Meike 50mm F2 Review
Wow a review! Everyone loves those right?
I generally don't review equipment, mainly because of my lack of qualifications to do so. However, occasionally I will find myself with a piece of kit that I feel so strongly about that I need to vent.
The Meike 50mm F2 is one of those.
I first saw the Meike by accident on Amazon, and was intrigued by the idea of a cheap, fast 50mm made in the XF format. I waffled on the purchase, but eventually pulled the trigger, a wise choice.
The lens is well made, solid and compact, with a clickless aperture ring and a well machined smooth focus ring. That matters a great deal, as the lens of course, is only manual focus.
Attached to the Fujifilm Xt10, the Meike creates a lovely look, and it a perfect size for the little APSC Camera.
On the X series camera, manual focus lenses are a dream to use. Hitting the rear dial punches in to 100% magnification for easy detail adjustments, while focus peaking is a treat to use.
I haven't done enough serious shooting with the lens, but today I took it out for a quick walk with the missus, and came away very impressed with the quality of images it can render.
Most of the images in this post were actually JPEGS, shockingly. Although I tend to shoot Raw, I occasionally find myself using the film emulations. Because the light was rather nice today, I kept most of the JPEGs and tweaked them. Fuji JPEGs are wonderful for shadow retention, although naturally highlights that are blown, are a thing of the past.
Focusing seems incredibly easy - especially stopped down to f7.1 or 8 - it's impossible to know the exact number. For the shot above, I had my camera set to Black and White, with a Red Filter, and spot metering. With some exposure compensation dialed in, I got the shot effortlessly, despite almost running to keep up with an ever so slightly impatient wife.
I love the way the lens renders images. Combined with Fuji's x-trans sensor and film reproductions, there's a difficult to define luminance to them. Not the sharpest images of course, although the lens is quite sharp stopped down.
Most importantly, the lens is just fun to use. I really enjoy the process of shooting with it.
In short, for an Fuji XF user, I'd have to say I recommend this lens. It's fun, light and fast. You simply can't go wrong - not at 100 Canadian dollars.