Creating a review like this that compares multiple lenses requires a lot more time than a usual single-lens review. But I hope this video can help you make your decision on what is the best 85mm f/1.8 lens for your Nikon Z camera.
thank you so much Acolz! You could always use the "Super Thanks" feature, but just give the video a like and drop a comment is already a great support :)
Thanks for this comparison. It’s a great side by side! Personally if I were to get an 85mm for my Z8 I’d get the Yongnuo over the Meike or Viltrox if I were on a budget. While the Nikon is clearly the best, the Yongnuo is an amazing value to say the least. The weak spot in the Yongnuo seems to be the vignetting, but that’s correctable.
I love to see more and more Nikon Z third party lenses, from all the prices and types. It makes me more comfortable with my decision about going with Nikon. It's great to see more Fuji lenses too. Opening the mounts is the way. P.S. Am I the only one shocked and impressed for the optical quality of the Nikon Z lenses? 😳
My guess was: A - Meike, B - Viltrox, C - Nikon, D - YongNuo. All look fine; My initial comment was I liked D the best because it had the smoothest transitional bokeh to my eyes; but it also rendered a little bit flatter than A. I thought C looked sharpest; but might come down to focus and lighting; all were sharp enough.
I first found your channel with your how-to on a camera slider after I'd bought one. Now that I've picked up a Nikon Z7 II and am looking to outfit it, I'm back for your take on equipment. Thanks for your fantastic informative content!
Awesome honest review! Honestly the Meike looks pretty good for it's price. You can't expect perfect lens for $200, corner sharpness is least concern for me for a portrait lens.
Thankyou so much, really appreciate your review at this time cuz I'm in the market to buy an 85 for my Nikon z6ii but didn't want to spend the big bucks on the Nikon. So it was between the Meike and Viltrox and your review tipped me over to the Viltrox personally. Price difference not that much on Ebay here in OZ. Thankyou so much for taking that time. I've subscribed now so will be back 🤩
Brilliant review Richard! I bought this lens and am waiting for delivery. Was hard to find a good written review so thank you for putting in the time and effort into this video review. Liked and subscribed!
Best review comparing multiple lenses I’ve seen. Better than Christopher, better than Jared, better than Tony, I love that you did 4 lenses rather than 2. The sharpness tests were great, the fact you put everything side by side was awesome.
Nice review, and thanks for your time. I know it takes efforts to make such a deep comparison. Overall they are priced accordingly. Nikon is the best ofc, but it's not 400 dollars better. Especially when you use Z5 or Z6, which have lower MPs , differences will become smaller. I own Viltrox, since it was a steal for 300usd locally in new condition. I love it. Sharpness on center is great , and I don't care about corner sharpness , cause it goes into bokeh. But I am happy that there are nice options to consider for Z mount. Third party lenses are always welcome, they make good competition.
Yes I agree. If you use it on a lower MP camera, the difference would be smaller and that makes the 3rd party options really attractive. But yes the great thing is, you have options. Pick the one that is the best for you
Actually the lack of LoCa in the Nikon is definitely worth the extra price. The extra sharpness and optical qualities are impressive as well. For me it’s about how the total package performs in practice. I had the F series 85 1.8 and while it was fine I never grew to love it in the way that I have grown to respect and marvel at the way the Nikon Z series F1.8 85mm S performs. Here is a lens that is an absolute pleasure to use in the studio. It’s the go to portrait lens for portraits. Yes you can buy a less expensive lens if you want to or need to, but in this particular case the Nikkor lens has proven itself to be worth every single cent that I paid for it. It has truely surprised me. I never felt that way about the F mount 1.8. G
@@Gr1ff1D0 "Actually the lack of LoCa in the Nikon is definitely worth the extra price". I, too, have pondered this as I have seen disintegration (I do not remember the specific brands at all but I know that they were all very expensive) and there's NOTHING one can do to remediate such. I've always assumed it was from exposure to heat or elements as I have seen it on brand new, out of the box, lenses which is why I had that speculation (warehouses, trucks, ships, and railways have enormous temperature fluctuations and extremes). I worked briefly in a friend's store and did QC checks on incoming product. I had no experience in photography so my thoughts on the matter were quite virginal. I'm really getting into photography now and have already seen lens enhancement products come to me with disintegration right out of the box! In going online and asking people about such, as it was now suddenly important to me whereas in my brief stint at the camera shop, it was inconsequential, I decided to find out if lenses with such coating that show up perfect can or do, with predictability, effect such disintegration over time. Exclusively the answers that I got were all negative (no disintegration experienced) and 2 positive (disintegration occurred very long into the lens life). Both of those were short focal length used consistently with flash. This tends to support my "stint at the camera store" theory of heat induced corruption. I just order a Viltrox but, to be honest, I think it's very reasonable to take one's chances for $199 on this Meike lens. Not many individuals can afford the Nikon prime lens and those that can likely have far more invested into their equipment and are likely to be more than hobbyists. For those individuals that might profit from their photographic skills they can deduct the high Nikon lens cost on taxes to help offset it as well as get the assuredness that if Nikon gets evil on firmware updates for the primary equipment, like the printer industry has, that their lens will still be functional.
From the photo of your daughter, the Yongnuo is extremely impressive for the money, compared to the S line Nikkor. But I think I'll spring for the Nikon for my 85mm
Hm, the Viltrox was really convincing and then the sunstars looked the worst on it 😢.. really don't feel like saving for the Nikon Z even though I love their lenses so far, it's really top quality you can get. I don't feel like I would use the 85 so often but now YN or Viltrox 🤔😁
There is no "perfect" lens. Nikon is definitely the most perfect in terms of technical/image quality, but it's price isn't so "perfect" compare to the 3rd part lenses. So yes we just have to pick the one that is most suitable to our usage/budget..etc. And that's the reason why I do comparison reviews like this, i give you all the results, you choose the one that is the best for yourself :)
Thank you so much, I was waiting for this review. Currently my choice is Nikon 85 for semi-professional work and Yongnuo 85 for travel/fun. Meike seems to have sacrificed too much on the side of quality for my taste (chromatic aberrations are wild and not always easy to correct in the post). But it still makes a unique entry level portrait lens for a Z mount shooter who has only a kit lens. Micro-USB is not at all a problem, considering the frequency of its use and the fact that we all own at least one such cable.
yes fair point about micro-usb not a problem in this case as it's rarely used. If you are shooting with a high end camera like Z9, Z7II or Z8, then it makes a lot of sense to go with the Nikon as that lens's image quality is just shockingly good. But for users with a limited budget, i think the cheaper option like Meike could be a great choice as it's only 1/4 the price and you get way more than 1/4 quality of the Nikon.
Thanks for the review, this is very helpful. I had experienced bought a chinese (lightdow brand) mirror lens from e-bay, the result was very disappointing I give rating 3 (1-10). although not all cheap products are always bad, after watching your review I'd probably spend more to get Yongnuo instead of Meike.
Beware of buying the Viltrox 85mm for Nikon Z. I had two of them just quit working on my Nikon Z7 II after barely using them each for two to three months. You'll find a lot of the exact same problem on a quick google search. For lenses I'll stick to the way of buying original prime lenses and selling them in a couple of years with only little loss moneywise.
@moritzfuchsbln "selling them in a couple years at only a little loss moneywise" Just my POV...I looked around at used lenses and there's no way to know if they've been dropped or exposed to extreme temperatures, etc. It's one of those items that I'd not even consider buying used... not even if it was a tiny fraction of cost of new. I would buy used if super unbelievably cheap if I were considering trying something out before buying one for actual use but I can't say I count on anything I buy for my camera to hold any appreciable sort of value.
Great review and video. Appreciate the time and thoroughness you invested in the video. I like many things about the Meike 85 mm but the edge softness and subject edge coloration makes me pause. I think I will hold off until I can afford a new or used Nikon 85 or 105. Many thanks. All the best!
A - Meike, B - Yongnuo, C - Viltrox and D - Nikon. The C and D has less cromatica aberration. The first one has a lot and even lose the focus in the eye. The second has just a little CA.
Wow, what a price! That might be the lowest launch price for an 85mm AF lens that I can remember… Samyang has had pretty cheap 85mm lenses, but around that price they would be MF. I haven’t watched the rest of the video, but I’m going to guess that D is the Nikon because I think it has the lowest amount of purple fringing, A is the Viltrox because it has a fair amount of purple (and is a little cropped in, maybe there is a profile correction available since it was the first Nikon Z third party lens and Viltrox is good about releasing firmware?), and then B and C… I’m not sure I would say B maybe looks a little cleaner, but it’s close and at least in this scenario they all perform really well. On second thought, maybe A should be the Meike because it’s the cheapest option so would be most likely to have the most CA? I’ll just have to keep watching to find out!
Ok, very interesting! One thing that made me think A was Viltrox was that I remembered it having more CA and rounder bokeh near the edges, which it looks like Meike also has. The lack of distortion and vignetting was a pleasant surprise. Field curvature is not my favorite optical flaw, but certainly it’s more acceptable on a portrait lens than on a macro, for example. Excellent quality and performance for the price, I don’t think someone buying it as a cheap portrait lens would be disappointed.
@@Lets-Take-Pictures You made pretty good guess! Yes i agree field curvature (and also corner sharpness) is not that big an issue for a portrait lens, so for a super affordable portrait lens, the Meike is not a bad choice
Ive been waiting to see a review of this lens to see if it was worth getting vs keeping my f mount meike 85 adapted. Needless to say the 2 things i wanted to know about (lens flare, focus motor noise) are pretty much the same as the one i have now.
Great review although I must say the Meika doesn't look 85mm as the rest .. the image look a bit bigger /closer it was shown on different pictures as the color comparing and your daughter pics .
Field of view is very often a bit different even if you compare the same focal length lens from the same company. The new meike 85 1.4 is again a bit different from this meike 85 1.8
Currently $159 on Amazon Prime Day. I think at this price it’s a no-brainer at this price since the Meike’s price is around the same dollar amount of the Nikon’s depreciation (Nikon New price vs Nikon’s used price). However, the lack of sharpness at 1.8 and the CA is giving me pause… even at $159! I’m thinking, is $159 a good price if I get the lens and never use it?
Check out my Meike 85 1.4 review: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-n65pwe05KJo.htmlsi=KfFBhJkBcSxqBMo- i think that is a much better lens, but of course much more expensive
Hello Richard! I have a LUMIX G80 and want to buy a fisheye to the camera but I don’t know which fisheye that fits to the G80. Do you know there is one that does (like the Laowa 4mm f2/8…)?
hey Jacco, if you want a circular fisheye checkout my review: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lCLVyLBPGPg.html all the 3 lenses i compared works on your G80.
@@joevdb yes but very often these very cheap Chinese knockoffs aren’t very reliable. I purchased the metallic Viltrox 75mm 1.2 and I am very pleased with it (I red many tests before) but some off brands use very cheap components and plastic housing that won’t last very long. Canon used to do the same with its consumer prime lenses (50mm and 85mm) but Nikon always proposed solid options. The 35mm/50mm/85mm 1.8G lenses are a good example : they feel very solid despite the hard plastic housing
