Amateur Photographer - UK (2020-03-21)

Backgroundsare

beautifullyblurred

whenshootingat

largeapertures

SonyAlpha7 II,

1/60sec at f/1.7, ISO 200

Strongvignettingis

visibleatf/1.7

SonyAlpha7 II,

1/1250sec at f/1.7, ISO 400

inexpensiveFE50mmF1.8,andalmost
exactlythesamesizeastheSamyangAF
45mmF1.8FE,whichemploysa modern,
designed-for-mirrorlessopticaldesign.
Thediaphragmemploys 12 curvedbladesto
givea circularaperture,promisingmore
attractivebokehthanSLRequivalents,which
typicallyusesevenblades,orsometimeseven
fewer.It’smechanicallycoupledtotheaperture
ring,stoppingdowndirectlytotheindicated
setting.Thisgivesa trulyaccuratefull-time
depth-of-fieldpreview,butwithoutthe
viewfindergoingdarkat smallapertures.
Likemostconventional50mmprimes,the
minimumfocusdistanceis limitedto50cm.
Thefilterthreadis 52mm,anddoesn’trotate
onfocusing,whichfacilitatesusingfilterssuch
aspolarisers.A deeppetal-styleplasticlens
hoodis suppliedandbayonetsfirmlyinto place,
while reversing neatly for storage.

It’sworthrepeatingthatthislenshasno

electronicconnectionwiththecamera.Asa

result,theselectedapertureisn’tdisplayedin

theviewfinderwhileyou’reshooting,and

neitherthefocallengthnortheaperturewill

berecordedintoyourimages’EXIFdata.On

cameraswithin-bodyimagestabilisation,you’ll

alsoneedtosetthefocallengthmanually for

thesystemtoworkcorrectly.

Buildandhandling

PickuptheMeikeandyou’llimmediately

appreciatethatit’sa substantialpieceof kit,

witha solid-feelingmetalbarrel.Thelens

balancesnicelyonsmallmirrorlessbodies,and

boththecontrolringsrotateextremely

smoothly,withouta hintof backlash.

Thefocusringdisplaysa distancescalein

feetandmetres,buttherearenodepth-of-

field markings, meaning that you can’t easily

workwithzone-focusingtechniques.The

apertureringlacksclick-stops,andwhilethe

whole-stopmarkingsarewidelyseparatedat

largeapertures,theybecomeheavilybunched

togetherbeyondf/8.Asa result,you’llneedto

takethecameradownfromyoureye

wheneveryouwanttochangetheaperture.

Anotherirritationis thatthere’snoclear

differencein feelbetweenthefocusand

aperturerings,makingthemall-too-easyto

confusewiththecamerauptoyoureye.More

thanonceI foundmyselfchangingthe

aperturewhenI reallywantedtobefocusing.

Otherthanthat,focusingcouldn’tbesimpler:

simplyturntheringuntilthepictureis sharp.It

makessensetoassignyourfavouriteaid,such

aslivevieworpeaking,toa custombutton

that’seasytolocatewhenyou’reusingthe

viewfinder.Asthediaphragmstopsdown

directly,you’llnaturallyendupfocusingat the

takingaperture.Fordyed-in-the-woolSLR

usersthiswillseemallwrong,butin thiscase

it’sthecorrectapproach,becausethelens

exhibitsa significantfocusshiftonstopping

down.Thisis duetosphericalaberration,which

is a commonflawwith fast 50mm primes.

Performance

ItestedtheMeikeMK50mmF1.7onthe

24MPSonyAlpha7 II andIII bodies,using

magnifiedviewasmypreferredfocusingaid.

Thisis slowerthanusinga peakingdisplay,but

demonstrablymoreaccuratewhenyouwantto

achieveprecisefocusat largeapertures.In an

unexpected quirk, both cameras consistently

‘Thelensbalancesnicelyon

small mirrorless bodies’