ballsafire Loc: Lafayette, Louisiana

Also "Nine Aperture Blades---
The aperture blades up to 9 pieces, which allows you to shoot the near circular defocused spots, appropriately narrow the apertures can shoot the 18 ASTRAL effect." Now this is the quotation from my source on line. I think narrowing the aperture is necessary to get the ASTRAL effect instead of opening the aperture. We need to practice this to see if it will succeed - i haven't done this yet - just received the lens last Friday. Did you find this information from the information I gave?

royden Loc: Decatur, GA

Hey ballsafire, thanks for the update. Post a few pics at your convenience and happy shooting.

ballsafire Loc: Lafayette, Louisiana

One shot is at f/2 the other at f/6.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Yongnuo is gradually introducing a whole series of AUTOFOCUS lenses that are clones of popular Canon models:

35mm f2 and 50mm f1.8 have been available (in Canon EF/EOS mount and Nikon F mount).

85mm f1.8 and 100mm f2 will soon be available in U.S. stores (initially only in Canon mount, but Nikon mount will come later).

The 35mm and 50mm both copy older, now discontinued micro motor lenses. (Canon has updated the their 35/2 to USM and IS... and their 50/1.8 to STM focus drive.)

So far all the Canon mount version Yongnuo lenses are "EF", so will be fully usable on APS-C, APS-H, as well as full frame and even EOS film cameras (same as OEM EF lenses).

I haven't been able to find confirm what focus drive is being used in the Yongnuo clones. Just from the price, I would guess it's micro motor, similar to what Canon themselves uses in their more entry-level models. That will likely be slower and noisier than both Canon STM (current 50/1.8) and USM (current 35/2, 85/1.8 & 100/2) focus drives.

So far there are only some head-to-head comparison, testing and reviews of the Yongnuo 35/2 and 50/1.8, up against the original Canon EF 35/2 and Canon EF 50/1.8 "II"... In general they appear pretty equal in sharpness in the center, but less so in the corners and edges (which isn't necessarily a problem, depending upon what's being photographed and what size sensor camera the lens is being used upon).

I have not been able to find out if the Yongnuo include a matched lens hood (nor if they use a mounting method that would allow the Canon hood or other clones of it to be used on the Yongnuo lens). The four Canon OEM lenses do not include the lens hood.... The OEM Canon hoods sell separately for between $21 and $49, depending upon model.

The discontinued Canon 50/1.8 II also used a plastic bayonet mount.... the Yongnuo all use metal bayonets, as do all the other Canon lenses mentioned.

Yongnuo also is making close copies of the Canon 1.4X III and 2X III Extenders (teleconverters). Again, not many reviews yet, but most are generally favorable. They follow the Canon design so closely that they have the same limitations... Protruding front element will only allow mounting these TCs on certain EF lenses... including Canon 70-200mm (all five), 70-300"L", 100-400 (both) and 200-400L zooms, and on Canon prime tleephots 135mm and longer. For more details, look for a Canon Extender compatibility chart (such as http://www.wexphotographic.com/blog/canon-teleconverter-compatibility-chart). Depending upon lens/teleconverter and camera combination, autofocus may not be possible, or might be limited, or AF performance may be reduced.

ballsafire Loc: Lafayette, Louisiana

Wow!! -- amfoto1, you should be paid handsomely for your work! Thanks for revealing this information. It was getting time for someone to do this! It is people like you who makes me proud to be a member of this forum!