Meike f/1.8 AF SEII vs Nikkor f/1.4 AF-S G 85mm Lens

This article is a comparison of the new Meike 85mm f/1.8 and my old Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 AF-S lens. Before I started this evaluation, I was thinking that my Nikkor would be the clear winner. I was wrong. It’s hard to evaluate how good a lens is unless you have something to compare it to.

Something that made this assessment difficult to do is the fact that these lenses aren’t the same focal length… The Meike seems to be about 88mm, compared to the Nikkor 85mm. When I would adjust distances to get equivalent image magnification, the depth of focus wouldn’t be the same.

Keep in mind that this Meike lens is made for cameras with Z-mount (Nikon), L-mount (Leica), E-mount (Sony), and EF-mount that can be adapted to Canon cameras.

I tested these lenses on my Nikon Z8 and Z9 cameras, which have the same sensor specifications.

Resolution

Although the Nikkor has a more even distribution of sharpness across its field of view, the clear winner here is the Meike.

Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 AF-S vs Meike 85mm f/1.8

At the “lenstip.com” website , their review of the Nikkor 85mm f/1.8 ‘S’ lens (NOT my 85mm f/1.4 Nikkor shown above) shows f/1.8 center sharpness as 55 lp/mm, which is quite a bit lower than the Meike. Their f/2.0 center got 58 lp/mm, which is again significantly lower. After that, the lenses get comparable measurements. This Nikkor 'S' lens costs about $800 US, or 3.5X more than the Meike.

Meike 85mm MTF50 resolution f/1.8, 2.0, 2.8

Meike 85mm MTF50 resolution f/4.0, 5.6, 8.0

Nikkor 85mm MTF50 resolution f/1.8, 2.0, 2.8

Nikkor 85mm MTF50 resolution f/4.0, 5.6, 8.0

LoCA (Longitudinal Chromatic Aberration)

This one is no contest. The Meike has essentially no visible LoCA.

Meike (left) vs Nikkor (right) LoCA (f/1.8)

The Meike looks totally neutral, but the Nikkor has the reddish foreground and green background.

CA (Lateral Chromatic Aberration)

Another clear win for Meike. It has a CA span of about 2 microns, while the Nikkor has a CA span of about 4.5 microns.

Meike lateral chromatic aberration f/1.8, 2.0, 2.8

Nikkor lateral chromatic aberration f/1.4, 1.8, 2.0

Bokeh

The out-of-focus quality is a complicated issue. Since the image magnifications and the minimum focus distances aren’t equal, it’s easy to fudge the contest. By getting slightly closer to the subject, it’s easy to get the background using the Meike lens at f/1.8 look about the same as the Nikkor lens at f/1.4.

I found the virtual absence of LoCA with the Meike makes background highlights look nicer than the Nikkor in most cases.

I also think the Meike wins with the shape of highlights near the frame edge.

Meike f/1.8 left, and Nikkor f/1.4

Weight and Size

Meike is 379 grams.

Length: 100.2mm, Diameter: 76mm

Nikkor is 595 grams.

Length: 84mm, Diameter: 86mm

Meike wins here, being almost half of the weight.

When mounted using the FTZii adapter and using the lens hood, the Nikkor is actually about 20mm longer than the Meike.

Weather sealing

Nikon claims the 85mm Nikkor is “weather resistant”, which means that you get $0.00 refund if you’re in heavy rain and ruin the lens.

Both lenses have a rear rubber gasket for sealing. Be careful out there.

Diaphragm

Nikkor 85mm has 9 blades.

Meike 85mm has 11 blades.

Meike wins here. More is better.

Filter

Meike is 62mm, while Nikkor is 77mm.

62mm is cheaper.

Distortion

Neither lens has any visible distortion.

Build Quality

The Nikkor wins here for overall sealing and overall better materials.

Focus Scale

The Nikkor wins again, since it has a focus scale and the Meike doesn’t.

Vignetting

The lenses look about the same for vignetting, with a slight win for the Meike. I tend to actually add vignetting to my pictures, and photo editors make it trivial to get rid of it.

Meike f/1.8 left, Nikkor f/1.4

Focus Speed

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

Minimum Focus

Minimum focus on the Meike 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.

The Nikkor is a bit irritating here, with a miminum focus of 0.85 meters (33 inches). Just not close enough.

A clear win for the Meike.

Focus Consistency and Accuracy

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 on the Meike 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. You'll probably want to start with autofocus, and then touch-up the focus manually to get there quicker.

The Nikkor wins here. Autofocus is slow, but a bit more accurate. It’s almost impossible to tell the difference from the Meike most of the time. Manual focus is better than the Meike, with a lot less focus ring rotation required.

Spherical Aberration

Meike focus position f/1.8 (left), f/2.0, f/2.8

Meike focus position f/4.0 (left), f/5.6, f/8.0

Nikkor focus position f/1.8 (left), f/2.0, f/2.8

Nikkor focus position f/4.0 (left), f/5.6, f/8.0

Spherical aberration causes a focus shift by merely changing the aperture. This happens with nearly every high-speed lens.

Meike focus shift between f/1.8 and f/8.0 is 19.1mm

Nikkor focus shift between f/1.8 and f/8.0 is 18.6mm

This is just about a tie, given measurement uncertainties. The chart size and focus distance go into these focus measurements, so it’s only the relative measurements that have meaning.

It’s critical that your camera be able to focus at the shooting aperture to compensate for this focus shift. Nikon mirrorless cameras do focus at the shooting aperture (through f/5.6), so you never see this focus error unless the focus shifts beyond f/5.6. Beyond f/5.6, the narrow apertures will hide any focus shift problems.

Cost

The 85mm Nikkor cost me $1,200 US when I got it, and it was $2,200 at introduction. The Meike cost just $230 US.

No contest. You could buy the Meike and also 4 backup lenses.

Summary

Just get the Meike. I’m sure it’s not as robust as the Nikkor, but you could always buy a replacement if something happens.

Technology gets better and better as time goes by. Old lenses really start to show their age.