Cabin on the edge of the universe by Darwin. Milky Way from the Balcony. Taken with a Canon 6D and Rokinon 14mm f/2.8

Taken with a Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8. Combined 30-second exposures @ ISO 2000 and ISO 640 (to reduce foreground grain). Blended with LR/Enfuse. Click to view a larger image.

The Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 and Rokinon 24mm f/1.4 lenses are great lenses for night photography and are fairly low-cost, but they do have somewhat complicated distortion and vignetting characteristics. Fortunately, these are easily correctable in Lightroom with a good lens profile.

The profiles below also work with the equivalent Samyang, Bower, Pro Optic, etc lenses. Although these profiles have been updated for a Canon 6D, they were originally created for, and should work fine on other full frame cameras.

Hard work is rewarding. Taking credit for other people’s hard work is rewarding and faster.” – Scott Adams

Thank you Sven Stork, Thomas Berndt, and Russell Cottrell for doing all the legwork in creating these.  I’ve merely updated the metadata for my Rokinon lens and/or Canon 6D model. Please pay them a visit – particularly if you have a Nikon body and just can’t bring yourself to select Canon as make when applying these in Lightroom.

After downloading, copy these .lcp files into the file location below, based on what operating system you are using:

Profile File location in Mac OS X:

  • /Users/[your user name]/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CameraRaw/LensProfiles/

Note: The user Library file is hidden by default on Mac OS X 10.7 and later. For temporary access to the user Library file, press Option and choose Go > Library in the Finder.

Profile File location in Windows 7, 8 and 10:

  • C:\Users\[your user name]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CameraRaw\LensProfiles\
Milky Way. Taken with a Canon 6D and Rokinon 24mm f/1.4

Taken with a Rokinon 24mm f/1.4. 20-second exposure @ ISO 2500. Click to view a larger image.

After copying the files, restart Lightroom, check Enable Profile Correction in the Lens Corrections section of the Develop Module. Choose Canon as make (even if your camera is not Canon), and the new profiles will appear as options under “Model”.

I haven’t tried it, but for those with a cropped sensor, the Adobe Lens Profile Downloader (Mac, Win) has a Samyang 14mm Lightroom profile (f/2.8 IF ED UMC Aspherical lens) for the 1.6 crop factor Canon 40D (by Alban Leroux).

I’ve been very happy with both of these lenses. The lenses are very sharp if you get a good copy, and several reviews have noted that they have better coma correction than the top Canon and Nikon wide angle offerings, which is extremely important when capturing stars.

Unfortunately, as with many third party lenses, there can be quite a bit of sample variation. I did need to return the first copy of each of the two Rokinon lenses I purchased. The first copy of the 14mm lens was extremely soft on the left side unless stopped down, and the first copy of the 24mm was way too soft wide open at f1.4.

La Grande Arche de la Défense, Paris by Darwin. Taken with a Canon 6D and Rokinon 14mm f/2.8

Taken with a Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 . Click to view a larger image.

Louvre - Neon and Glass by Darwin. Taken with a Canon 6D and Rokinon 14mm f/2.8

Taken with a Rokinon 14mm f/2.8. Click to view a larger image.

circulation-de-l'arc-de-triomphe by Darwin. Taken with a Canon 6D and Rokinon 24mm f/1.4

Taken with a Rokinon 24mm f/1.4. Click to view a larger image.

Louvre At Night by Darwin. Taken with a Canon 6D and Rokinon 14mm f/2.8

Taken with a Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 . Click to view a larger image.