. It has been blackened and fine-textured to prevent internal reflections.
It also acts as protection against damage to the front lens element.
First Impressions
If you are a stargazer, many questions are immediately answered when you see it at the first time. It behaves like your beloved Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope.

Personally, I like the color rendition and the bandwidth of the Samyang very much. The photos have a rather cold, neutral look. Chromatic aberrations (CA) are negligible. Its donut bokeh is vivid and vibrant but typical for catadioptric lenses. I find it creative and inspiring but it will definitively polarize your audience. They will either love it or hate it.
Application Areas
Observational photography
If even more reach is required, a teleconverter might be a choice. However, the usage of inexpensive teleconverters often implies a significant loss in terms of quality and light transmission (2+ EV stops).
Wildlife
Wildlife photography is possible if:
- the situation does not require frequent refocusing, or
- the scenery does not presume hectic movements, and
- enough light is available.
In many cases, you might miss here
the auto-focus (AF), the vibration reduction (VR), the sharpness and the micro
contrast of professional lenses.
Macros & Portraits
This Samyang can focus on to about
3.5 m which can give you acceptable macro shots. Using it for portraits is also interesting
due to its distinctive bokeh. However, this long shooting distance might make
the communication between you and your model difficult.
Astrophotography
It’s a Scope
Handle it in the same way you always
do with your other telescopes. Put it on a parallactic motorized mount being
accurately north aligned. You need a stable tripod. Try somehow to support your
camera on the mount to avoid slipping, since it now holds the entire lens mass.
Use a heated dew cap.
Finding your targets
Use a SLR red dot finder that is simply attached to the
flash shoe of your camera, to find your targets easily at night. The viewfinder
is only helpful for centering the target.
Focusing at night
You need to acclimatize the lens
first; 30 minutes should be enough. Finally, focus it on a planet or a bright
star using a Bahtinov Mask on the Live View display. The focusing scale on the
Samyang is quite accurate, i.e. start with the infinity markings. Focusing is
smooth with no backlash or mirror shift. However, the focus zone is very
narrow. Be patient. The hot spot does exist.
Taking the picture
Point a bright Messier object and go
with ISO2200 and 60s exposures first. After taking some pictures try to stack
and process them as you usually do with your astronomy photos.
We are all perfectionists
Unfortunately, my exemplar shows
triangle-shaped stars at winter temperatures below 5°C, which is an indication
of tensed optics. Since the operating temperature range of my camera is 0...40°C,
this issue is not a show-stopper for me. Under normal conditions (>10°C) the stars are beautifully round-shaped and the lens delivers a good image quality.

Let us be realistic, nobody should
expect flat-field APO capabilities under all circumstances from a 183€ lens.
Usage
Thermal considerations
As every
large lens, it needs to be acclimatized before usage. This step may take some
minutes. Reaching thermal equilibrium is a prerequisite to achieve its maximum
performance.
Contrast & Sharpness
To improve
the contrast, the optional lens hood might be a little help. It reduces lens
flares, halation, ghosting, and general degradation of the image caused by
unwanted light sources. Unfortunately, the lens cap cannot be attached to the
front lens, when the hood is mounted.
Working on a Tripod
To get non-blurred pictures, you
need:
- a stable tripod,
- a gimbal system,
- activated mirror lock-up settings, and
- a remote release.
Take your
time on focusing and use the Live View
at max. magnification. Turbulence in atmospheric layers significantly
influences the image quality of large aperture lenses. You need to be patient to
find the hot spot. Set the ISO as high as it reasonably gets and adjust the
exposure time as proposed in the Live View.
Freehand Shooting
You will
probably want to forget your tripod at home when going out for photo shooting in
a sunny day. Even you deal with a real 800 mm non-VR lens, there is a way out:
- Set the exposure time to 1/2000 s or faster. Depending on the situation, you might want to set the ISO at very high levels though. ISO 4500 works fine for me in most cases. A low noise camera body is always a good investment. Shoot in RAW format.
- Put your camera on something solid, i.e. on a beanbag, a window frame, a branch, or a rock. Alternatively, you can lean against a tree or a wall.
- Hold the lens with both hands. Focus as good as you can. Do not invest more than 5 seconds on focusing.
- Hold your camera tight. Now, hold your breath and take 3 photos of the subject.
- Examine quickly how they came out. Adjust the ISO. Refocus as good as you can and take 3 photos again!
- Repeat the above steps several times.
Evaluate your images on your home PC later. Keep only the best one and delete the rest.
Usage as a Spotting Scope

Here too, atmospheric turbulence interfering the view may be an issue depending on the weather and the acclimatization grade of the lens.
Conclusion
At the end
of the day, it all depends on you. In any case, you get something timeless for
little money. Having owned several lenses to date, this Samyang is simply the most
controversial one.
Other much more expensive lenses surely offer better results
and a broader applicability. But even you can afford them, they are far heavier
and thus less portable.
Finally, one
question still remains open:
“How often would you use an 800 mm lens?”
Thanks for
reading
Panagiotis
Xipteras
--
Photo Gallery: http://dark.astrodigital.net/samyang800
--
Photo Gallery: http://dark.astrodigital.net/samyang800
--
DISCLAIMER: I have no affiliation with Samyang or any other manufacturer for that matter so I don’t really care if you buy this stuff over another. I take my time with each piece of equipment because I am always on the hunt for perfect solutions.