Chinese lens manufacturers have upped their game during recent years. The more keen readers are probably aware of Viltrox and Laowa by now. Meike may not be a household name in the West but they have been around for quite a while. And they are beginning to move up the food chain lately. Their latest and greatest lens is the Meike AF 85mm f/1.4 MIX II. As the name implies, this is their 2nd generation fast medium tele lens. It retails for just $569 and is available for E-, L- and Z-mount cameras which the latter variant being discussed here. You even have a color choice between black, white, and a black/white mix.
The Meike lens is somewhat large yet lightweight at just over 650g. The low weight is achieved via good-quality engineering plastics based on a metal mount. The broad plastic focus ring turns smoothly. There is, of course, a dedicated aperture ring that can be “de-clicked” and locked. It doesn’t have to most luxurious feel to it but it does the job. There’s also a customizable Fn-button and an AF/MF switch. Weather-sealing is a bit basic with just a mount gasket to prevent water/dust-ingress at the rear. However, the internal focusing provides some protection as well. A barrel-shaped lens hood if provided.
The 85mm f/1.4 MIX II uses a “hyper STM” (stepping motor) for autofocusing. It’s reasonably quick but not aligned to sports photography.
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Optical construction | 15 elements in 11 groups (1x aspherical) |
| Number of aperture blades | 11 |
| min. focus distance | 0.81m (max. magnification: ?) |
| Dimensions | φ 85 x 110mm |
| Weight | 656g |
| Filter size | φ 77mm |
| Hood | barrel-shaped, bayonet mount, supplied |
| Other features | aperture ring (de-clickable) aperture lock mount gasket Fn button USB-C port for firmware updates |
Distortion
The Meike AF 85mm f/1.4 MIX II produces a slight pincushion distortion of ~1%. This is usually not disturbing. There is, however, no built-in correction profile for this.
Vignetting
Ultra-fast lenses tend to produce a significant amount of vignetting at large apetures. However, the Meike lens does a good job in this respect. At f/1.4 the light falloff reaches ~1.4 EV (f-stops) in RAW files. This is visible but certainly not dramatic. This is much reduced at f/2 and almost gone from f/2.8.
There is a correction profile available for vignetting. If activated, the vignetting is much reduced at f/1.4 and negligible from f/2 already.
MTF (resolution at 45 mp)
This is where the Meike AF 85mm f/1.4 MIX II really baffled us. The broader center is bruttally sharp at f/1.4 and even the borders are excellent here. The corners are still very good at this setting. Stopping down lifts the quality a bit further but given how sharp the lens is already at f/1.4, this has a marginal effect. Diffraction effects set in at f/8. The quality is still very good (just) at f/11, and f/16 should be avoided as usual
The centering quality of the tested sample was good. Field curvature is low.
Please note that the MTF results are not directly comparable across the different systems!
Below is a simplified summary of the formal findings. The chart shows line widths per picture height (LW/PH), which can be taken as a measure of sharpness. If you would like to know more about the MTF50 figures, you may check out the corresponding Imatest Explanations.
Chromatic Aberrations (CAs)
Lateral CAs are almost absent. According to Meike, the lens only has an aspherical element so the degree of correction is truly surprising here once again.
Bokeh
Out-of-focus highlights are very clean at f/1.4 with just a hint of a substructure in the inner zone of the discs. There is a slight outlining effect and a “stepped” edge.
When looking at the whole image, the circular highlight shape is maintained in the broader center but there is the usual deterioration to “cat eyes” towards the corners. The “perfect” zone is broadening the more you stop down and the corner discs are restored from f/2.8.
The general blur in the focus transition zone is very smooth in the image background (shown to the left below) . The foreground blur (to the right) is more busy (double-edged).
Bokeh Fringing (LoCA)
LoCAs are a color-fringing effect on the Z-axis. They show up as purplish halos in front of the in-focus zone and greenish/bluish beyond.
You can spot some of this fringing at f/1.4 below although this is comparatively well controlled here. Traces remain at f/2.8 and the effect is mostly gone from f/4 as usual.
If you look closely, you may observe that the focus point shifts to the rear. These are “residual spherical aberrations” or RSAs. It does render the initial focus point out of focus. However, keep in mind that this is only relevant at close focus distances. You may also notice that the rendering is a bit soft at f/1.4 so there’s no close-focus correction (e.g. via floating focusing system).
Competition
The Meike AF 85mm f/1.4 MIX II has two direct competitors in Nikon Z-mount – the Viltrox AF 85mm f/1.4 Pro Z and the Sirui Aurora 85mm f/1.4. There is, of course, also Nikon’s own Z 85mm f/1.2 S but that’s in a different price universe. On the slower side there are numerous f/1.8 options if your speed requirements aren’t as ambitious. Optically the Meike lens has a bit of an edge over the Viltrox lens specifically at f/1.4 (at least based on the samples that we tested). The Viltrox lens does have better build quality, though. We have yet to test the Sirui but most external reviews point to a softer performance in comparison.
If you are an E- or L-mount user, you also have access to the Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DN DG ART which is a great albeit somewhat more expensive option.
Sample Images
The Meike AF 85mm f/1.4 MIX II delivers surprisingly high results. In terms of resulution, it is tack-sharp up to the borders and that's straight from f/1.4. The corners are still very good at this setting. Stopping down to medium apertures results only in a marginal improvement simply because there isn't really much to improve on anyway. Lateral CAs are negligible, and axial CAs, while present, are fairly low for this type of lens. The bokeh is mostly smooth. A weakness is the focus shift when stopping down although that's only relevant at close focus distances. The flare resistance is typical for a medium-tele lens.
The build quality is fine although professional users may desire a bit more here. The lens feels a bit plasticy and weather sealing is rather basic. On the positive side the extensive use of plastics also translates to a low weight. The AF is quite quick and virtually silent but don't expect it to be a speed demon.
Overall, we've been quite impressed by the Meike AF 85mm f/1.4 MIX II and it is a value recommendation.
The lens can be purchased via the Meike Store and, soon, via the usual retail channels.
The Good
- Exceptionally sharp straight from f/1.4
- Low lateral CAs
- Pleasing bokeh
- Affordable
The Bad
- Feels a bit plasticy, only basic weather sealing
- Slight focus shift when stopping down
- Softens a bit at close focus distances
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Optical Quality9
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Build Quality7
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Price / Performance10