Meike 35mm F1.7 for Fuji question

The meike 35mm f1.7 looks pretty nice for the price and I'm almost 99% ready to order one this weekend for a fun lens - you have it? Quality looks mental for the price...!

https://alikgriffin.com/meike-35mm-f1-7-review-sample-photos/

Anyone else's experience with this lens reflect the above...?

Anyone else had it and found it awful?

Anyone have it and find it great?

at £79 I can't believe the value, and I know how to manual focus as used to use a Pentax K-1000, Canon AE P, Olympus OM1 etc 'back in the days'...

Will be on my X-T2, though might get a 2nd 16mp body for it, like X-T1 or X-E2 and then the 23mm F2 which practically lives on my T-2 can stay there

I was thinking of the Viltrox 33mm F1.4 but 50mm eqvt is not something I'd use for fast work like street or doc anyway - I'd use my 18 on the 18-55 or my 23mm F2, so I don't need the AF motor and boy the Meike looks really good from the above link and is £200 less!!!!!!!

There's the old adage, you get what you pay for and the sub $100 lenses from the Chinese no-name lens factory might be a good example. I recently bought a TTArtisan 50mm f1.2 lens, $98 plus tax with free shipping. Solid metal and glass construction; no plastic except for the rear lens cap, and quite heavy. Even the front lens cap was metal. I saw loads of YouTube reviews saying how fantastic this lens was, but I couldn't get my copy to focus sharply on anything with my X-T1 or X-E1.

You also mentioned the Viltrox 33mm f1.4. Spend another $100 and get the Tokina ATX-M 33mm f1.4. I had both the Viltrox 23mm f1.4 and 33mm f1.4 that I used on an X-Pro2. Both produced CA and Vignetting, which has been mentioned by other users as well. The Tokina 33mm f1.4 is the identical twin of the Viltrox 33mm f1.4, both made back at the Chinese no-name lens factory, but Tokina paid Fuji to supply the electronics for the mount and the firmware, while Viltrox reverse engineered everything themselves and didn't quite get it right. You'll also notice the Viltrox lenses have a micro-USB port on the mount for firmware updates because they won't update through any Fuji cameras, while the Tokina lens works just like any Fuji lens.

Hi Bill thanks for your reply

Well the Tokina takes me into mint used Fujifilm 35mm F1.4 territory, so I guess I'd go Fujifilm

But this is not a FL I use often (24mm, 28mm and 35mm 135 eqvt is my happy times) and is more for a bit of fun and experimentation, so heck I pay £79 and get results like the reviewer in the link I posted did ('ve used manual focus primes with film so I'm confident with no AF) or I don't and resell it and lose the price of a coffee and a cheap lunch....

So really just wanting to find out if anyone had the same results as the reviewer or if he maybe just got lucky (to be fair to him he doesn't recommend all Meike lenses for Fuji, only two of them out of the whole stable, so seems reliable)

Anyone had this lens for Fuji?

Cheers

If you're going to use manual focus with Fuji lens than the three to use are the XF 14mm f2.8, XF 16mm f1.4, and the XF 23mm f1.4. All three have the snap-back clutch, so when you pull back the focus ring, you are in MF with hard stops at minimum focus and infinity, a short focus throw, and somewhat reliable DOF/Distance scales. Still focus by wire but does an excellent emulation of MF lenses.

I used my first adapted MF lenses on my old X-E2; my old Minolta MD 28mm f2.8 and MD 50mm f1.8. Both were almost 30 years old, loaded with dust, and you can see the CA from the samples. Samyang/Rokinon came out with a line of MF lenses specifically designed for APS-C and I bought four out of the five lenses they made at the time. My personal favorite was the 21mm f1.4. I also used a couple of my m-mount lenses on an X-pro2 that I kept after I sold my Leica M9 but getting old as dirt, I was also getting tired of fiddling with manual focus.

Minolta MD 50mm f1.8

Minolta MD 28mm f2.8. Lots of CA with this one

Minolta MD 28mm f2.8.

Minolta MD 50mm f1.8. Probably the last shot I took with the Minolta lenses.

The rest of the photos were shot with the X-E2 and Rokinon 21mm f1.4

Only interested in the Meike 35mm F1.7 in the OP title but thanks for posting

I have the Meike 35 f/1.4 and have found it to be a lot of fun to use!  The aperture ring does not click into place, so you need to be careful it doesn't change without you knowing it.  I actually just put the lens on my X-T3 the other day and plan to get out sometime soon and shoot with it.

Here's a shot I took with that lens during one of my many COVID walks around town.

Cool.  I know about the aperture being etc.

Essentially in the review he says the lens is sharp edge to edge stopped down as good most primes.  And wide open is great in the  centre and has decent oof rendering

Must say yourcshot has great colour and proves his first assertion correct!   Well I guess I've seen his photos too so that's proof of the pudding too

Will buy

Cheers

One of my best photos was taken with this lens. This is a crop mind you, I was standing on the hill above this turn, you're about.... say 50 foot from the track surface up there. Pretty good access.

jrk wrote:

I have the Meike 35 f/1.4 and have found it to be a lot of fun to use! The aperture ring does not click into place, so you need to be careful it doesn't change without you knowing it. I actually just put the lens on my X-T3 the other day and plan to get out sometime soon and shoot with it.

Here's a shot I took with that lens during one of my many COVID walks around town.

I also had a Meike 35mm F1.4 x-mount manual lens.  It's excellent!  I had heard the 1.7 version is a little bit sharper but bought the 1.4 version anyway.  I was quite happy with it, gave it to a friend as part of a starter kit.

I had the 1.7 and the image quality was pretty good for the price of the lens. I also liked the feel of the lens, except the clickless aperture. I migrated to the TTArtisan 35mm 1.4 which is around the same price and has a clicked aperture. Image quality is comparable to the Meike.

I currently don't have either one. I shoot with the voigtlander 40mm 1.4 instead, but if I ever sold the voigtlander, I'd probably go back to the TTartisan 35mm 1.4

I decided to pass on it a few weeks back but thanks for posting