LensTip.com

Cons: Build quality Image quality Small size

Pros: None

Summary: Introduction The Meike 7.5mm f 2.8 is a manual fisheye lens available for different apsc-mounts. I tried the x mount version, and I can advance that it is a very interesting lens, especially considering its very low cost (around 150 euros). Here I share my impressions. Build quality The construction of the lens is very good; it is mainly made of metal, both the body and the bayonet, and the fixed petal-shaped lens hood too. Even so, it is a very small lens, and it is very light. It has a click aperture ring, and a very smooth and pleasant focus ring. Its lens cap is made of plastic, and it fixes by pressure. Image quality In terms of image quality, I was surprised. It is already very good at maximum aperture, and excellent if we close to f5.6. It is true that the extremes of the image are not as sharp as the centre (especially at 2.8), but they are still good. As a reference, I would say that the sharpness of this Meike is on par with other wide-angle lenses I\'ve owned, such as the Samyang 12mm f2 or the Fujinon 10-24mm f4, which is surprising for such an inexpensive lens. Regarding aberrations, it has some chromatic aberration but, at least for me, is not a big deal; in fact, the aberration is similar, or even less, to the one of the Samyang 12mm. Regarding flares, under my experience, they are quite controlled. Shooting towards the sun, that is how I usually shoot, I haven\'t seen any strange flares. Other interesting features Aside from the construction and great image quality, the lens has other features that make it very versatile. On one hand, it has a very small minimum focusing distance (15cm). That allows us to get very close to the objects and get attractive foregrounds which I specially I love. I would also highlight the fact that this little Meike produces very nice sun stars; much more beautiful than, for example, the ones than the much more expensive Samyang 8mm fisheye lens gets. This feature, from my point of view, is an aspect to consider, because it allows us to use sunstars as another compositional element of our photos. Use I personally wanted this lens to do big vistas and extreme panoramas, being aware that it is a fisheye lens, and I would have to deal with distortion. And the use of it on this kind of shots has been so good; I was able to take big vistas easily, and 360 degrees shots with only 4 horizontal or 8 vertical shots, which makes it much faster to take extreme panoramas. I also really enjoyed taking pictures getting very close to the objects and getting stunning perspectives of them. Conclusion I was amazed with this little Meike. For me, it is a superb fisheye lens, available at a very low price. It is very compact and light; it has a very good construction and excellent optical quality. From my point of view, Meike is doing a great job constructing high quality lenses at an unbeatable price; we just have look at the also excellent Meike 10mm f2 to notice it.