On June 25, 2026, LK Samyang announced the AF 60-180mm F2.8 FE, a full-frame telephoto zoom for Sony E-mount developed in collaboration with Schneider-Kreuznach. What made us look up from the desk isn’t the focal range — it’s the weight: 730 grams without caps and hood. In plain terms, this is a constant f/2.8 playing in 70-200 territory at roughly half the weight of the usual suspects.

The specs that matter

The optical formula uses 17 elements in 14 groups, with 1 HR lens, 7 ED elements and 2 aspherical elements, plus Samyang’s UMC coating. The diaphragm has 9 blades and stops down from f/2.8 to f/22. Here’s the rest of the numbers:

  • Weight: 730 g without caps and hood
  • Size: 149 mm long at 60mm, extending to 174.4 mm at 180mm; maximum diameter 86.7 mm
  • Filters: 77 mm — a standard thread that shares NDs and VNDs with half your kit
  • Minimum focus: 0.35 m at 60mm and 0.79 m at 180mm, with 0.26x maximum magnification
  • Autofocus: Linear STM motor with a floating focus design
  • Body: sealing against dust and moisture, AF/MF switch, focus hold button, zoom lock and a USB port for firmware updates

It’s an externally extending zoom: the barrel grows by about 25 mm at the long end. If you live on a gimbal you’ll be rebalancing between setups, but at this weight that’s a much smaller headache than it used to be.

Why we care — especially here in Abruzzo

Anyone shooting documentaries or branded content around here knows the drill: the best locations — Gran Sasso, Majella, hilltop villages — are often reached on foot, and every kilo in the backpack counts. A 730 g f/2.8 tele on a Sony FX3 is a genuine shoulder-and-backpack setup. On a gimbal it’s a different life altogether: an FX3 plus the 60-180 sits comfortably within the payload of a DJI RS 3 Pro, with headroom left for a monitor and a mic, where a traditional kilo-and-a-half 70-200 forces compromises.

In our view, starting at 60mm instead of 70mm is smarter than it looks: 60mm is an interview and medium-shot focal length, so you swap lenses less on days that mix talking heads and detail work. In the field we still want to see how the autofocus tracks on working Sony bodies like the FX6, but the Schneider-Kreuznach name is a calling card Samyang has never been able to play before.

The Compact Zoom Series: 14-180mm with three lenses

The 60-180 completes the Compact Zoom Series alongside the AF 14-24mm F2.8 and AF 24-60mm F2.8: continuous coverage from 14 to 180mm at a constant f/2.8 with just three lightweight zooms. For a solo operator heading out for two days of shooting in the mountains, that’s a full kit in half a backpack; for a rental house like ours, it’s the kind of set you assemble and hand over in ten minutes.

Price, availability and the usual question

The Korean list price is 1,290,000 KRW, around 840 USD; at announcement time the US price hadn’t been confirmed yet — let alone the Italian one. Sales started on June 25, 2026 with progressive global distribution through the LK Samyang network, so it will take some patience before it reaches European shelves.

Is it worth buying? If you need a tele three times a year, we’d say no: ownership only makes sense with steady use, and for budget-conscious productions renting remains the sensible route. Once it lands in Italy we’ll evaluate it for our own lens fleet; in the meantime you’ll find Sony bodies, lighting and support gear in our equipment catalogue.

Sources: the official announcement on the LK Samyang website and the coverage by Newsshooter.