Mitakon 35mm f/0.95 - My Favorite Lens for Fuji X Cameras 

I have this on my X-T3 with a matching hood and lens tab and its a joy to use. It's seriously my favorite lens ever.

Great photos with the Mitakon and a great set today Matt!

just randomly came across this video, seriously well produced! you have an amazing voice

Hi Matt Day, in terms of your video editing, I'm very happy and totally appreciate the fact that you don't use too many jump cuts. A lot of youtubers chop up their speeches a lot and it always sounds unnatural. I get the sense that you prepare a lot for your reviews so that your videos can be done in as few takes as necessary. A question about the manual focus, how often/rare do you miss focus on your shots? Or does a lot of experience on your Leica M6 provide the practice needed?

I've had the EF-M version of this lens for several months and it's easily my favorite mirrorless lens; possibly my favorite lens, period. It's not perfect, and sometimes it can be a challenge to use, but it's very possible to get not just useable, but great images with it at f/0.95.

I own this lens for nearly a year now - used it on a X-E2 and now on the X-T2. It's a "magical" lens - very sharp in the center, even wide open - may be not so sharp corner to corner compared to other lenses, but that doesn't matter. I love it because of the separation effect it delivers and the smooth transition in sharpnes when its wide open - and yes, you should buy this only when using it mainly wide open. It's also great for close distances. I wouldn't compare it to a fuji 35 1.4 or the F2 version - these are different lenses with their own characteristic image output.

I love it on my X-T2. I actually just recently used it to shoot photos of a buddy of mine's car. Great lens for all kinds of uses.

Can’t believe it was just a year ago that you shot Fuji. Can’t blame you at all for switching to all Leica but, wow that was quick. Congrats!

Hey Matt, great review! I bought this lens when I first picked up my xpro-2 just over a year ago. It’s also my go to lens for my Fuji system - love using it!

Been thinking about this lens for my X-T2! Thanks for the review Matt!

First of all, great video ! Beautiful pictures, simple video. I bought this lens on November 2017 and since, my a6300 can almost a fixed lens camera. I am a huge fan of the 50mm (FF) field of view and used it for portraits, landscapes, street photography so I understand why it's your favorite lens!

Great description of a cool lens. Love the box!!!

I agree with you on this lens. It's super fun to use and the X-T3 makes it easy. I love the display option you can get when the camera is in manual focus mode and you get the two views in the viewfinder - one of the fill scene and then one patch zoomed in on the focus point to help nail focus perfectly. As a follow up, how did you keep the camera up in that hero shot of the camera and lens? Lol, that thing is heavy and when I put my 📷 down in the table, it tilts down onto the heavy lens.

The Sony full frame e mount 50mm f0.95 is also a beautiful lens! I had both and the Sony one gives a depth of field look very much like a medium format setup.

I'm not in the market for this lens (I only have film gear), but I enjoyed the video a lot & look forward to whatever you cover next mate! All the very best.

I have one myself for my X-H1 and it is just stunning! It cost me only 400€ (455$) here in germany so it is a real must-have for everyone!

Hi Matt, as I shoot with Fuji this lens was als my favorit and I had a lot of Fuji Lenses too. Thx J.

Yeah I have that lens and I like it a lot. For me, it's a lot of fun to shoot with and is useful for a wide variety of shooting. Wish I could buy a manual focus lens around 16-21mm with a similar build and quality

Great video, glad I came across it. I was debating between this and the Laowa. I was worried that the 7artisans wouldn’t be able to capture some of the photos you did, but I was glad to see otherwise. Saved me a few bucks too. Keep on shooting.

Good stuff. Thanks for the video. I bought a second hand 35mm 1.4 for street on an XT3

I have had one for a good year now. LOVE IT!

I really digged the photos in this one! I might be getting my own Xt-3 soon :)

Ha! I am literally sitting here waiting for the Fedex truck with my copy of this lens. Your photo examples looked fantastic, I'm excited to give this lens a try.

Thanks for the review. Would love a quick video on your manual focusing technique on the Fuji. I have had a couple of the x100 series cameras and the whole focus by wire is a real odd beast coming from manual film cameras. You mention focus peaking but something more in-depth would be great. Thanks!

Happy to hear about the lens from a photographer who I really like. It looks like I’ll be shooting my first wedding this May, and I’ve kind of been looking for a good excuse to pick this lens up. I too will be really interested to see what other lenses Mitakon comes out with for the X mount.

Great vid, Matt. This is the second lens I purchased after the kit. I didn't know how to use a manual focus lens, forced myself to learn it with this!

Using it on my xpro2, this is the ultimate 50mm f1.4 summilux ff equiv for the fuji system

Great video. I could listen to you all day. My personal favorites are all manual focus, I spend most time with my Voigtländer Nokton Classic 40/1.4 and a Contax G Mount Biogon 28/1.8.

Thanks Matt appreciate the inspiration from all your videos

6:14 is actually an awesome shot! Any tips on nailing focus, do you rattle off some continuous shots or shoot single?

Own this in black. Can only agree. Good review. The lens has dreamy feel to it that I love and it makes B&Ws feel right. Favourite lens hands down.

I ordered this lens on sale from B&H. Can't wait to get it on Wednesday and play with it

Come on bro, the box is awesome too, best box I've ever seen

I was looking for a lens for night/low light situations without grainy footage will this do the trick for night shots?

Thanks Matt. I use that camera with old soviet lenses as Jupiter, very fun. This lens look nice too.

My favorite lens for the fuji xt series, especially the silver body and vintage leather strap, it's like driving a vintage Mercedes, smooth, quite, solid, it makes photography feel good again.

Such nice pictures! As if you were in love with everything you see.

Matt, this video has some of your best photos :)

I'm really interested in this lens. Love my 35mm f/2 but it would be interesting to use this lens for portraits, especially at that price! Just to add to something, I'm unaware if you know this but Mitakon also released a 65mm f/1.4 for the GFX system. That in a digital medium format camera must be very interesting. Great photos as always, Matt.

this puppy transforms my fuji into a full frame monster. thanks for the review!

I wonder Matt how you can compare the Mitakon lens against the other f0.95 legend, the Canon LTM 50mm f/0.95 originally made for the Canon 7 rangefinder.

I opted for Super Takumar with Pixco speed booster Instead of this Mitakon lens. Yes it is sometimes soft wide open and yes it flares like crazy in backlight (all do I was told that SMC variant is far better in that regard) but I got the whole setup for peanuts...

Love this lens. Do you have any of the Fuji 35s also? If so, could you say how much you use them vs this lens?

Good review. I have the Voigtlander 40mm f1.2 Nokton glued to my X Pro2. An amazing lens with great inter-tonal contrast. If you like b&w, it’s a must-try lens.

I enjoy shooting manual focus, even with auto focus lenses, IF the focus damping is good. If the focus ring is sloppy or requires extreme rotation to focus I'd shoot in auto focus. I mainly shoot primes since Fuji does such a nice job with that, but I also shoot with newer third party lenses as well as with my Canon FD glass.

Loving this lens. I've added a little buddy to it though - a Black Pro Mist filter (1/4 strength). It creates a smooth roll-off into the highlights and blooms them a bit at the cost of some contrast. I then pair that up with Astia and set a manual white balance (or the close enough presets like sun or incandescent) with a tweak to +4 R and -2 B for a nice look right out of camera. I've been digging that little recipe for some family photos. Cheers dude.

Would love to see how it compares to the Meike 35 1.7 or maybe the 1.4, but I dont have that one yet.

It looks amazing, and I love the Leica M style of the barrel. Wish they made a 23mm, too

bought it, sold it, missed it, bought it again with an additional back up. this lens makes you wanna shoot everytime you see or touch it. btw, the manual focus is so easy, for everyone who is afraid of it, try it.

Hi Matt, Awesome video! Super informative and love the examples. Was wondering since it's a manual focus, how does this lens perform with kids? I've got a toddler at home. Thank you!:)

How would you compare the rendering of this lens versus the XF56mm? Obviously they will require different distances for the same composition, and different levels of background compression as a result of that distance, but do you find them similar in feeling (of the results - not the handling).

Wow, those shots look amazing! Reminds me of my Voigtlander 50mm f1.1, although I haven't tried that on a digital body yet. Must do that soon :-)

Just seen a great price for a secondhand one. Wonder how it compares to the mark 2 version. Great video and awesome photos

Thanks for the video, btw I suggest you try the voigtlander noktons for m-mount using an adapter, (40mmf1.2 is incredible) they are tiny, sharp and contrasty wide open, great colors and super silky smooth bokeh!

Do you use LR? My x-t2 raw files seem a little smudged compared to my original x100 raws and canon raws.

It's worth mentioning that the X-T3 has pretty much brought the Fujinon 35mm 1.4 back from hibernation. The AF is really quick and reliable with the new camera. I personally don't think the difference at the wide open end between the Mitakon and the Fuji will be that important in most cases. During Fuji's frequent sales, the 35mm goes down to about 550$. If I was in the market for a 35, I'd find it pretty hard to justify this manual lens under the circumstances.

Honest review GREAT Matt!

how is the focusing, as on the Leica Noctilux lenses (50 mm & 75 mm) their d.o.f. is only 1/4 inch or less!!, and as there is an M adaptor for the Fuji x series (made by Fuji themselves), can you explain why choose this lens, over the aforementioned Leica counterparts?, especially since I see a Leica in the background, and if you did a wedding with it, how was your hand afterwards, as I would imagine it would be a very tough day!

I am waiting for them to make a 25mm f/0.95 that will be my go to lens on the Fuji system. I already have a speedbooster that gives me access to a 50mm lens so the 25 would be much better.

Hey Matt, I hope you can give me perspective. I have this lens on my xt20 and love it.. something still keeps has me looking into a Leica M.. probably with a 35mm. I love the tones and micro contrast (pop) on my mitakon... Are images and "process" of shooting on a Leica worth the $$$? thanks in advance and glad to see you're doing well

Question to anyone else who has this lens: is it normal for the lenses focusing ring to be stiff when near infinity and then get pleasantly looser when near minimum focusing distance? or should it be smooth throughout? I just received the lens today and am hoping i didn't get a bad focusing ring. Thanks!!

Do you manage to have good accuracy wide open in your wedding or event shooting?

at 1,4 u get super sharp results. love this lens

What picture profile do you use for the shots of you talking? Thanks.

When I got my Fuji a year ago, I wanted to experiment with s different type of shooting, so apart from the kit 18-55mm, I got the xf35/1.4 which is a truly great lens with fantastic separation and creamy bokeh, everything I wanted, except it is not weather-sealed and has a slow autofocus. One of the reasons for wanting to try mirrorless was to experiment with manual focus, which was nothing but frustration with my SLR, which unlike the old film SLRs don’t have split-screen focusing or anything else to aid manual focusing, as it gets in the way of the autofocus systems. Live View on SLRs can magnify, but has no focus peaking and is way too slow for some reason, and I like a viewfinder anyway, especially if the lens is big and heavy. I looked at the reviews of the Mitakon 50/0.95 and other similar lenses out of curiosity, but with my 35mm, I had no need for them; 35mm on crop is long enough for walkaround, and in fact, for most things a bit too long unless I want to focus in; it’s great for flower photography, pets and people headshots. While it would be fun to try out lenses like this one, I can’t justify another 35mm. I’ve played with a few vintage lenses, but they tend to be 50s, so equivalent to 75mm on Fuji, again limited for my needs. For portrait, the Jupiter-9 85mm and Tair-11a 135mm are excellent, especially with a speedbooster. While I’ve tried manual focusing in fast-moving situations, with people moving all over the place, it’s challenging and can be quite fun trying to keep up, but for a paid event, I wouldn’t dare, for fear of missing important shots. Focus Peaking is better in some situations than others, tricky if the depth of field is very shallow and the subject moving. If you have a grassy ground and shooting the whole subject, it is quick and easy, you can see the red line of focus moving back and forth on the ground. For other less contrasty up-close things, you need to punch in, which slows you way down, as you also have to make sure the focus point is in the right place.

What are your thoughts on this vs the 35mm f1.4 and the 56mm f1.2? As a wedding photographer, sometimes when light gets very low it becomes more reliable to manual focus anyway(especially with the 56) and manual focusing with a focus by wire system is.... less than enjoyable in my opinion. I'm looking for an indoors/dance floor/speeches/toasts lens, and was considering trying to sell my 35mm f2 for the 1.4 but might consider the Mitakon instead. For context, I usually run with the 56 and the 35mm f2 for the whole day.

4:26 is that one of the workers at midwest photo?

Matt, how does this lens compare with Leica 50 asph ? Apart from flare control...

Awesome lens!!... until the focus ring came loose and it never worked the same again. :/ Does someone knows how to fix it or where to send it to get it fixed and calibrated?

Matt you're the man

I was using AF only, then i tried this lens and since then the AF lenses are only catching dust. Can't bring myself to mount any other lens :) The rendering is so gorgeous.

the box is COOL

Man I really want this lens, it would complete my "holy trinity" of manual prime lenses.

hi there ;) this lens sounds really good ;) I do have a xpro1. is this a good fit for the pro 1.. I would use this as my main combination. I do now that this lens, as every other lenses has some downsides, but is its picture quality wit the xpro1 good enough, when you have a lenshood etc? I also shoot landscape and nature shots sometimes. if I stop down a bit, is it optically also good then? thankyou very much

Nice photos!

Dear sir, I’m so ok with you on all points ..... this lens is a dream sometimes.

Beautiful portraits - was that Timothy (Makeups) Ditzler in a couple of those images? Another well done honest review.

The photo at 4:55 convinced me to buy this lens (actually the 7artisans version but basically the same thing).

I got one used on eBay. I love it!

Hey Matt, I'm currently on the search for a 35mm manual lens for my Fuji X-Mount bodies. I'm torn between the Mitakon and the Voigtländer Nokton classic 35mm 1.4 M.C. VM. While the Voigtländer is available here in Germany the Mitakon needs intercontinental shipping - so I can't just try it out. Would you give me your thoughts? Thank you very much in advance!

Is it more of a sonnar design or a planar one?

Is there something like that at like 50-60mm?

Mate you are sniper if you nail focus at 0.95 manually in street photography, heck even in portraits!!!

Two years ago I bought one for M4/3 (25mm 0.95) and even I had most of Olympus primes I used Mitakon 99% of the time. Not perfect but with character

Does mitakon have 23mm focal length also?

The lens looks great. But, I don’t get why you would mount this on the xt3? Isn’t the xt3 all about its fast af?

I plan to buy this lens. I have only X-T1 but it is only a minor thing.

Just pulled the trigger on one last night. $529 no state taxes, and free shipping from B&H. I would have preferred buying a used one, but used models were selling for $450 to $600. That is just stupid. I have a black X-T2 but went for the silver. I have too many black lenses! :-)

What about low light performance?

Nice Video & Lens! can you please make a Video about the 7iii ? I mean why you switch to Fuji would be interesting :-)

Is it the new "mark iii" version?

Interesting...I have a X-Pro 3....does it fit there? without adaptor?

When you use a lens like this on a Fuji camera, do you need to adjust any settings?

Even with focus peaking and magnification I still have trouble focusing these digital cameras. Yet with my Nikon F3hp and my Hasselblad 503 it is so quick and easy. It will never happen of course but wouldn’t it be sweet if we could buy a proper focusing screen for our digital cameras.

16mm 1.4 for me what a ripper👍

So it's like a 50mm on FF or not? I don't get this.

Matt. Time to go over your record collection.

How was this lens for video use?

how can we identify mark1 and mark 2

hi Matt, is it the first or the second version? Keep up th inspiration video's!