This is EXACTLY the lens review I was looking for. Thank you Richard for this video. You helped me to make up my mind and will go for the Meike lens. The reason is that if I want a circular fisheye ... well I want the whole circular image. I do not want a top and bottom crop. However, possibly 3.5 mm focal length is a bit too short and the resulting image is sort of "compressed" into a very tiny space. Maybe the Laowa 4 mm focal length is somewhat better and if there were no top/bottom crops I may have preferred the Laowa.
The metal lens cap slides on snugly - if it's at all not straight it jams tight onto the front of the lens. To free it you *must* rotate clockwise - if you try to rotate anti clockwise the metal retainer ring for the front element starts unscrewing. Pretty sure that didn't do any harm, but if you kept going by accident you'd end up with glass on the floor. Worth making this comment obvious for other buyers so they don't do that with it.
oh you received the lens already! Re the lens cap, i didn't have that issue you mentioned, actually just went to try again but couldn't get it to jam tight onto the front of the lens. If anyone else also has this lens, I would love to hear if you have the same issue as fredio54. If a few of you also experience this, i would definitely feedback to Meike and ask them to check and see if they can improve it for the future production.
@@TheRealRichardWong I wouldn't say the fit of the cap onto the lens is an issue, it's just snug, fits perfectly, but if it's on an angle even a little, then it's tight, not jammed solid, but tight enough to undo the front ring/nut! Hence I would say if there's any issue, it's that not being tightened enough at the factory. In any case, by always rotating it clockwise when going on or off that will never happen again as it'll always keep it tight. Hope that makes sense.
Good review thanks. I wished I watched it before buying the Laowa 4mm - though I am happy with mine. Good point you make about the hand grip problem. Not a problem on my Panasonic GM5 of course, though I expect it would be on my Panasonic G9. I am happy to report that it is not an issue on the Olympus OM-D5 series, even with a RRS camera plate screwed on.
Great review. As someone who already owns and uses the laowa, you answer the two basic questions. I have been bothered since I bought it by the slight cropping to and bottom with the laowa and it is very difficult to not get a finger or even the bottom of a jacket in the picture. The meike sounds like it would be an improvement.
Very usefull comparison, Richard. Thank you ! I would choose Laowa, because of sharper edges and because it renders better the sunstars. When I look to your city-lights photos from this video, I don't like how Meike handled the lights. For me sunstars are very important. Meike is still interesting because of the price.
Thanks for the review. Informative and honest as usual. 8minutes 30s and I already click on their order link. Hard to resist when price is so cheap. Anyone can beat my record? Lol
@@IliyanTrayanov In reality, a lot of these Asian companies, play with nomenclature and spects! Most likely the 3.5mm is the same exact angle of view as 4mm and actually both are something slightly more than 4mm FL ! ! ! ! ! You can see the same exact argument on Samyang's other rebranded fisheye lens, a.ka. Optima and ... Then better examples with their Lum # of LED light output... surprisingly, all the typo or misleading numbers are in the direction of "Better Quality" of item in description...How this happens? Go home, seat, think, figure out! To say the least of amazing Asian thingies...
Yes! Also, 10/10 for taking away the opportunity to make the first comment, thereby disallowing idiots from typing the word for 1st and wasting our time. And, I repeat: Yes. Waiting for this to be republished since you slipped up and pulled it! :-D
Haha that's fredio54. Meike told me they will be shipping out the lens end of this month but since you are probably the first one that orders it your lens should be the first batch. I suspect there will be a lot of demands for this lens
Thanks for the review. That the Meike reduces the chance of capturing the camera grip and that it captures the entire circular image are significant advantages over the Laowa. Can you say anything about the coma from either lens? I'm interested in using this for astrophotography.
Excellent review . You are right to point out the handle as i discovered myself with the 'body cap' Oly 9mm that has less coverage but is also much thinner. Carefully on my Lumix G85 but not on my Oly em10-II where it is a better match . I have been using from time to time a less extreme 'full frame' (non circular) fisheye since the film days and several are parts of my regular M43 kits. I did not feel a circular one would be usefull enough but that Meike 3.5mm is tempting...
Circular fisheye is really not about useful ;). Especially at this kind of price remember Meike is offering a $10 discount if you use the link above.. (but it's not affiliated link) make it really cheap.. and tempting... :P
Getting very interested in this fishy thingy... But still my eyes are on Laowa as in general, they are sharper than anything else, I know, in similar or one or 2 price point class up of the competitors.
Richard, first -- thank you for the review! Amazing lens! And a question: is there any way you could test this with a Panasonic G9 to see if the grip is captured in the image circle? Thanks again.
Thanks, Richard. I found someone on RUclips who tested it on a GH5. It shows just a *little* bit of the grip up by the shutter button. I suppose the G9 will be a little bit worse as I think the grip is deeper. No big deal. I ordered the lens anyway. :)
No probs. Oh if you get one.. please use my link above.. it's not affiliated link but would help me as manufacturer would know you ought after watching this review :)
Thank you Mr Wong for this review. I have purchased the lens and received fast deliver directly from the supplier. What would you recommend for processing photos taken with this lens to produce 360 degree images?
hi @Impostertot glad the hear the delivery is fast. But sorry i don't really have a software I could recommend for creating 360 deg images. Maybe go checkout some VR/360VR groups or forums and see what do they recommend?
Hello Richard, very nice video! I like it. I'm looking for an alternative to the dual fisheye lens camera. I shoot on Fuji that makes very nice photos in color reproduction and sharpness. Is that Meike 3.5mm could be an alternative for Real Estate virtual tours? What do you think? Thanks. Alex.
Hi Alex, sorry i can't answer your question as I have never done any real estate virtual tours myself. One thing i want to point out is this Meike lens is only for micro four thirds cameras, for APSC camera like your Fuji, you can look at the Laowa 4mm instead as they have released an APSC version (i did a review of their m43 version)
I use two Laowa 4mm for virtual reality 3D photos (VR180). So everything is viewed with pixel accuracy in 4K headsets. So I only use 180 degrees and would lose 3.5mm native resolution with the Meike. Have you compared the chromatic aberrations and color fringing? Is the Meike 3.5mm a little better?
Dear Richard, I ended up buying this one looking at the complete circular fisheye being produced by this lens. However it appears that I am unable to get the complete fisheye by this lens. The bottom and the right hand side of the frame seems to have little cutting what one could see in case of Laowa 4mm. Is this faulty lens?
@@TheRealRichardWong Hi, I am using EM10 Mark II. First I checked with 4:3 aspect ratio. And found that only bottom part is having some cutting. Then I tried with 1:1 aspect ratio and then even right side is having some cutting. It means there is some issue with imaging circle and the combo is giving me the slightly offset image and not to the centre part of the sensor.
@@TheRealRichardWong Thanks for the reply. I checked it again and the issue still exists for the bottom part of the photo where it shows some part of the photo is getting cropped. Earlier the camera’s sensor stabilisation was ON and then the crop was seen on right side of the photo during 1:1 aspect ratio. After turning IS Off, right side crop was not seen but bottom part of the picture is getting cropped slightly.
@@edsassler If you look at photos of the Laowa, the DoF scale is actually quite useful for figuring out how much hyper focus you can get without diffraction. I use it on the other end, too, to see what the furthest will be in focus.
Has anyone used this for widefield astrophotography? Does milky way shows up well with enough detail or not? How is coma, for those who are expert and have already used it? Thanks in anticipation.
Seems no one answers on this channel but wanted to add, I decided to buy one from the link above but the given Coupon, is not working... I guess I'll go with my first choice, Laowa 4mm fisheye that gives better color contrast, is smaller and most importantly, is SHARPER.
Bought lens and received today. I am disappointed to have to say my copy of lens does somewhat crop top and bottom similar to Laowa, using on both Lumix G3 and Gx7. Seems like it should be easier than Laowa to avoid getting fingers in image.
@@TheRealRichardWong Thanks for pointing out my mistake. I had left ratio at 3:2. That brings up the question, will shooting at 4:3 ratio also improve my results with the Laowa? Weather permitting I will give myself the opportunity to check out the Meike at my local park this weekend. Thanks for the help.
No probs. I was curious and worried too if you have that in 4:3 photo mode. Shooting in 4:3 with Laowa would improve too re to cropping. But the laowa there is always a little bit of cropping unfortunately.
Pack nothing but this lens for an hour or a day, and you'll quickly learn! You can do some real interesting macro that (for example) can make you fell like you are right inside of a flower!
Wow that's an insane lens! Thanks for the review Richard. Informative and fair review as usual.
thanks Daniel!
This is EXACTLY the lens review I was looking for. Thank you Richard for this video. You helped me to make up my mind and will go for the Meike lens. The reason is that if I want a circular fisheye ... well I want the whole circular image. I do not want a top and bottom crop. However, possibly 3.5 mm focal length is a bit too short and the resulting image is sort of "compressed" into a very tiny space.
Maybe the Laowa 4 mm focal length is somewhat better and if there were no top/bottom crops I may have preferred the Laowa.
Glad to hear it's helpful Stefano! :)
The metal lens cap slides on snugly - if it's at all not straight it jams tight onto the front of the lens. To free it you *must* rotate clockwise - if you try to rotate anti clockwise the metal retainer ring for the front element starts unscrewing. Pretty sure that didn't do any harm, but if you kept going by accident you'd end up with glass on the floor. Worth making this comment obvious for other buyers so they don't do that with it.
oh you received the lens already! Re the lens cap, i didn't have that issue you mentioned, actually just went to try again but couldn't get it to jam tight onto the front of the lens. If anyone else also has this lens, I would love to hear if you have the same issue as fredio54. If a few of you also experience this, i would definitely feedback to Meike and ask them to check and see if they can improve it for the future production.
@@TheRealRichardWong I wouldn't say the fit of the cap onto the lens is an issue, it's just snug, fits perfectly, but if it's on an angle even a little, then it's tight, not jammed solid, but tight enough to undo the front ring/nut! Hence I would say if there's any issue, it's that not being tightened enough at the factory. In any case, by always rotating it clockwise when going on or off that will never happen again as it'll always keep it tight. Hope that makes sense.
Yeah it does!
Good review thanks. I wished I watched it before buying the Laowa 4mm - though I am happy with mine. Good point you make about the hand grip problem. Not a problem on my Panasonic GM5 of course, though I expect it would be on my Panasonic G9. I am happy to report that it is not an issue on the Olympus OM-D5 series, even with a RRS camera plate screwed on.
thanks for watching !! oh yeah the GM5 definitely shouldn't have any grip problem with the Laowa! glad to hear OMD5 is ok too
Great review. As someone who already owns and uses the laowa, you answer the two basic questions. I have been bothered since I bought it by the slight cropping to and bottom with the laowa and it is very difficult to not get a finger or even the bottom of a jacket in the picture. The meike sounds like it would be an improvement.
you could still get the finger with the Meike if you are not careful, but yes it's better in both area you mentioned than the Laowa :)
Very usefull comparison, Richard. Thank you ! I would choose Laowa, because of sharper edges and because it renders better the sunstars.
When I look to your city-lights photos from this video, I don't like how Meike handled the lights. For me sunstars are very important.
Meike is still interesting because of the price.
Thanks for the review. Informative and honest as usual. 8minutes 30s and I already click on their order link. Hard to resist when price is so cheap. Anyone can beat my record? Lol
Thank you Ken! haha you may have set the record
The 4mm is available for APSC too which makes it wider than the 3.5
no it doesnt make it wider
@@IliyanTrayanov In reality, a lot of these Asian companies, play with nomenclature and spects!
Most likely the 3.5mm is the same exact angle of view as 4mm and actually both are something slightly more than 4mm FL ! ! ! ! !
You can see the same exact argument on Samyang's other rebranded fisheye lens, a.ka. Optima and ... Then better examples with their Lum # of LED light output... surprisingly, all the typo or misleading numbers are in the direction of "Better Quality" of item in description...How this happens? Go home, seat, think, figure out!
To say the least of amazing Asian thingies...
Are you interested in getting this Meike 3.5mm fisheye lens?
Yes! Also, 10/10 for taking away the opportunity to make the first comment, thereby disallowing idiots from typing the word for 1st and wasting our time. And, I repeat: Yes. Waiting for this to be republished since you slipped up and pulled it! :-D
Ordered it before I got to half way through the video - hopefully they do better with their shipping than Pergear! Fingers crossed! :-)
Yeap me order one too. Can't go wrong with such affordable price.
Haha that's fredio54. Meike told me they will be shipping out the lens end of this month but since you are probably the first one that orders it your lens should be the first batch. I suspect there will be a lot of demands for this lens
Hey Ken have fun!!!
Thanks for the review. That the Meike reduces the chance of capturing the camera grip and that it captures the entire circular image are significant advantages over the Laowa.
Can you say anything about the coma from either lens? I'm interested in using this for astrophotography.
I have done a few shots with the mike. It is "OK". Not terrible but also not perfect. Useable for casual astrophotography
This is an excellent review. Thank you very much.
Thank you Steve!
Excellent review . You are right to point out the handle as i discovered myself with the 'body cap' Oly 9mm that has less coverage but is also much thinner. Carefully on my Lumix G85 but not on my Oly em10-II where it is a better match .
I have been using from time to time a less extreme 'full frame' (non circular) fisheye since the film days and several are parts of my regular M43 kits. I did not feel a circular one would be usefull enough but that Meike 3.5mm is tempting...
Circular fisheye is really not about useful ;). Especially at this kind of price remember Meike is offering a $10 discount if you use the link above.. (but it's not affiliated link)
make it really cheap.. and tempting... :P
How about the astro photography? Is it good to use it for the milky way ? Or stars won't look good considering the image quality or distortion ?
Getting very interested in this fishy thingy... But still my eyes are on Laowa as in general, they are sharper than anything else, I know, in similar or one or 2 price point class up of the competitors.
Richard, first -- thank you for the review! Amazing lens! And a question: is there any way you could test this with a Panasonic G9 to see if the grip is captured in the image circle? Thanks again.
Hi James I don't have a g9 with me.. but is Gh5 ok?
Thanks, Richard. I found someone on RUclips who tested it on a GH5. It shows just a *little* bit of the grip up by the shutter button. I suppose the G9 will be a little bit worse as I think the grip is deeper. No big deal. I ordered the lens anyway. :)
🔥🔥🔥
Really cool lens. I have their circular fisheye for E Mount and I love it.
Yes Marcos BH it's very fun. Thanks for watching :)
@@TheRealRichardWong thank you. I'm definitely getting one for my Lumix. 😊
No probs. Oh if you get one.. please use my link above.. it's not affiliated link but would help me as manufacturer would know you ought after watching this review :)
Is it me or was there a much more significant chromatic aberration ring around the Meike?
Thank you Mr Wong for this review. I have purchased the lens and received fast deliver directly from the supplier. What would you recommend for processing photos taken with this lens to produce 360 degree images?
hi @Impostertot glad the hear the delivery is fast. But sorry i don't really have a software I could recommend for creating 360 deg images. Maybe go checkout some VR/360VR groups or forums and see what do they recommend?
Hello Richard, very nice video! I like it. I'm looking for an alternative to the dual fisheye lens camera. I shoot on Fuji that makes very nice photos in color reproduction and sharpness. Is that Meike 3.5mm could be an alternative for Real Estate virtual tours? What do you think? Thanks. Alex.
Hi Alex, sorry i can't answer your question as I have never done any real estate virtual tours myself. One thing i want to point out is this Meike lens is only for micro four thirds cameras, for APSC camera like your Fuji, you can look at the Laowa 4mm instead as they have released an APSC version (i did a review of their m43 version)
@@TheRealRichardWong Thanks!!!
I use two Laowa 4mm for virtual reality 3D photos (VR180). So everything is viewed with pixel accuracy in 4K headsets. So I only use 180 degrees and would lose 3.5mm native resolution with the Meike. Have you compared the chromatic aberrations and color fringing? Is the Meike 3.5mm a little better?
hello, and congratulations. what do you recommend as circular fisheye for nikon apsc? I would like to have a full circle as a final result. thank you
I have tried this Meike fisheye and it works quite well ruclips.net/video/zImhAE5A9o4/видео.html
Dear Richard,
I ended up buying this one looking at the complete circular fisheye being produced by this lens.
However it appears that I am unable to get the complete fisheye by this lens.
The bottom and the right hand side of the frame seems to have little cutting what one could see in case of Laowa 4mm.
Is this faulty lens?
Hi Santosh What camera are you shooting with and what is the image quality band aspect ratio you selected for your output
@@TheRealRichardWong Hi,
I am using EM10 Mark II.
First I checked with 4:3 aspect ratio. And found that only bottom part is having some cutting. Then I tried with 1:1 aspect ratio and then even right side is having some cutting. It means there is some issue with imaging circle and the combo is giving me the slightly offset image and not to the centre part of the sensor.
Hi Santosh. Try put the camera on a tripod. And level the camera then take a photo at 4:3 ratio and see any cropping?
@@TheRealRichardWong Thanks for the reply.
I checked it again and the issue still exists for the bottom part of the photo where it shows some part of the photo is getting cropped.
Earlier the camera’s sensor stabilisation was ON and then the crop was seen on right side of the photo during 1:1 aspect ratio.
After turning IS Off, right side crop was not seen but bottom part of the picture is getting cropped slightly.
thanks
A depth-of-field gauge (as the Laowa has) would have been nice.
Get a label maker, make a label that says "everything" and stick it on the focusing ring. That pretty much covers it...
@@edsassler If you look at photos of the Laowa, the DoF scale is actually quite useful for figuring out how much hyper focus you can get without diffraction. I use it on the other end, too, to see what the furthest will be in focus.
ok, ok, ok... it's cool, I want it now on my ZCam!
It is very cool. Oh I would love to try out the zcam. Still can't get my hands on one yet. Nobody sells them here :(
Has anyone used this for widefield astrophotography? Does milky way shows up well with enough detail or not? How is coma, for those who are expert and have already used it? Thanks in anticipation.
Seems no one answers on this channel but wanted to add, I decided to buy one from the link above but the given Coupon, is not working...
I guess I'll go with my first choice, Laowa 4mm fisheye that gives better color contrast, is smaller and most importantly, is SHARPER.
Oh sorry the coupon is expired already
Bought lens and received today. I am disappointed to have to say my copy of lens does somewhat crop top and bottom similar to Laowa, using on both Lumix G3 and Gx7. Seems like it should be easier than Laowa to avoid getting fingers in image.
That is weird?? Are you shooting 4:3 photo mode?
@@TheRealRichardWong Thanks for pointing out my mistake. I had left ratio at 3:2. That brings up the question, will shooting at 4:3 ratio also improve my results with the Laowa? Weather permitting I will give myself the opportunity to check out the Meike at my local park this weekend. Thanks for the help.
No probs. I was curious and worried too if you have that in 4:3 photo mode. Shooting in 4:3 with Laowa would improve too re to cropping. But the laowa there is always a little bit of cropping unfortunately.
Very well, you just sold one of these for Meike... 🤔😃
Enjoy!!!
Very cool lense but i dont really know what to do with it
Haha for some occasion creative fun shot I guess. :)
Pack nothing but this lens for an hour or a day, and you'll quickly learn! You can do some real interesting macro that (for example) can make you fell like you are right inside of a flower!