My Meike 85mm Rf has arrived...

[axtstern]

So after just 2 weeks my Meike 85mm 1.8 RF has arrived.
one sentence written here before holds true:

Canon has gone out of their way to make sure that EF lenses work.
Meike makes EF lenses and EF adapters.
This could quite easily be an EF lens coupled with an EF adapter.
If that is the case then I would be more concerned on the other mounts.

So why I bought this lens:

Reason number 1

It is a blockade runner. Canon does not like to share the cake…. All hail the brave Meike may many more RF AF lenses come from you and in the mean time here’s my money.


Reason number 2

Ever missed a shot because changing the lenses took too long, especially having to put front and back cover of and on, slipping the 1400 Euro lens out and in of its soft padded sleeve in your professional bag? Well the Meike is a 189 Euro lens (including lenshood and shipping). The kind of lens which you throw without lens caps (and remorse) from 1,5 meter distance into the open handbag of your wife/girlfriend.


The lens looks like an expensive 1.4 lens on first glance based on the huge dimensions. However that lasts only until you look at the backside of the lens which is hollow up to the area where the mount sized tube widens to what you would expect from a 24-70 2.8 lens. At least it has all 12 contacts, however i do not know if they are all in use.

The lens balances well with my R7 but feels awkward when not mounted based on the empty tube on one end and all the glass on the other end.

20 years ago when Canon introduced the first L Macro Lens made from plastic instead of metal I laughed about their claim of high end engineered plastic which still felt just like plastic. Well the Meike proofs Canon right. Since the early blueish Tamron lenses a quarter of a century ago I did not touch a lens which felt cheaper than the Meike. An awful lump of plastic this is with an haptic not smooth not rough, a disgrace in the hand of even the lower gods…. Oh wait a moment, when you mount the lens on the R7 it does not only look identical, it also feels identical to the R7 plastic. Did I mention that I love my R7 but hate how cheap it feels?

Now there is also some good in this lens. I own some Yongnuo lenses. So I expected that kind of AF. But no, instead of clunky, slow AF with the sound of a cheap battery drill, you get smooth fast STM AF. If the Canon lenses for the M are to your liking, this one will please you.


Coming weekend I will upload some pictures taken with the lens, until then here are some snapshots of the lens itself

Size comparrison:





The backside with the empty tubus:




Diameter comparison with the old 24-70 2.8L


The tulip (?) shaped hood

 

[neuroanatomist]

I wonder what happened to the “announced” Meike 85/1.4 AF? This certainly looks like an EF lens with an adapter built-in, likely using EF mount protocols and therefore not infringing on Canon’s RF IP.

 

[axtstern]

To support Neuros EF protocol theory: It is with the current firmware impossible to use the focus ring for anything else than to focus. Had hoped that the lens behaves simmilar to Canons RF lenses but sadly no..