It's certifiably better than Samyang/Rokinon's 12mm f/2.0. This new Meike lens offers better sharpness, lower vignette, better contrast, lower chromatic aberration, and finally much much MUCH better flaring resistance compared to Samyang/Rokinon's 12mm...
A relatively pricey lens from Meike who normally offers a comprehensive range of budget priced no-frill manual focus lenses. Except for what looks to be a wavy field curvature this lens is very good optically overall. You may have to stop down at least to f2.8 or f4 to minimize that flaw for even results in most scenes, though.
I really like your reviews and your calm voice. The testing is always done the same and to a high standard The only think I question is the way you test for flaring. Why do you do this only at night? This lens can produce some wild flaring against sun from what I've seen online. Why not add this to your test in future ..?
As always, congratulations for the review, but I have an important question: which lens offers better image quality and result, the Nisi 9mm or this Meike 10mm f2? If you could only choose one of the two, which would you keep?
Meike 10mm f/2 or Rokinon 12mm f/2? yeah, it's about a 3mm equivilent difference, but the Rokinon can be found for 1/2 the price new, and less than 1/4 the price used.
@@thenorth9159 i dont think so. Chris did a review for the Rokinon lens and i currently own one. The image quality if amazing. The Meike 10mm maybe on par.
@@roastedlion1 you should watch that video again you can clearly see that the samyang is much worse, it cannot compare to viltrox 13mm f1.4 and this meike.
I actually bought a Meike lens recently and I'm very happy with it so far. The Meike Optics MK 8mm f/3.5 fisheye lens. I use it mainly for astrophotography, because It's really sharp into the corners and has no coma. But, like this 10mm lens, it can't focus very close. only 35cm. which is so far, that, when you focus back and forth all the way, you really see no difference in the view finder. But it almost doesn't matter where you put it anyway. Which leads me to a funny thing about the 8mm lens, it has a very long focus distance for some reason. You can turn the focus ring almost all the way around the lens, for extra fine precission. Which seem rather pointless. Maybe you can test it some day? Maybe compare it to the Samyang 8mm, because they are very similar? I mean, I already have it, but I'm just curious what you think.
My inner cynic wonders how a random lens purchased at retail would perform in comparison? On the upside, I'm sure they actually tested this one before they shipped it, which is better than they usually manage... In their world QC is a barrister, I'm pretty certain they've never even heard of the other meaning ;)
I am not Chris but, i Thin, if you want it small and light-LAOWA if you want for astro you are on the safe side with the Meike, the vignette on the laowa is over 3 f stops. if corrected by 3 stops then in the corners iso 2000 becomes iso 16000 if you correct by only 2 stops, you are already at 8000 and you will still get noise and a vignette will remain visible. The Meike has aperture F2 you can use half ISO 1000 not 2000 The Meike has only -1,7 vignette that can just be corrected that from iso 1000 only iso 3200 the vignette is zero. the noise is acceptable. Laowa its nice the for most cases But with the Laowa you always have to make a compromise with astro. I had the Laowa, it is already suitable for ASTRO, but no matter how much rework you put in you will never have a perfect result The Meike is almost perfect for ASTRO. if you can live with twice the weight and want better results in Astro then I would recommend the Meike. In the german fuji-x-forum there are some infos for the Meike and their vignettes. i can't send a link ( youtube rules)
@@tycjanjakubczyk I would take the TT and try it out. The Mike is too heavy, the distortion, and the weight is too high for me, and in relation to the weight it is too slow because it is far away from T2 rather 2.5 fast. (I'm glad I don't have the Mike any more, only for astro the Mike was better than the Laowa, but almost 400 g more ? The Laowa is very good but has a crazy vignette. This can not be corrected 100%, even at F8 the vignette is still very strong, and can be corrected easily. With Astro at f2.8 I was not able to correct the vignette perfectly. I think with the TT the vignette is not so strong, but the sharpness is far from the Laowa, so I would test the TT for 170$, if it is too blurred, maybe 50 are lost when reselling. Alternatively if you have Sony I would look at the 11mm. Apart from the narrow wide angle, I'm very happy with it. The Laowa 8-16 could also be good for architecture.
mind boggling! With so many excellent China-made prime lenses, how do we choose the best?! :) For fujifilm users, it seems the 10-24mm WR is seeing less and less interest.
it depends on what you want to do with it, if you want it small and light and with AF, okay but if it is for astro then the Sony is definitely the worse choice. The vignette is with the sony in RAW at 2.9 f stops. if the is corrected by 3 stops then in the corners from iso 1000 iso 8100 the noise will be noticeable. even if only corrected by 2 stops you are already at 4000 and you will have slight noise and a vignette remains visible. The Meike has only -1,7LW that can just be corrected that from iso 1000 only iso 3200 the vignette is zero. the noise is acceptable. AF on astro is terrible, you can't see from outside on a timelps if the focus has shifted, and have to stop to check an image, even with tape the focus on the 16-55mmG has slipped for me. With a manual lens, I don't have to adjust the focus at night in the display, because I know where the focusing has to be. Both lenses have advantages and disadvantages, for astro you are on the safe side with the Meike, if that is not so important then the sony is the best.
I love your reviews and value them, but I’m not so sure about the recommendation of this lens… It’s almost the same price to the Sony 11mm with af. The lens corner image quality is not that impressive. The price is too high for what this lens offers. I will purchase the Sony 11mm instead of this lens if I was in the market for this focal length…
I would likely agree, they seem more or less the same price; yes 1mm (10 vs 11) makes a difference but 55mm filter thread instead of 77mm and exif info makes a difference to me
@@sonacphotos DSLRs have a much better battery duration because they don‘t have a power consuming EVF. Mirrorless are for those people who think that they need video capabilities and a high fps rate, which makes sense for sports and wildlife. For the rest it does not really matter.
It's a 10mm lens made for a aps-c camera ( witch normally have a Cropfacter of 1.6 ) Witch would mean that it's equal the a 16mm and not a 15mm ( at least that's what my calculator say)
@@6042833 ohh okay ( i just always read and heard/was told it was 1.6 so thats where mine was based on xD ( and in that case/those siturations where it is 1.6 i was/is right though )
@@christopherfrost ahh okay. i only hearrd and been able to find for canon so thats what i based mine off so in the case of it was mounted on a sony. fuji or nikon body i was wrong i see but in case of mounted on a canon body i would be right then ?
@@petar3683 Sorry, but you are completly wrong. Have you seen Chris` review of the viltrox 13mm 1,4? It is sharper (center, middle and corners), it shows no CAs (the Meike has too much the corners ), it shows nearly NO coma at f1,4(!!), the vignette is very moderat for a fast ultrawide, it has AF, offers EXIF data transmission (Meike not), is has an aperture ring with clicks etc. The Viltrox is in very aspect the superior lens.
@@petar3683 Why should a dedicated APS-C lens be "the best for FF"? It makes no sense to use an APS-C lens on FF as is can not cover the image circle of a FF sensor and as a result huge parts of the picture will just be black without information.
@@Deathbynature89 Some manual lens manufacturers add it to communicate aperture to the camera (and register it as Exif information). Also to engage manual focus zoom/aid as soon as you turn the focus ring.
@@Donbros It's only 10mm, pretty much self focused, would be dead easy, especially anything over 5m probably parfocal, especially stopped down a stop or two.
It would be great if you put FF or APS-C in the video title. I'm really fed up with watching the first 15 or 20 seconds of your vids only to find the lens is crop and has no relevance for me.
Keep up the great work Christopher
Very impressive lens.
I really didn't expect a lens like this from Meike.😁
their 50 mm 0.95 is also ahead from competitors!
It's certifiably better than Samyang/Rokinon's 12mm f/2.0. This new Meike lens offers better sharpness, lower vignette, better contrast, lower chromatic aberration, and finally much much MUCH better flaring resistance compared to Samyang/Rokinon's 12mm...
I have the 5 lens cine FF set-waiting on the 16mm (same designer as Veydra btw) they are MIND BLOWING good for the price
Another great review. Would be interested in hearing how it compares to the Laowa 9mm f/2.8 Zero-D.
A relatively pricey lens from Meike who normally offers a comprehensive range of budget priced no-frill manual focus lenses. Except for what looks to be a wavy field curvature this lens is very good optically overall. You may have to stop down at least to f2.8 or f4 to minimize that flaw for even results in most scenes, though.
I really like your reviews and your calm voice. The testing is always done the same and to a high standard The only think I question is the way you test for flaring. Why do you do this only at night?
This lens can produce some wild flaring against sun from what I've seen online. Why not add this to your test in future ..?
love your videos ... can you take some vlog and portraits shots for references please thanks
Hey Chris,
You've tested so many lenses already!
Ever though about making and updating a ranking system for all those lenses?
1....again. Been looking for a wide angle lens. Good one Chris.
Please Meike! We would love it for the L-Mount as well!
great lens from meike
If some day they could make this for FF, that would be amazing!
Great lens!
As always, congratulations for the review, but I have an important question: which lens offers better image quality and result, the Nisi 9mm or this Meike 10mm f2? If you could only choose one of the two, which would you keep?
Exactly the same question?
Are you going to review the TTArtisan 50mm F2 full frame lens?
Seems very impressive ! How would you compare it to the ttartisan 10mm f2 ? Thanks !
I think this is the best lens that MEIKE has released
I still really enjoy their 85mm macro. Might not be the best macro lens but it sure is the best macro in that price range because it's dirt cheap :D
I think so, this lens is just so great !
Meike 10mm f/2 or Rokinon 12mm f/2? yeah, it's about a 3mm equivilent difference, but the Rokinon can be found for 1/2 the price new, and less than 1/4 the price used.
Half the price and half the image quality too.
@@thenorth9159 i dont think so. Chris did a review for the Rokinon lens and i currently own one. The image quality if amazing. The Meike 10mm maybe on par.
@@roastedlion1 you should watch that video again you can clearly see that the samyang is much worse, it cannot compare to viltrox 13mm f1.4 and this meike.
The Meike lens is actually sharper than the Samyang lens, in its image corners, with lower colour fringing
@@thenorth9159 funny thing is, the Viltrox 13mm seems to be about the same price as this Meike (and with autofocus / F1.4)
At 0:12 your voice paused while you thought if it had fungus on it doesn't it? haha
I actually bought a Meike lens recently and I'm very happy with it so far. The Meike Optics MK 8mm f/3.5 fisheye lens.
I use it mainly for astrophotography, because It's really sharp into the corners and has no coma. But, like this 10mm lens, it can't focus very close. only 35cm. which is so far, that, when you focus back and forth all the way, you really see no difference in the view finder. But it almost doesn't matter where you put it anyway.
Which leads me to a funny thing about the 8mm lens, it has a very long focus distance for some reason. You can turn the focus ring almost all the way around the lens, for extra fine precission. Which seem rather pointless.
Maybe you can test it some day? Maybe compare it to the Samyang 8mm, because they are very similar? I mean, I already have it, but I'm just curious what you think.
I really enjoy your reviews.
My inner cynic wonders how a random lens purchased at retail would perform in comparison? On the upside, I'm sure they actually tested this one before they shipped it, which is better than they usually manage... In their world QC is a barrister, I'm pretty certain they've never even heard of the other meaning ;)
what angle vision? 130°?
Nikonians website says 15mm FF focal length gives a 100 degree horizontal angle of view.
Hello. Venus Optics 'Laowa' 9mm f/2.8 VS Meike 10mm F2 - can you tell what your choice?
I am not Chris but, i Thin,
if you want it small and light-LAOWA
if you want for astro you are on the safe side with the Meike,
the vignette on the laowa is over 3 f stops. if corrected by 3 stops then in the corners iso 2000 becomes iso 16000
if you correct by only 2 stops, you are already at 8000 and you will still get noise and a vignette will remain visible.
The Meike has aperture F2 you can use half ISO 1000 not 2000
The Meike has only -1,7 vignette that can just be corrected that from iso 1000 only iso 3200 the vignette is zero. the noise is acceptable.
Laowa its nice the for most cases
But with the Laowa you always have to make a compromise with astro.
I had the Laowa, it is already suitable for ASTRO, but no matter how much rework you put in you will never have a perfect result
The Meike is almost perfect for ASTRO.
if you can live with twice the weight and want better results in Astro then I would recommend the Meike.
In the german fuji-x-forum there are some infos for the Meike and their vignettes. i can't send a link ( youtube rules)
@@FrankHa. What's the best for architecture and interiors from Laowa 9mm, Meike 10mm and TTArtisan 10mm?
@@tycjanjakubczyk I would take the TT and try it out.
The Mike is too heavy, the distortion, and the weight is too high for me, and in relation to the weight it is too slow because it is far away from T2 rather 2.5 fast.
(I'm glad I don't have the Mike any more, only for astro the Mike was better than the Laowa, but almost 400 g more ?
The Laowa is very good but has a crazy vignette. This can not be corrected 100%, even at F8 the vignette is still very strong, and can be corrected easily.
With Astro at f2.8 I was not able to correct the vignette perfectly.
I think with the TT the vignette is not so strong, but the sharpness is far from the Laowa, so I would test the TT for 170$, if it is too blurred, maybe 50 are lost when reselling.
Alternatively if you have Sony
I would look at the 11mm. Apart from the narrow wide angle, I'm very happy with it. The Laowa 8-16 could also be good for architecture.
mind boggling! With so many excellent China-made prime lenses, how do we choose the best?! :) For fujifilm users, it seems the 10-24mm WR is seeing less and less interest.
great lens but its a little pricey for a meike lens or a manual lens , i would easily choose the sony 11mm f1.8 over this
it depends on what you want to do with it, if you want it small and light and with AF, okay but if it is for astro then the Sony is definitely the worse choice. The vignette is with the sony in RAW at 2.9 f stops. if the is corrected by 3 stops then in the corners from iso 1000 iso 8100 the noise will be noticeable. even if only corrected by 2 stops you are already at 4000 and you will have slight noise and a vignette remains visible.
The Meike has only -1,7LW that can just be corrected that from iso 1000 only iso 3200 the vignette is zero. the noise is acceptable.
AF on astro is terrible, you can't see from outside on a timelps if the focus has shifted, and have to stop to check an image, even with tape the focus on the 16-55mmG has slipped for me.
With a manual lens, I don't have to adjust the focus at night in the display, because I know where the focusing has to be.
Both lenses have advantages and disadvantages, for astro you are on the safe side with the Meike, if that is not so important then the sony is the best.
Not sure if I agree with your high rating of the corner sharpness at f 2.0…
Years ago I used to confuse sharpness, ghosting and contrast. You can have a decently sharp image with a little ghosting and loss of contrast.
I am glad that I was never confused…
Seems like a bargain for landscape or indoor shooting.
I love your reviews and value them, but I’m not so sure about the recommendation of this lens…
It’s almost the same price to the Sony 11mm with af. The lens corner image quality is not that impressive. The price is too high for what this lens offers. I will purchase the Sony 11mm instead of this lens if I was in the market for this focal length…
Who cares about AF on a lens this wide? If you can't focus this manually, you're not trying or you have no fingers.
I would likely agree, they seem more or less the same price; yes 1mm (10 vs 11) makes a difference but 55mm filter thread instead of 77mm and exif info makes a difference to me
Too expensive, think I'd get the Samyang AF 12mm instead
Which would you say is better, this Meike 10mm or the Rokinon 10mm f2.8?
I would go for Rokinon.
@@roastedlion1 I would go for the meike one
I believe lens is good but overpriced. Meike lenses should be bargain but this one is not. Anyway thank you for your review my friend.
current price in Meike's store is €297/$329, much better now!
landscape: check
astrophotography :check
bokeh :nope
I wish this lens come for dslr too🥲
New lens for dslr will be super rare
@@kg22kg The DSLR APS-C market is dead, it will never come.
You could totally find some nice wide crop sensor angle manual lenses for $450 especially used.
@@sonacphotos DSLRs have a much better battery duration because they don‘t have a power consuming EVF. Mirrorless are for those people who think that they need video capabilities and a high fps rate, which makes sense for sports and wildlife. For the rest it does not really matter.
@@sonacphotos Modern DSLRs like the Nikon D780 can also shoot silently in the LiveView mode.
It's a 10mm lens made for a aps-c camera ( witch normally have a Cropfacter of 1.6 )
Witch would mean that it's equal the a 16mm and not a 15mm ( at least that's what my calculator say)
Cropfacter is 1.5 on Canon is 1.6 Because the sensor smaller.
No, because on Sony, Fuji and Nikon cameras APS-C is 1.5x - only Canon is 1.6x
@@6042833 ohh okay ( i just always read and heard/was told it was 1.6 so thats where mine was based on xD ( and in that case/those siturations where it is 1.6 i was/is right though )
@@christopherfrost ahh okay. i only hearrd and been able to find for canon so thats what i based mine off
so in the case of it was mounted on a sony. fuji or nikon body i was wrong i see but in case of mounted on a canon body i would be right then ?
this is just a copy of 7artisan and is just $169, Meike ask for so much money, for this price I will get the laowa 9mm
The best Chinese lens so far
Viltrox 13mm 1,4 and many Laowa lenses are better
@@muttishelfer9122 every viltrox produces a looot of vignetting and coma, don't know about laowa though you might be right
@@petar3683 Sorry, but you are completly wrong. Have you seen Chris` review of the viltrox 13mm 1,4? It is sharper (center, middle and corners), it shows no CAs (the Meike has too much the corners ), it shows nearly NO coma at f1,4(!!), the vignette is very moderat for a fast ultrawide, it has AF, offers EXIF data transmission (Meike not), is has an aperture ring with clicks etc. The Viltrox is in very aspect the superior lens.
@@muttishelfer9122 it's well expected from a lens for crop sensors, this is the best for FF
@@petar3683 Why should a dedicated APS-C lens be "the best for FF"? It makes no sense to use an APS-C lens on FF as is can not cover the image circle of a FF sensor and as a result huge parts of the picture will just be black without information.
No electronic contacts is weird choice. Why you wouldn't add it if you design lens for mirrorless system. It does not make any sense
Because it’s manual.
There are no focus motors, why would they add electronic contacts.
@@Deathbynature89 Some manual lens manufacturers add it to communicate aperture to the camera (and register it as Exif information). Also to engage manual focus zoom/aid as soon as you turn the focus ring.
@@Deathbynature89 haha it seems you are not aware of manual focus helping tools - it can't be automatically activated without electrical contacts
@@Donbros Canon won't let them?
@@Donbros It's only 10mm, pretty much self focused, would be dead easy, especially anything over 5m probably parfocal, especially stopped down a stop or two.
It would be great if you put FF or APS-C in the video title. I'm really fed up with watching the first 15 or 20 seconds of your vids only to find the lens is crop and has no relevance for me.