Sharpest. Meike or Rokinon?

I'm going to buy a 12mm lens and a 50mm lens to use on the BMPCC4k and I'm in doubt between lenses from Meike and Rokinon.

I have no objection to using lenses from different brands. I would just like to choose the ones that are the sharpest. Could someone who already used these lenses give the opinion?

a) Meike 12mm T2.2 or Rokinon 12mm T2.2 Cine DS ou
b) Meike 50mm T2.2 ou Rokinon 50mm T2.2 Cine DS

I don't own any Meike so I cannot comment on it. However, the Meike brand has some roots from Veydra which I know are sharper lenses than the Rokinon. With that said, I own a set of Rokinon Cine lenses, all at T1.5. The Rokinons has its strength and weakness. However they have serve me well. Rokinons are soft lenses. I like the aesthetics of soft images especially for cinematic look and feel so I go for the Rokis.
If you are looking for a sharp lens, go with the Sigma ART lenses, like the 18-35mm. They are super sharp. They are still lenses so no de-click housing (however you can get their cine mod lenses).

I do own the Meike 12mm and 35mm cine lenses for my PCC4k and they are very good lenses - quite sharp wide open and very sharp after stopping down. Also the Meike 12mm is one of the few MFT lenses with little barrel distortion. I like them.

"Robert Niessner" "I do own the Meike 12mm and 35mm cine lenses for my PCC4k and they are very good lenses - quite sharp wide open and very sharp after stopping down. Also the Meike 12mm is one of the few MFT lenses with little barrel distortion. I like them."

Helo Robert!
Thank you for sharing your experience with Meike lenses.
I think I'm tending to get the 12mm and 50mm from Meike

Vlamir, there is a thread with a using having done an extensive test on youtube with all Meike lenses:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=121182

Vlamir, there is a thread with a using having done an extensive test on youtube with all Meike lenses:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=121182

Hello Robert! this comparison of Meike lenses is great and complete. It was one of the reviews I saw last week on the web and it made me think of buying the 12mm and 50mm from meike, because before I was thinking about being from Rokinon.

And after watching it, to finish with the rest of my doubt that I still had, I tried
on the web some comparison that shows side by side Meike vs Rokinon of 12mm and 50mm and I didn't find it. So I asked you here

Vlamir, no problem
I have no first hand experience with the Rokinon lenses, but every sample and review I found showed them to be on the softer side - like Ellory wrote. Contrary to him I do no like the soft look, I always go for the the most micro-contrast I can get.
The Olympus Pro 12-100 f4.0 is one of the sharpest lens you can get for the PCC4k, the Meike are not far away at f4.0, wide open a bit softer and a bit flairy but still very good.

My personal view is that sharpness wise the Meike beat the hell out of the Rokinon.

Vlamir, no problem
I have no first hand experience with the Rokinon lenses, but every sample and review I found showed them to be on the softer side - like Ellory wrote. Contrary to him I do no like the soft look, I always go for the the most micro-contrast I can get.
The Olympus Pro 12-100 f4.0 is one of the sharpest lens you can get for the PCC4k, the Meike are not far away at f4.0, wide open a bit softer and a bit flairy but still very good.

My personal view is that sharpness wise the Meike beat the hell out of the Rokinon.

I agree that the Meike will be a much sharper lens than the Rokinon. Sharpness and softness is a matter of taste and artistic consideration. With the Rokinon, they are not too soft but soft enough that I don't need to have a pro-mist filter which I often used with the Sigma ART to get the look and feel. They gives me softer skin look and also that nostalgic look on dramatize genre. For genre like comedies, I go for the sharper lenses like the Sigma or Canon.

Might not be relevant to you, but the Meike 12mm T2.2 does have a little chromatic aberration wide open. With that being said, I still miss that lens.

i've had both. I used the Cine DS line for 2+ years up until about 5 months ago.

I shot for someone who wanted to use his setup, he had a Zcam and Meikes. I liked the Meikes so much I sold my Cine DS set and wound up buying a complete native M43 set from Meike and still had about 150 bucks left from the sale.

With that said I find the Meike to be significantly sharper than the Rokinons which IMO gives more flexibility. You can always add diffusion via ProMist etc or go with the full sharpness depending on what you're shooting.

It’s good to have the flexibility to soften a ‘hard’ image. In my situation, I’d go with the SLR Magic Microprimes that are a better match of the lens character of my other lenses. They’re going to be similar to the Meike but not quite the same micro-contrast as they’re designed to be a creamier look. Creamy but not muddy.

I have the Meike 16mm. Planning on buying the 25 and 50.

The Rokinon 12mm t2.2 is not a cine ds lens but from the compact mirrorless line, I don’t think they still make the matching 50mm, the ds lenses are much larger. If you would want lenses that physically match in size and operation the Meike set is the best bet, and will save you money to boot.

I have the Rokinon 12 and the meike 16 and they match well enough for me. I’m only shooting HD on original pocket so don’t scrutinize actual resolving power. They are optically neutral with no obvious colour cast to tell them apart. I also have the inexpensive meike pancake stills lenses 25, 35, and 50mm that are surprisingly good considering the cost and also cut together fine with the more expensive lenses. I’ve added follow focus gears using the seemless tilta gears and they work great.

Being that the Rokinons are softer and my copies have no color cast, I like them also since they are fast lenses. I have the 35mm, 50mm, and the 85mm Cine-DS, all T/1.5.

Don’t know anything about the quality, but Rokinon has new Cine DSX primes, all T1.5 in various mounts including mFT and EF. There are 24, 35, 50, and 85mm in mFT.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1585073-REG

10% off at Duclos Lenses with a case for the set.

https://www.ducloslenses.com/collection ... 5103553585

The Rokinon 12mm t2.2 is not a cine ds lens but from the compact mirrorless line, I don’t think they still make the matching 50mm, the ds lenses are much larger. If you would want lenses that physically match in size and operation the Meike set is the best bet, and will save you money to boot.

I have the Rokinon 12 and the meike 16 and they match well enough for me. I’m only shooting HD on original pocket so don’t scrutinize actual resolving power. They are optically neutral with no obvious colour cast to tell them apart. I also have the inexpensive meike pancake stills lenses 25, 35, and 50mm that are surprisingly good considering the cost and also cut together fine with the more expensive lenses. I’ve added follow focus gears using the seemless tilta gears and they work great.

I would like to no more about the inexpensive Meike lenses and quality comparisons

The pancake 25mm 1.8 for example is £64.. where as the cine version is £350??.. is the cheaper one using that lesser glass?


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I never owned a meike but I do own a Samyang/Rokinon 24,35 and 135.

The 24 and 35 they are ok at 1.4,better at 2.8.
The 135 is absolutely crazy sharp,never seen anything like that at any price range (from the ones I worked with)

For the BMPCC 4k (8mp sensor without an OLPF) wouldn't choose a lens on how sharp it is.

I was a long-time owner of the Rokinons, and now have the complete set of Meikes.

I really think lenses are largely a personal decision and I always hesitate to recommend one versus another...BUT...I can with almost no reservation recommend the Meike's over the Rokinons for several reasons. Notably:

- Build quality
- Consistent, more compact, form factor
- Consistent image across lenses
- Consistent image across aperture settings

IMHO the only thing going for the Rokinons is that many of them open-up wider...but when they do, they get ridiculously soft, to the point they look like a different lens. I pretty much never shot the below 2.4 anyhow.

A comprehensive look at the Meikes:

I was a long-time owner of the Rokinons, and now have the complete set of Meikes.

I really think lenses are largely a personal decision and I always hesitate to recommend one versus another...BUT...I can with almost no reservation recommend the Meike's over the Rokinons for several reasons. Notably:

- Build quality
- Consistent, more compact, form factor
- Consistent image across lenses
- Consistent image across aperture settings

IMHO the only thing going for the Rokinons is that many of them open-up wider...but when they do, they get ridiculously soft, to the point they look like a different lens. I pretty much never shot the below 2.4 anyhow.

A comprehensive look at the Meikes:

Amazingly detailed video thank you for this!

I have been holding off on the 25mm for a while now - mostly because of the CA that you and others have pointed out. I have posted on another topic my interest in the sigma 35 1.4 as a fast prime for myself - this with a speedbooster would give me the same focal length as the 25mm T2.2 and a lot faster aperture - do you have an experience with this particular Sigma or any of the art series that you can compare against the Meike for image quality?

Morning all

I just receieved the Meike 25mm T2.2 and have been doing some intial tests over the couple of days as and where I can.

I have to admit I was initially (and still am to a point) dissapointed with the image that was coming out of the BMPPC 4K. The image seems quite washed our/muddy and is very prone to flares all over the place, not something I am used to with other lenses (Sigma 18-35, Lumix 12-35)

It clearly shows stronge CA wide open - but is managable when stepped down. the lens needs a ton of light in doors, having to push the ISO up to 1250 and beyound constantly.

in post - I am having to apple a lot more contrast to the clips to get rid of the washed out look, and my normal grading process is not sufficient for the images coming out of the camera.

however - in saying all of this - once I exported some of my footage and watched it back I was a lot more satisifed with what the final image looked like. The lens certaintly has that 'cinema' look and is not as clincial and/or sharp as the Sigma and or lumix.

I will continue to play with the lens and see how I find it. its purpose to me was to be a smaller footprint prime for handheld work, replacing the tank that is the Sigma. as it stands now I am not sure if I would be happy to replace the sigma with the Meike full time...time will tell!

Another option from Meike at 25mm is the f2.0 which is essentially the same lens as the cinema version, they even sell it with fitted gear rings. It was released at the same time as the cine first came out as a premium stills version, with a smaller front filter, but optically the same. It has since been deeply discounted so that it isn’t much more than the pancake lenses, about 1/3 the cost of the cinema version, so a cheap buy in to try out.

afternoon all

well its been over a month now and have to say i hate the meike 25m 2.2 lens

god does it flare!..it cannot handle anything that includes even at hint of sun or reflection, I have so many failed shots because of thid lens just flaring up for no reason!

going to seel asap - if anyone wants let me know!