Meike 85mm f/1.8 AF SEII Lens Review

Here’s a lens review that I’m excited to present.  I have found a lens that really over-performs, given its price. This version of the lens is for the Nikon Z-mount, but Meike also makes it for E (Sony), Leica L, and EF (Canon with RF adapter) mount cameras. I have read that all of these mounts have the same optical design. This is a full-frame lens.

Meike 85mm f/1.8 AF SEII lens with hood

• Minimum focus 0.65m (2.1ft) (22 inches from lens front, measured)

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• STM stepping motor autofocus

• Aperture range: f/1.8 to f/16

• 11-blade diaphragm

• 62mm filter thread

• 11 elements, 7 groups

• Length: 100.2mm, Diameter: 76mm

• Weight: 379 g (super light)

• AF/MF focus switch

• USB-C plug for firmware upgrades

• Plastic bayonet lens hood, reversible for storage.

• Weather sealing: only a rubber seal on the lens rear.

• No lens case included, just a lens cap for the front and rear.

• Vibration reduction: none. (My mirrorless cameras have IBIS, which means this lens omission is a “don’t care”.)

Meike 85mm without bayonet lens hood on Nikon Z8

11-blade diaphragm for great bokeh

Lens rear: USB-C plug, rear gold contacts, red weather seal

I have had my Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 AF-S G lens for about 13 years, which cost $1800 US (the introduction price was $2,200). This Meike lens beats it in nearly every way, and it costs about $230 US. Almost 10X cheaper than the Nikkor at introduction!!

I have found that my Meike 85mm seems closer to 88mm in focal length. My Nikkor 85mm is definitely a bit wider than this Meike lens.

This lens feels almost like you don’t even have a lens mounted, because it’s so light. Carry it all day long, and hardly even notice it.

It’s probably unwise to use this lens out in the rain. I think that the only weather sealing is at the rear mount of the lens.

85mm f/1.8 1/20,000s ISO 250

Transmission

The actual light transmission of a lens is usually different from the stated speed of a lens. For example, my Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 lens is actually a “T1.6” lens, or 1/3 stop dimmer than advertised. Using this Nikkor lens as a reference, I found that in the photograph shown above, the Meike lens shutter was 1/20,000s, while my Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 lens shot at f/1.8 needed a shutter speed of 1/16,000s for the same shot at the same ISO. This would indicate that the Meike 85mm lens transmits 1/3-stop more light than the Nikkor did, making the Meike a true “T1.8” lens.

Bokeh

In the past, I avoided considering f/1.8 lenses if the f/1.4 equivalent lens was available. After doing comparison tests, I have found that it’s nearly impossible to tell the difference between f/1.4 shots and f/1.8 shots. Bokeh looks nearly identical, and the depth of focus is extremely similar. I’m no longer quite so smug about the f/1.4 lenses.

The bokeh seems a bit nicer than my Nikkor 85mm lens at equivalent apertures. Due to the extremely small loCA aberration, there’s no purple/green coloration on out-of-focus highlights (especially compared to the Nikkor lens).

85mm f/1.8 1/5,000s ISO 100 (cropped image)

Even at f/1.8, this lens is sharp. Stop the lens down for focus depth adjustment, but don’t worry about sharpness at any aperture.

Freezing a humming bird’s wings isn’t easy, but f/1.8 helps with being able to use fast shutter speeds.

85mm f/1.8 1/400s ISO 560

Minimum focus 0.65m (26in) f/1.8

Focus

Minimum focus is specified to be 0.65meters, or 26 inches. I physically measured minimum focus to have the lens front at 0.56m (22 inches) from the subject.

I timed focus, and it took 0.416 seconds to focus from 0.8m (33in) to infinity. Much faster than my Nikkor 85mm lens, which took 0.575 seconds over the same focus range. This is in bright light.

I noticed that the Meike autofocus is slightly inaccurate, and it depends upon which direction focus is changing from. You may never notice this inaccuracy, especially if you stop down from maximum aperture. My focus measurement software is really picky, and it consistently shows tiny focus errors that correlate to which direction the lens is focusing from.

Manual focus is going to cause people to either love it or hate it. It takes multiple rotations of the focus ring to focus throughout its entire range. This means that you can really fine-tune focus. For speed, stick with autofocus.

Vignetting

Uncorrected vignetting: noticeable

The shot above was done at f/1.8, and you can definitely see vignetting.  It’s super easy to fix it using an editor, if it bothers you. The little blue numbers in the chart above are the MTF50 resolution measurements at each black trapezoid edge, measured in line pairs per millimeter.

Distortion

I look at the edges of my resolution chart for any distortion. I didn’t notice any.

Resolution

Here’s where this lens really shines. Incredible numbers, given what this lens cost. It smokes my Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 AF-S G lens for sharpness.

MTF 50 resolution at f/1.8 (left), f/2.0, f/2.8 (right)

Peak center resolution at f/1.8 was 64.8 lp/mm. Best edge was 50.3 lp/mm, and best corner was 36.8 lp/mm.

Peak center resolution at f/2.0 was 69.3 lp/mm.

Peak center resolution at f/2.8 was 73.8 lp/mm.

MTF 50 resolution at f/4.0 (left), f/5.6, f/8.0 (right)

Peak center resolution at f/4.0 was 78.2 lp/mm.

Peak center resolution at f/5.6 was 75.9 lp/mm.

Peak center resolution at f/8.0 was 67.3 lp/mm.

MTF 50 resolution at f/11.0 (left), f/16.0 (right)

Peak center resolution at f/11.0 was 56.8 lp/mm.

Peak center resolution at f/16.0 was 44.5 lp/mm.

These numbers are crazy good. I’ll never know if Meike has consistent manufacturing control, or did I just get an amazing anomaly?

Lateral Chromatic Aberration (CA)

Lateral chromatic aberration (CA) f/1.8, f/2.0, f/2.8

Lateral chromatic aberration (CA) f/4.0, f/5.6, f/8.0

Lateral chromatic aberration (CA) f/11.0, f/16.0

These are some of the lowest amounts of lateral chromatic aberration that I’ve seen in a lens. The camera used here (Nikon Z8) has 4.35 micron pixels, and you basically cannot see CA unless the measurements exceed a pixel in size.

This kind of lens defect shows up most clearly as a purple color around tree branches against the sky in the photograph corners.

Longitudinal Chromatic Aberration (LoCA)

LoCA for Red (left), Green, and Blue (right), f/1.8

The focus-shift along the lens axis for the red, green, and blue light rays is called “longitudinal chromatic aberration” (LoCA). If the focus shift is the same for each color, then there is no LoCA. The red distance from the chart center is 1.2mm nearer. The green distance is 4.8mm nearer. The blue measurement is 4.0mm in nearer. The measurements here are quite astounding for a fast lens. Usually, I see measurement differences in the tens of millimeters between the R,G,B channels. This means you don’t see the green fringe behind and the red/purple fringe in front of a neutral-colored subject.

Most photo editors don’t handle LoCA correction very well, if at all.

Infrared

It depends; there’s a slight hot-spot in the middle of the frame with long-wave IR. Not terrible, but definitely there. It gets worse as you stop down. I tested it with an 850nm filter.

850nm infrared, f/1.8 1.3 seconds ISO 8000 (in wind)

Note the light circle in the sky behind the palm. In a pinch, you can use an editor to make it look acceptable.  Smaller apertures make the problem much worse.

720nm IR filter works okay. f/5.6 1/30s ISO 8000

For shorter-wavelength IR, the lens seems to work just fine, at any aperture.

Flare

The lens coatings are pretty good. No fluorine coating, but that would probably drive up the lens cost.

85mm f/16 1/1000s ISO 250

Resistance to lens flare is pretty decent. Leave the lens hood on anyway; it protects the lens front.

Spherical Aberration

Tons. Every high-speed lens I have ever tested shows this same defect. Focus definitely shifts as you change the aperture on this lens. My Nikon mirrorless cameras (Z8, Z9) focus at the shooting aperture. This then eliminates any missed focus problems due to spherical aberration. Many cameras only focus with the lens aperture wide-open, which is a huge problem when using lenses with spherical aberration.

I test this lens issue by only setting focus once at the widest aperture. I then take pictures of my focus chart at each aperture without re-focusing. The MTFMapper program lets me analyze the focus chart choosing either the red, green, or blue sensor pixels. The shots below are measured using the green pixels.

Focus position at f/1.8, f/2.0, f/2.8

Focus position at f/4.0, f/5.6, f/8.0

The focus position at the various apertures tested shifted between +6.2mm to -12.9mm, just by changing the aperture. The camera was 1.16m (46 inches) from the focus chart.

Lens Firmware Updates

The USB-C plug in the back of the lens is used to update the lens firmware, via the Meike website.

This is a lot nicer than having to purchase a separate docking station for lens updates.

Meike 85mm at f/4.0 1/2500s, ISO 250

Summary

Get this lens. I don’t think you can find a better price/performance ratio than this. I don’t get any money from Meike, so I don’t get any kickbacks if you buy their lenses or not. In the future, I'm going to pay a lot more attention to Meike lens offerings.