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Meike 6.5mm F/2.0 Fisheye
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 12, 2018 10:49 am    Post subject: Meike 6.5mm F/2.0 Fisheye Reply with quote

I love fisheyes. To me, images taken with fisheye lenses, as curvilinear as they are, do look more natural than images taken with ultrawides, which exhibit straight lines but also ugly stretched corners.

I recently got a Meike 6.5mm F/2.0 lens, which is touted as a circular fisheye for Micro 4/3 and APS-C cameras. In fact, it's a little bit of a misnomer, as the lens does not provide a full circular image either on M4/3 or on APS-C format. On M4/3, the top and bottom of the circular image get cropped pretty badly, leading to this kind of pictures:



I don't find it too disturbing, as usually it only means having a bit of the sky and foreground cropped out. On APS-C, only a small part of the top part of the circle gets cropped, while the bottom of the frame is intact (adapter decentering?). It therefore requires a full frame camera to have the whole circular image, which covers an angular field of view of approximately 190 degrees (better watch for those fingers or feet if you don't want them included in the frame).



The good surprise is that this lens is sharp and has only minor chromatic aberrations. Of course it is sharper at f/5.6 that at F/2.0, but it remains perfectly usable wide open to take shots of the night sky. Coma is also well controlled. The lens is also very resistant to flare. With the sun in the middle of the frame, it will only show a small rainbow colored patch.



It seems to be built entirely from glass and metal and the assembly looks good. It is a manual focus lens and the focus ring has a surprisingly long course, allowing to focus from a few millimeters to well beyond infinity. There is no focus scale, except for the words "Near," "Far" and "Infinity" silkscreened on the focus ring --not that you'll do a lot of focusing on a 6.5mm fiisheye either. The aperture ring has no clicks and I find it a bit too loose for my liking.



So, what's the conclusion about this lens? For its going price (less than $150 new), it's quite a bargain and it delivers great pictures. It's not perfect but if you want to try a fisheye without breaking the bank, go for it. Highly recommended!

Cheers!

Abbazz


Last edited by Abbazz on Sun Aug 12, 2018 8:36 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Sun Aug 12, 2018 11:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Like 1 Like 1
Thank you for the review.


PostPosted: Sun Aug 12, 2018 8:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

uddhava wrote:
Like 1 Like 1
Thank you for the review.

You're very welcome!

Cheers!

Abbazz


PostPosted: Sun Aug 12, 2018 10:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Like 1 Like 1 Like 1 Like 1 had considered it, but stayed away as no full circle


PostPosted: Sun Aug 12, 2018 11:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I found a couple of reviews for Sony APS-C E-mount on YouTube, one from the US, one from the UK:

They run back-to-back from this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF-2sWu-oUg

Now I don't know why this is, but with the Sony APS-C, this lens renders a circular fisheye photo. But if you're using the camera in video mode, it crops the top and bottom -- 1080p, I guess is why. Maybe a 4k camera won't? Probably not.

A couple of things I notice about this lens that I find very interesting. First, it is very fast for a fisheye at f/2, and second, unlike most all fisheyes I've seen it has a focusing helical. I've owned only one other circular fisheye before -- the Canon FD 7.5mm f/5.6 and it had no focusing collar. I also owned the old Minolta MC 16mm full-frame fisheye and I don't recall anymore if it had a focusing collar. Still, for a circular one, still kinda interesting. Must be necessary because of the f/2 maximum aperture?


PostPosted: Mon Aug 13, 2018 5:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've had this lens for a while now but haven't used it much lately. It's very challenging to compose when you have everything in view. Very Happy

I posted a few crappy sample shots here as well: http://forum.mflenses.com/first-walk-in-the-park-with-meike-6-5mm-2-0-t77194.html

On Sony APS-C the circle is a tiny little bit off centre and a small part at the top gets cut off. I have no idea why they did that. I just crop to a perfect circle which I suppose then gives you around 180° view instead of 190.

Fun lens. Smile


PostPosted: Mon Aug 13, 2018 6:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

miran wrote:
I've had this lens for a while now but haven't used it much lately. It's very challenging to compose when you have everything in view. Very Happy


That's part of the reason I sold all my ultra-wide glass this spring. I'm now trying to get some more discipline in composition with 35 to 50mm equivalent, and find this actually nicely covers 90+% of what I want to shoot. Sometimes I take a 90-135 for specific portrait stuff, but that's about it. In close quarters, 28mm can be neat.

miran wrote:
Fun lens. Smile
Maybe I should get it anyway. How big is this lens actually? Thank You Dog


PostPosted: Mon Aug 13, 2018 6:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's pretty small. About the size of a modern 50mm. Check out those YouTube videos, the link I posted above. That will give you and idea about its size.


PostPosted: Mon Aug 13, 2018 9:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

kds315* wrote:
Like 1 Like 1 Like 1 Like 1 had considered it, but stayed away as no full circle

You have a scientific mind, Klaus, so I can understand why you hate the imperfect circle... Wink The lens is nevertheless very good and I didn't buy it to inspect pipelines from the inside! Twisted Evil

Cheers!

Abbazz


PostPosted: Tue Aug 14, 2018 1:40 am    Post subject: Re: Meike 6.5mm F/2.0 Fisheye Reply with quote

Abbazz wrote:




Abbazz


I like very much these two photos. Like 1

You have a good eye for fisheye composition! Like 1


PostPosted: Tue Aug 14, 2018 8:09 am    Post subject: Re: Meike 6.5mm F/2.0 Fisheye Reply with quote

Gerald wrote:
I like very much these two photos. Like 1

You have a good eye for fisheye composition! Like 1

Thanks, mate!

Cheers!

Abbazz


PostPosted: Tue Aug 14, 2018 12:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Abbazz wrote:
kds315* wrote:
Like 1 Like 1 Like 1 Like 1 had considered it, but stayed away as no full circle

You have a scientific mind, Klaus, so I can understand why you hate the imperfect circle... Wink The lens is nevertheless very good and I didn't buy it to inspect pipelines from the inside! Twisted Evil

Cheers!

Abbazz


Na, that is my esthetic here which speaks here, I just like those full cycles, especially considering what I photography most...

You use(d) it very well my friend!! Like 1


PostPosted: Wed Aug 15, 2018 4:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

kds315* wrote:
Na, that is my esthetic here which speaks here, I just like those full cycles, especially considering what I photography most...

You use(d) it very well my friend!! Like 1

Thank you, Klaus.

I also have the 2.7mm Fujinon fisheye and the Meike clearly delivers better image quality. But of course, its image circle is a bit cropped... Wink

Cheers!

Abbazz