Meike 85 mm f/1.4 FF STM
10. Autofocus and focus breathing
Autofocus
We tested the autofocus of the Meike 85 mm f/1.4 FF STM by attaching the lens to the Sony A7R III and the A7R V. In both cases the performance was quiet but we have to add we observed some differences between f/1.4-2.0 apertures and apertures from f/2.8 upwards. In the first case the autofocus remains completely noiseless, in the second – you can hear slight 'purring', especially when you approach the proper position.The speed of the mechanism is average – running through the whole distance scale and confirming the focus takes 0.6-0.7 of a second and for apertures from f/2.8 and higher this time can be also a tad longer. In poor lighting conditions you can observe the focusing time extending to even one second and also the characteristic 'pumping' or wavering near the proper position.
On the one hand this performance is perhaps not that bad for a producer that has just started their adventure with autofocus lenses; on the other hand you have to remember that Meike made the whole taks a bit easier, setting the focus from 0.98 of a meter and having a noticeably narrower focus throw than its rivals. Their minimum focusing distance amounts to 0.85 of a meter.
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Still, it is important that the lens didn't have any problems with the accuracy of the focusing mechanism. Both in studio and outside the number of meaningful misses didn't exceed 5%, no matter what body we used.
When it comes to front or back focus tendency we didn't notice any of it on either of the bodies, used in our test.
| A7R IIIa, f/1.4 |
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| A7R V, f/1.4 |
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Focus breathing
Focus breathing tests show refraiming images as you oversharp them. We conduct the test by manually passing from the minimum focusing distance to infinity with the aperture stopped down; then we check how the field of view of the lens changed as a result.A change of the frame ranging from 0 to 5% we consider to be low. Between 5 and 10% we can speak about a medium level. Usually these are also maximum values compensation algorithms, present in some bodies, can effectively deal with. A high level constitute results between 10 and 15%, more than 15% means a very high level.
The test video of the Meike lens is presented below:
For those more interested we can add that with such a focus breathing level at the shortest focusing distance you deal with de facto an 97 mm f/1.6, not the 85 mm f/1.4 instrument.
