Purchasing a camera lens is an important step for any photographer. There are many different options and prices out there and what you buy will influence your photos. First and foremost, you need to buy a lens based on your needs. While established big-name camera brands like Canon, Fuji, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, and Sony are well known, for novice photographers or those on a tight budget, they may seem too expensive. However, do not despair, as there are some manufacturers offering high-quality and affordable lens options. Today, we introduce a great range of lenses from a new camera lens manufacturer—Meike—and hope that we can help you with your purchasing decisions.
Table of Contents
Meike 35mm F1.4
If you are on a tight budget, but still want to take high-quality images, then the Meike 35mm F1.4 is a great choice as it is an affordable and portable lens thanks to its low (190g) weight and short (7.1cm) length, and it costs only US$99[.1]. With 8 elements with 9 aperture blades, this lightweight lens offers users pleasing bokeh. The lens, with its well-damped focus ring and durable metal lens cap, is well made and feels very smooth. According to Meike’s official website, the Meike 35mm F1.4 is compatible with Fuji, Sony, Canon, and M43 camera mounts.
When it comes to image quality, it offers great (very sharp) detail in the center of an image but it is a little soft across the corners. However, when stopping down to f/4, the corners improve. The Meike 35mm F1.4 performs well in chromatic aberration and has no significant flaring issues when shooting in bright light. It has significant barrel distortion and a noticeable vignetting at f/4, but if you stop down to f2, it is much better. One negative is that it is not weather-sealed so need to be careful when taking photos on rainy days or in bad weather conditions. Despite these reservations, the micro-contrast is great.
If money is no barrier, then the Fujifilm XF 35mm f/1.4 R Lens offers great performance in all aspects. However, if you don’t want to blow your budget, then the Meike 35mm F1.4 or its partner lens, the Neewer 35mm F1.7, are good choices. Compared with more expensive camera lens options, the Meike 35mm F1.4 has some technical and design flaws but it is still a good choice in terms of enjoyment and price.
Meike 28mm f/2.8 Fixed Manual Focus Lens
The Meike 28mm f/2.8, an affordable and portable camera lens, is a wide-angle lens suitable for landscape and portrait photography. With its metal construction and paired lens cap, the Meike 28mm f/2.8 consists of 6 elements in 5 groups and 9 diaphragm blades offering a pleasing and smooth bokeh. Therefore it can be paired with many camera mounts, including Sony, Fuji, Canon, and M43. This lens offers a 35mm format (the equivalent of 42mm and 56mm separately). It has no click stops, meaning you need to set the value when looking closely.
When it comes to image quality, f/4 gives good image sharpness and it reaches its peak in terms of sharpness when stopping down to f/5.6. It has some noticeable vignetting but that gradually disappears at f/5.6. In terms of its chromatic aberrations and distortion, it is well controlled and pleasing.
Meike 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens
Meike often produces some good lenses that cost less than other first-party lens manufacturers. The Meike 8mm f/3.5 fisheye lens is a typical example, and it is reasonable quality and affordable fisheye lens for many photographers. With 11 elements in 8 groups as well as 9 blades, it offers an attractive circular aperture. Weighing in at 519g, it is suitable for general use, such as street photography. It has a minimum focus distance of 3.94 inches.
As for image quality, it performs well at f/3.5 to f/4.8 and it rises to its peak at f/16. But its edges or corners are a little soft, and sharpness falls away at f/22. However, it has good saturation. One negative is that the lens hood is a poor fit and it is difficult to focus manually correctly. And there is some noticeable (although low) fall off at f/3.5. But one advantage is its resistance to flash, when it performs excellently, even in bright light.
Meike 25mm F1.8 APS-C Large Aperture Wide Angle Lens
With good quality and a reasonable price, the Meike 25mm F1.8 is a superior multi-coated camera lens. We know that many photographers just want to buy affordable lenses for fun photo-shooting. Well, Meike has just released this cheap and good-quality Meike 25mm f1.8 lens, which may fit the bit. This lens can offer equivalents of 50mm and 37.5mm, respectively, and it has a smooth aperture and focuses rings. Furthermore, it is easy to carry around; it is only 170g in weight, 61mm in diameter, and 41mm in length.
It consists of 12 elements in 10 groups as well as a 9-blade aperture diaphragm, meaning that it can offer a good and pleasing bokeh. In terms of image quality, it has good sharpness in the center of images at f/0.95, is excellent at f/2, and is perfect from f/2.8 to f/8. But one negative is that it is a little difficult to maintain the shot at a wider aperture and to obtain good results you need to take multiple shots when shooting moving subjects. Additionally, it suffers from significant distortion and it has a minor flaring issue.
Meike 12mm F/2.8 Ultra Wide Angle Lens
The Meike 12mm F/2.8 is another great lens. With its affordable price tag, it offers a reasonable price and a good user experience. [.1] This lens is portable thanks to being 380g in weight, and it offers a great bokeh effect because of its 9 blades and 12 elements in 10 groups.
The Meike official website states that this lens has a multilayer nano-technology coating, meaning that this lens can reduce flare and contrast. For its focusing ring, it feels solid and smooth because it consists of metal and is covered with good-quality rubber. It also has a minimum focusing distance of 10mm, allowing photographers to get closer shots and to isolate the subject from the background well. In terms of its image quality, it is very sharp in the center when stopping down to f/6.7 to f/11. But, as we all know, the corners are less sharp at f/8.0. One of the negatives is that there is some purple flare. When shooting in bright light. But don’t despair, you can use the lens hood to avoid shots that are too light.
Meike 6.5mm f/2.0 Fisheye Lens
The Meike 6.5mm f/2.0 lens is the preferred choice of many novice photographers because it offers good value for money and good results. The Meike 6.5mm f/2.0 deploys 6 elements in 5 groups and 9 blades, which offers some pleasing bokeh. Thanks to its small size (61 x 51.5mm) and weight (300g), it is portable and fits nicely inside your bag. With its high-quality, multilayer nano-coating, it can reduce flare and offer a good resulting image. It is ideal for video makers because it is equipped with de-click stops so they can shoot videos quietly based on their needs. The lens cap is made of metal and fits snuggly.
In terms of its image quality, there is excellent sharpness when stopping down to f/2 and f/2.8, and it reaches its peak from f/2 to f8. However, when it comes to its edges or corners, it is less sharp at f/2, but when you adjust the aperture to f/2.8 to f/16, the sharpness improves.
Meike 3.5mm f/2.8
The Meike 3.5mm f/2.8 is an ultra-wide-open camera lens with a super low price that appeals to many photographers. Thanks to its good build quality and manual controls, it is loved by many users. Compared to the similar Laowa 4mm f/2.8 lens, the Meike 3.5mm f/2.8 is lightweight and can be used as a walk-around lens. It consists of 10 elements in 7 groups and has an aperture range from f/2.8 to f16 and a focal range from 0.095mm to infinity. Additionally, the Meike 3.5mm f/2.8 has a minimum focusing distance of 3.5mm, suggesting you can get closer to your subject and capture a great fisheye photo. As with other affordable Meike camera lenses like the 6.5mm f/2.0, it is also equipped with a multilayer nano-technology coating, offering improved color, reduced glare, and eliminated ghosting.
Meike 50mm F1.7 Focus Lens
If you want a budget-priced lens for your camera, then the Meike 50mm F1.7 is a good option. The prime lens is compatible with a full-frame as well as APS-C cameras. This lens is more compact than Sony’s inexpensive FE 50mm F1.8, and it is almost the same size as Samyang’s AF 45mm F1.8 FE. The Meike 50mm F1.7 (weighing in at 310g) is a good fit for the Canon RF, Nikon Z, Sony E, Fujifilm X, and M43. The focusing distance of the lens is 50cm, and if you want to get closer to your subject, then an extension tube is needed to help you get sharper results. With its 52mm filter thread, it doesn’t allow users to rotate on focusing. Another downside is its lack of depth-of-field markings, making it difficult to zone-focus.
With its 12-aperture blade iris, this lens can offer users a nice bokeh shape, even when you stop down to f/5.6. If you take some wide-open shots, it can capture some fine detail in the center of the frame but it is a little soft across the corners. As for image quality, it performs very well with center sharpness and it reaches its peak at f/5.6 to f/8. There are some reductions in clarity, but it is well controlled.
In terms of its edge sharpness, it is pretty good when stopping down to f/8. The lens gets excellent corner sharpness at infinity focus. For its micro-contrast, the Meike 50mm F1.7 offers good micro-contrast performance and classic rendering.
It is well-suited to photographers who want a decent and cheap camera lens. Indeed, if you are on a budget, then the Meike 50mm F1.7 meets your needs.
Meike 85mm F/1.8 Full Frame Lens
The Meike 85mm F/1.8, with high quality at an affordable price, is perhaps the most popular full-frame camera lens out of the options outlined here. It is lightweight and portable thanks to its 79mm length, 75mm diameter, and 420g weight. It is made of plastic but it still feels solid and modern. There is a USB port so users can update firmware anytime anywhere. It employs 9 elements in 6 groups, and it has an aperture range of F1.8–F22 as well as a minimum focusing distance of 85cm. It’s great lens hood greatly reduces flare. One downside is that this lens has noisy autofocus, which may rule it out for serious wildlife photography, however, it may suit your needs for shooting in other settings like on the street or indoors. Additionally, it has no image stabilization, so it is not a good option for shooting videos.
In terms of its image quality, at f1.8 and f2.8 the center sharpness performs very well and there is some visible chromatic aberration. For its edges or corners, it is a little soft. At f/5.6, the center’s sharpness reaches its peak. The lens bokeh is great and there is little distortion. Compared with the Canon EF 85mm f/1.8, it is priced well. In summary, if you want to shoot some street, landscape, and portrait photography with a good budget lens, then the Meike 85mm F/1.8 meets your needs.
Now, is a good time to pick one of these lenses and add it to your camera lens bag. These camera lenses will help you capture some amazing images.
