Meike 85mm F1.8 Review: The Best Nikon Portrait Lens under $200.- ?
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- Опубліковано 7 лип 2024
- Meike 85mm F1.8 review for the Nikon Z mount and how good is this Nikon portrait lens considering it costs less than $200, £200 or €250. How could this possibly be any good?
Now considering this is an 85mm F1.8 AutoFocus lens that's just nuts...
You can get the Meike 85mm F1.8 lens here.... tinyurl.com/Meike-85mm-Nikon
Please note this is an affiliate link so if you purchase the lens through this lens it costs you nothing extra but you will be supporting this channel so thank you.
I take you through all of it's good points and bad points and ask is this a diamond or a disaster of a lens?
I have to say initially I wasn't sold on this 85mm F1.8 lens as how could anything this cheap possibly be ok? Surely this was going to be a disaster but thats where I admit I was wrong and for the right people this lens is pure gold.
You can find my blog post below on the Meike 85mm F1.8 review for the Nikon Z mount below where I will be adding more photographs and also some RAW files for you to download very soon.
www.landscapephotographyirela...
It has bucket loads of character, it's sharp and gives you amazing sunburst and all for less than $200, £200 or €250. I know that's nuts right?
So join me as I do this Meike 85mm F1.8 lens review and put it to the test on my Nikon Z8.
0:00 Intro
0:56 Unboxing the Meike 85mm F1.8
1:44 First Impressions
2:32 AF/MF switch
2:52 Mounting the Lens on the Nikon Z8
3:38 Lens Hood for the Meike 85mm F1.8
4:04 How it feels in the hand.
4:50 First slight issue.
5:15 Who is the Meike 85mm F1.8 lens for?
6:05 First Photographs with the Meike 85mm F1.8
6:27 Depth of field at different apertures.
6:49 Vignetting and distortion on the Meike 85mm F1.8 lens
7:04 Corner sharpness
7:36 Chromatic Aberration
8:08 Light leak on the Meike 85mm F1.8
8:57 Final thoughts on the Meike 85mm F1.8 lens after testing it.
9:23 This lens is not as good as the Nikon equivilent and why.
10:18 How good is the Auto Focus on the Meike 85mm F1.8?
10:46 Image Quality on the Meike 85mm F1.8
11:21 Sunbursts on the Meike 85mm F1.8
11:53 This lens has Charachter...
12:15 Things that annoyed me about the Meike 85mm F1.8
12:54 That lens hood...
13:26 Hand noise from this lens...
13:58 Would I buy this lens?
14:27 Advantages of this lens
14:57 Final Conclusion on the Meike 85mm F1.8
15:30 Outro and what do you think?
You can get the Meike 85mm F1.8 lens here.... tinyurl.com/Meike-85mm-Nikon
Please note this is an affiliate link so if you purchase the lens through this lens it costs you nothing but you will be supporting this channel so thank you.
I'm looking at €165 from a trusted seller in China postage included for the Canon EF mount, as Arlo Guthrie sang "don't touch my bag if you please Mr customs man" although on 2nd thoughts it would take me to around 126mm with the canon aps-c sensor so I'll pass.
€165.- would be a steal for that lens but ya with the crop that might be an issue depending on what you want it for of course. Thanks for watching and good luck with the lens hunt.
So I’m rebuilding my camera equipment around Z mount. I worked professionally before and getting back into it. Portraits (mostly families, senior portrait type stuff), events, weddings. I’m looking right now at the nikkor 105mm and 85mm. But seeing this lens, is it good enough for portraits professionally, allowing me to buy the nikkor 105mm and grabbing the nikkor 85mm in the future?
Now that's a good question. This lens works well and it's sharp enough, now if you pixel peep the Nikon 85mm is going to be sharper. Then again a certain amount of that comes down to the camera you are using it with also.
I have shot this on the Z8 and Z7ii and the results are good if not very good. This lens has great character, it's nice and light and it won't break the bank.
Where I always struggle to answer questions like this is can a lens this cheap be solely relied on to work every time and enter the pro realm? The answer I have for this is... have a backup with you and the 105mm is close enough to get you out of trouble if it happens.
I wouldn't worry about using this lens but I would start saving for the 85mm and do go the F1.2 route as that lens is awesome.
I'm wondering if you have compared the Meike 50mm 1.8 or Meike 35mm 1.8 to the Nikon equivalents? If so, what did you think?!
Hi Megan, sorry, I haven't used them as of yet, if I get around to trying them out I will of course post a video on them.
I’m confused with either to buy the Nikon 85.1.4 or the Nikon 85.1.8 but I come across this Mike lens can you help me make up my mind ?
If you are looking at the Z 85mm F1.2 or the 85mm F1.8 then the F1.2 is exceptional and you won't regret buying it. It's expensive but totally worth it.
@@kieranhayesphotography I currently have a Nikon d750 I’ll get a z6 in the future my budget can’t afford the 85.1.4 yet but my budget can buy the 85.1.8 in Nikon f mount any advice? I’m currently using a tameron 24-70
The Nikon 85mm F1.8 F mount lens is a very good lens, that's the one I would go for over the F1.4. It's a lot better than the 24-70 you have so it will be a big step up. If you are going to upgrade to the Z mount system soon you would be better off selling the 85mm F1.8 after a while then and buying the Nikon Z mount F1.8 or even better the F1.2
I Bought one in an special action on the Meike site. I think it was 175 euro all in. Weight is almost nothing, so as a photojournalist, often working in bad light conditions, I just put this one in my bag. It helped me out several times.
That was some bargain you got there. It's a true unbelieveable lens for the price and as you say it's very light also. How happy are you with the image quality?
and there is more lensflare than with Nikon lenses.
There certainly is, that can be both a good thing and a bad thing depending on how you are looking at it. Personally I love it.
I am doing some portraits with a 18-140 but it feels too soft sometimes, would this be a better lens for that? It seems like f2.8 is the sweet spot, right? thank you
Hi and thanks for watching. In order to answer that I have a few quick questions for you... What camera body are you using? Are the shots you noticed aren't sharp taken indoor or outdoors and are you using flash?
The reason I ask is the 18-140 is sharp enough but to get the best out of the lens you would have to stop it down to maybe F8 (depending on the focal length used) so you would be getting less light in which could be affecting your shutterspeed so you might be getting tiny amounts of motion blur or camera shake. The F2.8 apertrure will of course let more light in and give you a faster shutterspeed, while also giving you a nice shallow depth of field. If you are shooting in lower light you could still possibly pick up motion blur with this lens at F2.8 though.
@@kieranhayesphotography Thank you for answering my comment! I shoot with a Nikon D7100 and use two strobe lights, one Godox and an Neewer that provide plenty of light, I take portrait of preschool children which can be challenging because they won't stand still! 😂 but my Nikkor 18-140 is on the lower end of aperture with only 3.5f to 5.6f stops maybe is time to get the credit card and invest in this lens... right?
@@ksoriano9766 Yes, the f mount version of this lens performs well, it's not going to have class leading sharpness but the images still are sharp.
A tranquilizer gun works wonders for keeping the kids still 😂.
It should give you some very nice results though especially for the money.
Just come across this lens, I’m looking for a budget friendly lens to use on my Nikon D5300 for artistic brand and product photography, I’ve been told various different lenses which has become a headache to say the least, what’s your take on a lens like this for my needs please?
Hi Dave, something like this lens should work fine for you. The only issue is this lens is for the mirrorless range of cameras so sadly it won't work for the D5300. A 50mm F1.8 would be a very handy lens for you to have though.
@@kieranhayesphotography thank you for taking the time to reply its much appreciated, the reason I came across your channel and video was because I was looking on Amazon uk for lenses and came across this but it stated Nikon DSLR and listed the numbers so did a google search for reviews
$271.77 Canadian...interesting for sure if you need an economical 85mm lens. Odd question...how wide is the table in front of you end to end?
Hi Jason, yes it cetainly is an incredibly reasonably priced option alright. That is an odd question alright but it is also an odd table :-). I made that table as I just couldn't get the right sized one ready made. There are castor for the legs so I can just roll it out of the way also. It's 1.3m x 0.6m so a handy enough size, I also use it for product photography sometimes as well as a moveable shelf for clothing, jewellery, glasses etc on a shoot. It's a handy little thing with whole host of functions.
@@kieranhayesphotography Thanks...yeah, I knew it'd be an odd question. I have one, sort of (no legs, held up by a couple of saw horses out of frame in my vids) that's about 1.8m x .5m, but it's probably twice the length it needs to be...seeing yours I thought I'd ask. Having it being able to roll around would be great!
I want it in L Mount 😅 but bot 𝕱𝖔𝖈𝖚𝖘 by wire
Fingers crossed you get it 😉
If I didn't have a 85mm I'd get that lens ... 🦘
Hi Roy thanks for watching and yes, it's crazy value for money. Not as good as the Nikon equivalent but at that price it's just wow.
Is it good has the Nikon 85 1.8?
@DexMediaja it's not as good as the Nikon 85mm F1.8 but in fairness it's shockingly good for the price.
😀 "promosm"
Thanks.