Meike 85mm F1.4 Auto Focus review
Meike 85mm f1.4 lens review — Introduction
I’ve been a fan of Meike lenses for a LONG time, as you’ll probably notice on my blog and YouTube channel! This, however, is the first auto focus lens that I’ve tried of theirs. I have to say, I am very impressed! I took the Meike 85mm f1.4 auto focus lens to a beautiful field with some friends to put it through its paces. Meike sent me this lens for review, but no money has exchanged hands. Here are my honest thoughts below, and plenty of test images.
Oh, and I shot the L Mount version, with the lovely Lumix S5iiX, but this lens is also available in Z mount and E mount.
Meike 85mm Build Quality
I think the latest iterations of Meike lenses look super premium. The Meike 85mm f1.4 has a metal — clicky — aperture ring, and a metal focus ring too. The build quality is lovely, but I do think it’s quite a heavy lens. I’ve owned the Sigma 85mm 1.4 as well as the Lumix 85mm f1.8 (more comparisons later!) and it feels very similar to the Sigma in terms of weight. This isn’t much of an issue with the S5iiX, but I wouldn’t want to pair this lens with the new Lumix S9 (written review here), as it would make the setup pretty front-heavy.
The aperture ring is SO satisfying, to the point that I found myself playing with it while we scouted out the field for photo opportunities. This lens feels a heck of a lot more premium than its (very attractive!) price tag.
There are 12 aperture blades, which makes for really pleasing and smooth bokeh. The filter thread is 77mm which is ideal for me as an L mount shooter, as that matches many of my existing lenses.
Meike 85mm Bokeh
Let’s talk bokeh! I shot the vast majority of this day wide open at f1.4 — I think that’s probably the aperture people will be most interested in seeing, myself included — and I have to say it impressed me a ton. Take a look at the corners of these images below. I find there’s a subtle swirly nature to the bokeh — it’s perfect for portraiture! — this lens is the best of both worlds, in my opinion: there’s plenty of character around the edges, but in the centre it’s nice and sharp, even wide open.
Seriously… take a closer look! (and yes, one of us did dress up as a dinosaur for the shoot…)
So how is the Auto Focus?
With Meike being relatively new to auto focus lenses, I imagine there might be a bit of caution here. I found it worked absolutely great on my Lumix S5iiX. I even tried some burst mode shots of dogs running towards the camera. I think the hit rate wasn’t quite as stellar as a native Lumix lens might be, but let's be honest, an 85mm f1.4 portrait lens isn’t exactly built for burst modes to begin with. For portraiture, finding eyes through the flowers etc. it worked great. I’d say Meike have hit the ground running with their auto focus. It’s also a very quiet lens too as it finds focus. This lens would be more than capable of a confetti burst mode shot or similar.
Meike 85mm f1.4 auto focus competitors
So what else could you buy instead? On the L mount, there are currently two options, and I’ve owned them both, and I have thoughts!
Currently, the Meike lens is just £400 (!) Honestly. What?! Incredible! Of course these things are always changeable, so click here to see the current price in your currency of choice on the Meike website. At the time of writing, the Sigma 85mm f1.4 is currently £879 on Amazon (check it out here for the latest price) so it’s over double the cost and change.
The Lumix 85mm f1.8 is currently on Amazon for £572, so that puts the Meike at the cheapest by a LOT. Like… a lot a lot.
So what are the pros and cons of these lenses? Well. The Lumix 85mm lens is by far the smallest and lightest, though you do drop to an f1.8 aperture. This also has the added benefit of matching all their other 1.8 primes, so you can share filters and balance it instantly on gimbals, and spend half your life pulling the wrong lens out of your bag because they’re all literally identical. Just me on that last one? Possibly. It’s a fantastic lens. Fantastic. But if you’re itching for that 1.4 goodness? Let’s talk…
The Sigma 85mm f1.4 was my go-to wedding lens for ages. It is a beauty. I did find that the images were quite washed out when shooting at f1.4. It wasn’t anything too drastic — nothing a bit of “dehaze” couldn’t fix — but I didn’t see the same phenomenon half as much with the Meike. Which is interesting, really, given the price. Also, there’s no way in hell I would shoot the Sigma without its lens hood for this reason, and I shot all the images in this blog without the included lens hood on the Meike.
(I know, I know, I should use lens hoods. But they’re just such a FAFF, and I value keeping my kit as small as possible. So I don’t tend to use them. So yay, with the Meike, I don’t have to.)
I love the “3d pop” the Sigma gives, and I’m really happy to see great separation and that un-scientific “pop” in the Meike glass too. The Sigma is a great. But is it over twice-the-price great? I honestly don’t believe it is.
If you value size, weight, and perhaps want to own the full set of Lumix 1.8 primes, then the Lumix offering is wonderful. If you want some f1.4 goodness? Now that I’ve tried them both I’d save some cash and get the Meike, personally. I didn’t know the price of the Meike 85mm when I received it, and I honestly expected it to be loads more. It just feels premium, and hefty, and high quality.
(All these photos are edited with my lovely “Radiating Beauty” preset pack by the way, specifically the preset “Purple Undertones” which worked perfectly with the flowers!)
Meike 85mm f1.4mm auto focus final thoughts…
This lens is incredible value for money. I keep coming back to this again and again. Everyone I’ve showed this lens to assumes it costs way more than it should. I think for the longest time, L Mount was perceived as a pricy-but-nicey sort of system which priced a lot of folks out all together! But now, with third party options like this Meike lens, the system is going to thrive.
If you’re on the hunt for a fabulous f1.4 portrait lens, then you cannot go wrong with this Meike 85mm f1.4!
Check it out on Meike’s website here