Mitakon Zhongyi Speedmaster 65mm f/1.4 Reviews
A lens almost with almost no alternatives
By Ivo
Rated 5 out of 5
Date: 2022-05-18
The Mitakon 65mm is possibly the only third party lens designed specifically for a 44x33mm sensor. It is not a full frame lens with a G mount. It is manual focus, so you need to train a bit to focus correctly. My method is:
1. Frame correctly
2. Select the focusing area using the GFX joystick
3. Push the rear wheel to magnify
4. Focus manually
5. Immediately press the shutter without exiting the magnification mode
I am detailing this method as precise focusing is essential when using such a lens wide open... You may otherwise blame the lens, when in reality the issue is the focusing.
The image quality wide open is really good, just very slighly glowy, which may help to get beautiful skin. When closing the diaphragm you get perfect sharpness, but I prefer to use it wide open or almost wide open. There are very few alternatives to this lens, the closest for me being the GF 80mm f1.7.
The lens build quality is good but it feels a bit heavy. As the aperture ring has no clicks, you sometimes turn it by accident. I really like this lens.
Quality not worth the weight
By Albert
Rated 3 out of 5
Date: 2021-01-15
Wide open this lens is not even close to sharp. I thought the lens needed to be at f2 or f2.8 to be an acceptable sharpness for me. I really wanted this lens to be able to hand hold shots in lower light. Given the lens is quite heavy that makes it harder to hold still if using the 50R. If I am shooting at f2.8 anyway I figured I might as well shoot with one of the Fuji lenses which are far sharper, half the weight, and have auto focus. Unless you are shooting totally wide open the bokeh will show the aperture blades pretty harshly. This lens has very bad lens flare, even from street lights at night. I will say this lens does have a certain look that some might like. I ended up returning this as I was happier with using either a Fuji GF lens or an adapted lens.
A little too soft
By Jonathan
Rated 3 out of 5
Date: 2020-12-27
Like most everyone else, I purchased this because there just isn't much fast glass available for the GFX system. After trying it out for a month, I'm returning it. I found f/1.4 too soft to really be that usable, especially when manually focusing and such a thin depth of field. And f2, while definitely better, is still pretty darn soft unless you're in the middle of the frame, and the extra stop versus the 63 f2.8 really isn't worth the trouble (or weight/size: this thing is big). Once you get past f2 it's a nice lens, plenty sharp. I also didn't love the focus ring, which required more effort to turn than most any other manual focus lens I've owned. I can totally see buying this lens as a more affordable alternative to the 63 f2.8. But if you already own that one, then for me at least, the marginal gains aren't really worth the cost.
Cannot mount filer + hood
By Danqing
Rated 3 out of 5
Date: 2020-12-13
I think optically this lens Meets standard.
However it has a design problem that it’s hood cannot be mounted together with filter. The space left for the mood is too small, simply put. Very clear design flaw.
Affordable medium format lens.
By Jun Young
Rated 4 out of 5
Date: 2020-12-02
Decent image quality and sturdy built. I am happy with my purchase.
Amazing lens with one caveat
By Brian
Rated 5 out of 5
Date: 2020-11-23
Amazing lens, if your shoot wide open understand that only the center will be sharp the corners will be extremely soft. But that is only and issue until you stop down to f2 by f5.6 it’s sharp corner to corner.
ZY Optics attempting what Fuji refuses to
By Kurt
Rated 3 out of 5
Date: 2021-08-12
The idea behind the lens is great. A natural prime that is also fast. Hello, Fuji? Are you listening? The GFX lens lineup at least for what I am looking for is really disappointing.
Pros: 1.4 is usable sharp. Sure, pixel-peeping amateur photographers probably wont be happy zooming in on their cat's eye or the flower in their garden. But, 1.4 is the only way to get that 3D medium format pop. Nailing focus at 1.4 is really getting that Contax 645 look when shooting at f2. Also, the build quality is surprisingly excellent. While heavy for some, That aspect didn't bother me at all. Stopping down beyond 2, this lens is almost too sharp for my liking (coming from a mainly film shooter). It's cheap! I would gladly pay double if they improved on the cons below. While not a crazy amount of character, it has more than any of the sterile ultra-modern and boring lens designs of the GFX. Is clinical sharpness all anyone cares about?
Cons: The first one and by far the biggest is the long focus throw. It really makes this lens unusable in say weddings. My other main camera is a Contax 645 and I can manually focus that thing all day long. It's quick and precise. ZY could take some notes from the Zeiss 80mm f2 from the Contax. Speaking of manually focusing, which I prefer to do, the GFX EVF is just too terrible to really be that precise. Thats more on Fuji of course but ZY is not offering auto-focus so, I'll split the blame. Focus peaking is marginal at best at large apertures. The click-less aperture ring is a huge headache. I doubt anyone uses this for video so why design it that way? The flare is pretty bad as well. Lastly, the bokeh above 1.4 does kind of kill it. The aperture blades should be rounded. Getting hexagonal bokeh is never appealing.
All in all, beyond going all in for say a Phase One XF and adapting say, the Zeiss 80mm f2 from the Contax 645, this lens shot wide open is about as close as you're going to get to that old school medium format look in digital. And not break the bank. I think it's great that ZY came out with this lens. I think an updated mk II would be great to fix the areas mentioned above. With that being said, for the price, it's a definite buy! Takes a bit of practice so give it some time.
Also, Fuji, what are you doing with the GFX lens line up? Quit with the sterile and boring lens architecture. Maybe let Zeiss design a fast natural prime for you? Just saying..
Shutter will not release
By Aaron
Rated 1 out of 5
Date: 2021-03-07
When mounted to my GFX-50S the shutter will not release even after adjusting every menu setting that could possibly effect release. The mounting ring is also a very tight fit, enough that I worried about damage to the camera's flange. Also, as noted in other reviews, a VERY heavy lens. Not even an hour and it's back in the box and I've requested a return. I'll stick with GF lenses.
credit card.‡
