Meike MK 25mm F1.8 Large Aperture Wide Angle Lens Manual Focus Lens for Sony E Mount Mirrorless Cameras A7III A9 NEX 3 3N 5 NEX 5T NEX 5R NEX 6 7 A6400 A5000 A5100 A6000 A6100 A6300 A6500

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This is just a plain and simple nice lens. Its made of metal, even the lens cap, so it feels very solid, but its still fairly compact. If your camera has focus peaking it becomes very easy to use this lens, as you can easily see what is in focus on your screen/EVF. Im a noob using a Olympus OMD EM10 Mk ii, but I think Ive been able to take some decent photos with my first non kit lens. This is the perfect choice to try out a manual lens, you might find its fun like I did!

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Its not quite wide angle on an APS-C sensor, but at an equivalent 37.5mm focal length, this lens is nice as a single walk-around for compact cameras like the A6500 and similar bodies. Its close enough to the "normal" range of field of view to be useful in street photography, and its small size wont draw much attention. Overall, the build quality is quite good, with metal just about everywhere (including the lens cap!). As a result, its also quite heavy for its size. Focus ring is smooth and even turning, as is the aperture ring. Image quality is excellent, with good sharpness (especially in the center), accurate color rendition, and decent contrast. Vignetting is present at wider apertures, although its not distracting. At the price point, its an extreme value for those looking for a manual focus lens that is compact, rugged, and sports a fairly fast maximum aperture.

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I bought this lens for my Canon M6 camera, and yes as a warning this and the other line of Meke, 7artisans, and other lenses are FULLY MANUAL so you have to go to your camera CUSTOM FUNCTIONS and ENABLE release SHUTTER W/O LENS option in order to take pictures with this or any Canon M Series, or frankly any mirror less camera brand besides maybe I think Olympus. And you will NOT get any SHOOTING APERTURE OR FOCAL Length EXIF data for your photos, you will get shutter speed and ISO data, so if you like to organize your photos this way say in Lightroom, or etc, plan ahead. NOW that thats out the way: This lens is a great addition to either a kit lens or even if you already own Canons great 22 MM f2.0 STM prime lens and other M Series lenses. The reason why is that I feel it is a great lens for "walk around" casual photography, including street or landscape photos, and also regular family and friends photos. The Meke ( also sold under the Opteka brand sometimes) series of lenses that I own so far, this one and the Opteka 35 mm f1.7 lenses are very sharp for their price range, and I would even dare say their sharpness rivals the regarded Canon 22 mm (as far as Canon M primes go), havent tried the new Canon 32 MM f1.4, looks great and also $$, but the MEKE lenses colors do seem somewhat more muted than Canon primes (testing with the same photos), but I dont necessarily think this is a bad thing. Canons prime lenses are known for their "color science" but its also kinda like driving a muscle car 5 blocks to the grocery store, there is alot of power there, but more than you sometimes need for casual photography. I like the fact that the Mekes lenses look in a way more "cellphone like" in a good way. Meaning that most of the photos you would take in JPG format (I know the photographer SIN of not shooting in RAW) would be acceptable for posting to social media with very little color editing IMO. Overall these lenses are a great value and you could buy all three of MEKEs manual primes (the 25mm, the 28 mm, and the 35 mm) and still spend less than on the new Canon 32 mm (and I love Canon glass btw!): Uses: For Amateur/Hobbyist Photography Street Photography Landscape Casual (Not Professional) Portraits Static Scenes (Car-shows, Nature, outdoor well lit concerts ) Static Night Scenes Not Ideal for: Action Photography "Up Close" Sports Low Light, High Action (i.e Parties or Wedding Hall ) Professional Use ( For demanding High Resolution Photos)

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Honestly, this has become one of my most enjoyable lenses to use. Something about manual focusing thats just very satisfying. I shoot with a Canon EOS M50. The lens is extremely well built and feels heavy. The focus rings are smooth and are just stiff enough. Obviously there are far better lenses than this in terms of optical quality, but for an amateur like myself, I really couldnt be happier with it! If you need a cheap 25mm lens, this one is excellent!

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I use this lens with an Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II. All I use is manual fixed lenses - no automatics at all. This is a good lens. Once one understands the basics of using manual lenses, I see no disadvantage to these verses any automatic fixed lenses. I now own three Mieke manual lenses - the 25mm, 35mm, and 50mm; and I also have a manual Rokinon 12mm. The 25mm lens is great for close up shots - indoor party type events with people in close quarters, and better for group shots than the other two. This lens is good when you need to focus quickly for close up shots ( I always use the focus peaking and sometimes the magnifier features on the camera). If you try to focus close up the same way using the 35mm or 50mm lens, it just will not focus like the 25mm. You have to know what works well for each lens. Each one has their sweet spots. There is a myth that manual lenses do not work with action or motion pictures. That is absolutely not true. I have zero problems capturing motion pictures, and I have taken far more than a few of them. Once you understand getting the appropriate lighting with a fast shutter speed, appropriate distance, etc. such pictures are a piece of cake. Using manual lenses may push you to learn a few things about the lenses that you may miss if you only use automatic. Once you learn, I see no advantage over the automatics. Photoshop can always enhance the photos youve taken. I use Adobe Lightroom for all my shots. I highly recommend this lens as well as the others from Meike. Save your money. Buy these. Use them. Learn and they work fine. I love the fact that the camera and this lens are small. I usually carry 2 lenses with me in a very small camera case. If I were to spend a lot more money, the one advantage would be to have a great automatic zoom lens so that I would not need to deal with changing lenses for different shots. But that is very expensive.

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Full disclosure: I was given a free copy by Meike to review. With that being said, if you know how to use a manual lens with focus peaking you will be able to take great shots at an affordable price. Its well made and produces sharp images. My only knock on it, is that the dot on the lens to align it to the camera body is on the bottom instead of on the side like the Sony native lenses. Makes it a bit easier to mount the lens especially when youre trying to do it quick to avoid having the sensor exposed to the elements. Ive had it for the Sony e-mount system!!

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I was really impressed with this lens. Back in the days of film, I used to shoot manual focus, first SLR (MInolta XD-11), then rangefinder (Bessa R). Manual focus is not a problem for me. Even if new to it, It really shouldnt be for you either, provided your camera has focus peaking. Without that, I would find using my MF gear a real chore. I frequently take my camera out with a small set of primes. Lenses that I kept from my rangefinder days. I had a 50mm, 90mm, and 135mm. Of course, with MFT this gives a 100mm, 180m, and 270mm 35mm field of view equivalency. Clearly I needed something to replicate the 50mm field of view on a 35mm camera. I tied the Panasonic 25mm f1.7, but it wasnt for me. Visually meh (though sharp) and with focus by wire as my only manual focus option, it really didnt go with my other primes. I started hunting around for a good solution. While researching, I came across a review of this lens, along with some sample images. I really liked the sample images, and when I saw the price, I decided to take a shot on it. So how does it stack up? The build quality is very very nice. Far nicer than one has any right to expect, given the price point. It feels tough and solid, without being too heavy. Bigger than my old rangefinder glass, but not by too much. The metal construction is really first rate. Focus and aperture move nice and smoothly. The image quality is surprisingly good. Nice and sharp at the center, just a little softening at the edges, like most lenses. That said, Since my edges are already softening on a MFT sensor, I would suspect that might possibly be an issue if using it on an APS-C sensor. So why only four stars then? Well three things, none of them major, and only one of them any kind of real inconvenience. First, that clickless aperture ring. I know, I know, lots of people like them, especially for video. For my purpose it is a negative. I cant move the aperture and know where it is without looking. Not a major inconvenience and your preference might vary from mine. Second, f11 and f16 are so close to each other that you cant really select f11 with any confidence that is where you have it. Not an issue for how I shoot with this lens 90% of the time, but occasionally Id like to meter with my hand meter and set the aperture accordingly. This takes away f11 as a real option for that. Third, that depth of field scale. It might as well have had numbers put on it randomly. This is the one thing that really is an issue for me. When out and about, I like to set a distance on my lens, and see the range of what will be in focus. This often allows me to get a shot quickly, that I would otherwise have missed. You simply cannot do this with this lens. The focus markings are not even in the ballpark of accurate. A shame really. So do I still recommend this lens? Yes, very much so. I find myself using it more and more, and the quality to price ratio is crazy good. The flaws are minor compared to what you get from this lens. If you are on the fence about trying it, I urge you to go ahead and get one.

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Bought this for night shots on a tripod and it is perfect for that. Lens is well built and the aperture and focus rings are smooth. Sharp even at f2 considering price. It is a full manual lens so it is not great for fast "point and shoot" photography but it is a joy when you have time to sit and focus it. My only slight gripe is that my lens moves a decent amount past infinity focus but it might just be my lens. Using the focus magnifier on my Sony a6000 makes up for it. (Two Month Update) This lens is still performing as well as I expected. As I got more familiar with the lens its becoming my go to for most shots. Its plenty sharp for me and I cant wait to see what I use it for next.

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I love this little lens. It reminds me in smoothness and general quality of the nice 1960s Takumar lenses on Pentax cameras of that era. I got it primarily to shoot infrared on a Kolari-modified Fuji X-E2 -- you would be shocked at how many expensive lenses are rubbish when it comes to infrared. The Meike 25mm f1.8 is not perfect in this regard, but its great in color up to f5.6, and in black-and-white up to f8, which is remarkable. The lens is a delight to use, sharp, and just-right as to contrast. Its wont to flare, so a good hood is a must.

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This is a nice lens. Its very good nearby and produces pictures with a lovely DOF, even on a MFT camera. Manual focussing is good nearby, but can be a bit difficult at infinity. My copy focusses past infinity, and you certainly do not want to trust the distance marks on the lens. It is sharp nearby, but only moderately sharp at infinity, and you have to use f8 or beyond to get good results there. The f stops marks do not match reality very well on my copy, and you have to close it down more than the marks suggest. So, to get f8 you have to put in on f11. (I just look at the shutterspeed, and estimate from that what the aperature is). Anyway, if you can handle these small annoyances , the results are quite good and the lens is definitely worth its price

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