Meike 50mm f/0.95 lens for Nikon Z-mount review by Bill Hall (see previous reviews):
Have you heard of a nifty-fifty? A nifty fifty is a fast 50mm lens. Typically it has a maximum aperture of at least f/2.8. A very fast lens might have a max aperture of f/1.2. But this lens will open up to f/0.95. That’s 2/3 of a stop faster than f/1.2. That’s just about as fast as you can get.
Meike, a Chinese lens manufacturer, makes low-cost, simple manual focus lenses at reasonable prices. They are now producing this fast manual focus APS-C lens for the Nikon Z-Mount. It has 5 groups and 7 elements, f/0.95 – f/16, a minimum focus distance of .45m / 1.5 ft., a field of view of 32 degrees, and a 62mm filter mount. At the time of writing, it sells for $249 on Amazon.
This is a fairly compact lens, and its size fits nicely with the size of the Nikon Z50. It is very sturdy and is constructed of aluminum alloy. It weighs about 15 ounces / 418 g. Mounted on my Z50, the combo weighs almost 2 lb / 894 g. The all-metal construction promises a long life and durability. The aperture and focus dials operate very smoothly, but also stay in place when you move your hand away. The mount is all metal and mounts to the camera securely with no movement or looseness.
What comes in the box? The lens, front, and rear lens caps, and a warranty card.
What is this lens useful for? Well, it’s a good general-purpose lens for any kind of photography, but the 50mm focal length, which is the equivalent of 75mm on an APS-C sensor, is in the range considered appropriate for portraiture. And, the f/0.95 f/stop will allow you to take pictures in low light with faster shutter speeds and/or lower ISO settings. The depth of field at f/0.95 is very shallow. It’s paper thin at close distances. At medium distances, it’s a bit deeper, giving more opportunities for blurred backgrounds than lenses with slower apertures.
Is it hard to focus a lens manually? I had trouble with manual focus lenses when I was using DSLRs, but the Z mount mirrorless cameras have focus peaking. When you adjust the focus with focus peaking enabled, you see a highlight of what is in focus in the viewfinder. It’s easy to adjust what is in focus.
This is an APS-C / DX lens, but it will work on all Z-mount cameras. On a DX camera, either set the option to shoot in DX format or crop the pictures afterwards. That will produce smaller pictures than the FX pictures that the camera normally takes. On my Z6, it will produce an 11.5 megapixel image instead of 24 megapixels.
All of the sample pictures in this review were shot with a Z50.
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Addition information on the Meike 50mm f/0.95 lens for Nikon Z-mount can be found here:
Meike announced a new 50mm f/0.95 manual focus APS-C lens for Nikon Z-mount
