Rokinon has announced its new AF 24mm F1.8 Full Frame Compact Wide Angle Lens for Sony E mount. It is its eleventh auto focus lens specifically engineered for Sony mirrorless cameras. Weighing only 8.1 ounces and measuring just 2.8 inches in length, this new 24mm combines a compact and light form factor, a fast 1.8 aperture and a host of additional features that are unmatched by any other 24mm E mount lens in the market.

New and special features include:

• Customizable Focus-Hold Button Pressing and holding this button will keep the lens locked at the auto-focused distance. The user can also assign to the focus hold button other desired functions through the Custom Key Settings menu of the camera.
• Astrophotography Mode Astrophotography Mode automatically sets the lens focusing mode to MF, moves and locks the lens to infinity focus, and the Infinity Focus Confirmation LED will light in green. If the focus control ring is moved, the LED will turn to red.
• Custom Switch The Custom Switch enables the focusing ring to function either as a manual focus control (Mode 1) or as an aperture control (Mode 2). Additional Custom Switch functions are being developed and will be made available via firmware updates. Fine tuning focusing parameters, new functions, and firmware updates may be obtained by using a ROKINON Lens Station.

The latest optical technology allows this speedy wide angle to achieve stunning corner-to-corner resolution, even at F1.8 maximum aperture. A total of 11 elements in 8 groups, with 7 special lenses (2 Aspherical + 3 High Refractive Index + 2 Extra Low Dispersion) and Ultra Multi-Coating deliver outstanding images. With this lens, spherical aberration and coma are highly controlled for the benefit of astrophotographers.

The Rokinon AF 24mm F1.8 excels not only at available light photography. It also allows great selective focus control with beautifully blurred backgrounds. Smooth-creamy bokeh with natural, circular, out-of-focus highlights is a result of this wide angle’s 9-blade circular aperture. This lens will also perform beautifully at an equivalent focal length of 36mm with Sony E mount APS-C cameras.

A new STM (Stepping Motor) design controls superb auto-focus capability by moving only a single focusing group for extremely fast, precise and silent operation - whether shooting stills or videos. This design also prevents front element rotation and changes in length for easy use with 58mm polarizers and other filters that require precise positioning.

Other notable features include weather sealing in five areas to protect from dust, light rain and snow, a wide-angle view of 83.7° and a short minimum focusing distance of 7.48” (190mm). Coupled with its sophisticated optical design, you can capture stunning images in less than perfect environments - indoors and outdoors.