Meike has made great strides in the field of photographic lenses and their latest release, the 25mm f/0.95, is no exception. This lens is designed for mirrorless cameras.
Lenses this bright were only available at very high prices until a few years ago. For example, the Leica Noctilux 50mm has a price tag of over 10,000 euros! Even the Nikkor Noct 58mm f/0.95 has a price tag of around 9,000 euros. Nowadays, several Chinese manufacturers are introducing super bright lenses at much lower prices. In this case, Meike offers it at around 350 euros. Obviously, given the low price, some compromises had to be made in terms of performance and quality, but finally, very bright lenses for shooting in very low light or for very soft out-of-focus shots are within everyone’s reach.
I have used this lens on my recent trips and on more than one occasion it has proven to be very useful. An example: a few days ago I was in the Lofoten Islands in Norway. Unfortunately, due to bad night weather and little activity, the auroras only appeared for a few moments and with a low intensity. With the naked eye it was difficult to distinguish them in the sky, but with a very bright lens like this Meike, as soon as I turned on my camera I could clearly distinguish the green glow of the Northern Lights both in the viewfinder and on the display. The aperture so wide allows you to capture a lot of light, avoiding long exposures or the use of high ISOs. Compared to the other photographers who were with me, but who did not have lenses of similar brightness, it was much easier for me to take photos in just a few moments. The others had great difficulty both in seeing it on the camera and in capturing it.
Build quality:
The lens comes in a nice white box (see images). The Meike 25mm f/0.95 is a well-built lens with a noticeable feeling of solidity. It is made entirely of metal and weighs 621g. The lens has a diameter of 62mm and a length of about 103mm, which makes it a relatively compact lens for having such a wide aperture. The lens hood is integrated but very short. You must therefore pay attention to side lights if you want to avoid flare, halos or loss of contrast.
It is completely manual and without contacts. The camera will therefore not be able to automatically recognize the installed lens and will not report in the shooting data, neither the focal length used nor the aperture used during the shots.
The focus ring is fluid but with a slight roughness in the rotation. This is rather short and about 45°. Just to make a comparison, the Nikkor 58mm f/0.95 has a rotation of about 350°. However, depending on the situation, this can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. The minimum focusing distance is 25cm; good for close-ups. By rotating the focusing ring from infinity to the minimum distance, the lens extends by about 46mm but without rotations of the front element. The aperture ring is fluid and without clicks between the various apertures (useful in this case especially for those who make videos). The diameter of the thread for circular filters or holders is 62mm.
Optical Performance:
One of the distinguishing features of the Meike 25mm f/0.95 lens is its fast maximum aperture of f/0.95. This allows for a very shallow depth of field and beautiful creamy bokeh thanks to 13 blades. The lens has 11 elements in 9 groups. At f/0.95 you can take not only photographs but also video in critical lighting conditions without having to resort to using very high ISOs. The lens’s sharpness at f/0.95 is decent considering the wide aperture. At the minimum focusing distance, however, the images lose a lot of detail. Comparing it with other lenses capable of reaching f/0.95, I was surprised by a more than satisfactory quality. Other f/0.95 lenses had left me a bit perplexed about their usability at full aperture. With the Meike, however, the contrast at f/0.95 is decent if not used at very short focusing distances and improves a lot already at f/2. The sharpness and maximum performance are obtained at f/4 where these become really very good.
The control of aberrations is good and finds me with a positive judgment even at full aperture, something that I had instead found very poor on other lenses of equal maximum brightness. Nikkor 58mm Noct excluded, which reaches performances never seen before.
Flare and halos are present at the widest apertures but still at a more than acceptable level and without obvious loss of contrast. A defect that is much more marked on other f/0.95 lenses. Especially in videos, these defects can still give character to the shots. Less appreciated, however, usually in photographs.
The blur and the bokeh are one of the strong points of this lens. The extreme brightness combined with the 13 blades make the background soft and pleasant. The bokeh at f/0.95 is cat’s eye shaped and becomes circular from f/1.2 onwards.
The star that forms at the most closed diaphragms is quite marked, with 13 long tips and just as many shorter ones. However, it has several sometimes annoying fringing.
Vignetting control is also good even at full aperture and tends to disappear after f/2.8.
There is some whisker distortion, which is difficult to remove even in post-production, at all focusing distances.
Focus:
The Meike 25mm f/0.95 is a manual focus lens, this could be a problem for photographers who only use autofocus. However, thanks to the focus peaking or the magnification of the focus point of the Nikon Z, they make the use not too complicated. Only the infinity focus is a bit critical at the most open diaphragms given the very short range in which the ring must be positioned. The position must be calibrated carefully since it is not at the end of the stroke but in the segment that indicates the position of the infinity symbol. The lens has a minimum focusing distance of 0.25 m, which allows close-up shots with a very pleasant reduced depth of field.
Price:
The lens is priced competitively compared to similar lenses from other manufacturers. At the time of writing, the lens is available for around €350, which is very low for a lens of this speed. This makes it a very interesting option for photographers who want a fast lens without breaking the bank.
Compatibility:
The Meike 25mm f/0.95 lens is available in several mounts, including Nikon Z, Sony E-mount, Fujifilm X-mount, Canon M and RF, and Micro Four Thirds. I have also used this lens on my full-frame Nikon Z cameras in DX mode without any issues.
Defects:
absence of tropicalization and electronic contacts, although more than normal for a lens of this cost.
Optical performance not high at the widest apertures, but even in this case more than justified by a truly very advantageous price.
