Meike MK-35mm f/1.7 EF-M Lens

Meike MK-35mm f/1.7 EF-M Lens also known under the Neewer brand name.

Very inexpensive at $79, free 3 day shipping and no tax. Also, pretty good reviews for sharpness other than softening at the edges. If you don't have to have the very best edges, this lens at f1.7 should do nicely in low light situations like in our church. It is totally manual meaning focus and aperture. It has been noted that the M50 camera must be set to "take pictures without lens". No matter to me at this point. If my memory is correct, the build quality is good and made of metal. I will know on Thursday the 11th of this week as that is the delivery date.

Surely this lens will be far from the Canon EF-M 32mm lens in IQ, but if it lives up to the reviews, I will be satisfied. I found this lens while relooking at Canon's counter part. I believe this lens will do even if "just do" is what it is.

Being very interested in what other photographers think of this lens, good or bad, I would like to hear your say.

It can be returned since it was purchased from B&H Photo if it turns out to be dissapointing.

Give me something to think about before it arrives if you will.

Many thanks,

Dan

I tried it out in e-mount a while back for about an hour (I make little videos about gear at my local camera shop). It is a neat lens that can be bought new at a low price. The click-less aperture has its uses, especially in video. Build quality felt really solid. If I didn't already have the 32mm f1.4, I'd consider it.

WOW, thanks for the encouragement

Dan

It's pretty much exactly as you describe it. Of course the 32mm f1.4 is quite a lot better, but it's a lot dearer. The Meike is excellent for the money - quite well built,and pretty decent optically, so long as you can accept weaker edges and corners - I would say overall, it's better than you might expect for the money.

Thank you for the conformation of "good enough".

Dan

This reviewer notes: "f/2.0 gave the same shutterspeeds as f/1.7". It might be wise to stop it down a little for this reason, as there is no benefit at f/1.7 (no shorter shutterspeeds) while there is a downside (more vignetting, less contrast, less sharpness, and - a downside in some cases - a shallower DOF).

To my eye the lens looked nice at f/2.8 in this review. Between getting best sharpness and having low enough ISO noise i think the sweet spot will be between f/2.0 and f/2.8.

I think you made a very smart choice buying this lens!

Try to practice a little with manually focusing at 10 times magnification. Focus peaking is nice, but if you have enough time 10 times magnification is more precise. Let me type a little guide here for you:

Set your lens to manually focus (you need to do that in camera with ef-m AF lenses, with the Meike you don't have to do anything as it is manually focus by nature). If focus peaking is turned on you can focus globally using this first. Next: There are two buttons at the back below the on/off switch. Push the lowest one. A box appears. Move the box by dragging it with your thump at the back screen (you can still look through the viewfinder doing this, which helps to get the camera stable) to the place the box at the main subject. If the box is there, you can magnify what's in the box by turning the dial. The dial gives 3 steps: no magnification, 5x magnification, 10xmagnification (and can be turned in both directions as many times around as you like). When the main subject is magnified pull focus ( me as a young kid don't need to explain this to you as an experienced photographer ). When your done, push that button again to get the whole frame again to check composition. Take your picture.

Maybe this way of focusing is more precise than you might need, however, when testing a lens i think this is the best way.

Hmmmm, I am going to have to study your instructions a bit to get them hard packed in my mind. I certainly like what you are describing. I have used focus peaking and do not really like it nor am I good at getting best focus with it. I also used magnification by touching the magnifying glass on the screen. That works pretty good, but would seem to be far less accurate than what you point out. Three magnifications to work with. I will be working on that very soon. Would like to have that under my belt before balcony shooting Sunday.

Thanks as always for your time and willingness to help,

Dan

-----------------------------
Christian Amateur Photographer
Choose life's involvements carefully with an eye toward eternity.

Dan Hudson said:

Hmmmm, I am going to have to study your instructions a bit to get them hard packed in my mind. I certainly like what you are describing. I have used focus peaking and do not really like it nor am I good at getting best focus with it. I also used magnification by touching the magnifying glass on the screen. That works pretty good, but would seem to be far less accurate than what you point out.

Click to expand...

Oh, very good you're already familiar with that. It is exactly the same process, however, it is more nice to use buttons while holding the eye to the view finder. You only need to do some practice, that's all. Remember: there's a sunday every week, you don't have to master it all the very first sunday with your new lens .

Dan Hudson said:

Three magnifications to work with. I will be working on that very soon. Would like to have that under my belt before balcony shooting Sunday.

Thanks as always for your time and willingness to help,

Dan

Click to expand...

If you have questions: feel free to ask.

I have printed out your instructions so I can benefit from them while experimenting.

Thanks again, especially for the willingness to answer my questions,

Dan

--
Christian Amateur Photographer
Choose life's involvements carefully with an eye toward eternity.

So nice to have 10x magnification for manual focusing. I had to set, in custom functions...enable shutter function with no lens & was told you can leave that on even with auto focusing lenses.

Thanks for all your help,

Dan

Dan Hudson said:

Meike MK-35mm f/1.7 EF-M Lens also known under the Neewer brand name.

Very inexpensive at $79, free 3 day shipping and no tax. Also, pretty good reviews for sharpness other than softening at the edges. If you don't have to have the very best edges, this lens at f1.7 should do nicely in low light situations like in our church. It is totally manual meaning focus and aperture. It has been noted that the M50 camera must be set to "take pictures without lens". No matter to me at this point. If my memory is correct, the build quality is good and made of metal. I will know on Thursday the 11th of this week as that is the delivery date.

Surely this lens will be far from the Canon EF-M 32mm lens in IQ, but if it lives up to the reviews, I will be satisfied. I found this lens while relooking at Canon's counter part. I believe this lens will do even if "just do" is what it is.

Being very interested in what other photographers think of this lens, good or bad, I would like to hear your say.

It can be returned since it was purchased from B&H Photo if it turns out to be dissapointing.

Give me something to think about before it arrives if you will.

Many thanks,

Dan

Click to expand...

I'm interested.

Well, it was a nice try. It did everything nicely other than focusing manually for me. I just have too much trouble focusing with either "focus peaking" or "magnifying 5% or 10%" . Never knew when it was spot on plus the extra time it took me to manually focus. So I just returned it to B&H & ordered the Canon EF-M 22mm which is auto focusing. Still think the lack of IS could be a problem, however seems the 22mm will be better stabilized, since it is a wider view at 22mm than the 35mm, being less magnified. Waiting on the EF-M 22mm lens to arrive on Friday.

Thanks to all who gave advise whether taken or not.

Dan

--
Christian Amateur Photographer
Choose life's involvements carefully with an eye toward eternity.