Samyang announced a bunch of new lenses today. Most for APS-C cameras, but two will be full frame and available for the Sony A7 & A7r.
Full Frame
The Rokinon or Samyang 24 mm f1.4 ED AS IF UMC Lens
And the Rokinon or Samyang 35 mm f1.4 AS UMC Lens
These are great upgrades to their older 24mm and 35mm lenses.
APS-C
Samyang 8 mm f2.8 UMC Fish Eye
Samyang 10 mm f2.8 ED AS NCS CS
Samyang 12 mm f2.0 NCS CS
Samyang 8 mm T3.1 Cine UMC Fish Eye II – different focus ring.
The thing to note here is the UMC in the lens name.
Decoding Samyang Lens Codes
Ever wonder what all these lens codes mean?
UMC: on the Samyang lenses means Ultra Multi Coated. Gives the lens superior light transmission. An upgrade from previous Samyang lenses which flared a bit more. Although they've been upgrading most of their lenses to UMC lately.
AS: Stands for Aspherical Elements – Has to do with the shape of glass in the lens.
ED: means extra-low dispersion elements – used to reduce chromatic aberrations.
IF: Internal Focusing
MC: Multi Coating. Similar to UMC but not as good. – Reduces flaring and light reflection.
MFT: Is a lens designed for Micro Four Thirds Systems. Not applicable to these. But often Samyang will make an MFT version of their lens as well.
NCS: Nano Crystal Anti-Reflection Coating System
I personally am interested in the Samyang 24mm in this batch. If Sony doesn't come out with a Zeiss 24 prime for the A7 & A7r soon, I'll likely pick this up. I've had a lot of fun with the Samyang 14mm. You can see sample images and my review of the Samyang 14mm here.
I really think Samyang has been upping their game lately, adding UMC and NCS to their lenses. It will really help with the optics. There are also rumors that they will be launching full automatic lenses very soon.