Enter the Speedmaster! Since 2014, Mitakon Zhongyi has been making its rival version of the legendary Leica Noctilux—the Mitakon Zhongyi Speedmaster. Today, the company sells the 50mm f/0.95 for full-frame cameras, the 35mm f/0.95 for APS-C mirrorless cameras, and the 25mm f/0.95 for Micro Four Thirds. A few other Mitakon lenses get the “Speedmaster” moniker despite their painfully slow f/1.2 apertures (insert sarcastic tone), but the three mentioned above live in the rarified air of the f/0.95 maximum aperture at a fraction of the cost of the famous German lens. So, who is this Mitakon Zhongyi and how is this company making super wide-aperture lenses?
Photographs © Todd Vorenkamp
Born in 1984 as a Chinese/Japanese partnership, Shenyang Zhongyi Optical & Electronic Company today sells under the Mitakon Zhongyi brand—bringing to market a variety of lenses for Micro Four Thirds, FUJIFILM X, FUJIFILM G, Nikon F, Nikon Z, Canon EF, Canon EF-M, Canon RF, and Sony E cameras. The company now distributes lenses to more than 20 countries and places a high priority on value and affordability for their customers.
As with other non-OEM lenses, there is a certain air of curiosity that surrounds lenses from 3rd-party manufacturers like Mitakon Zhongyi. Are they good, reliable, and compatible? Or, are you venturing into completely uncharted waters of optical performance and mechanical dependability? Well, I can tell you that, with my limited experience with Mitakon Zhongyi lenses, they are good to go for your camera bag and photographic needs.
Besides the aforementioned f/0.95 Speedmaster lenses, and other than the company’s lenses, Mitakon Zhongyi makes adapters for mounting different lenses on mirrorless bodies—including some “Turbo” adapters that use internal optics to virtually increase the maximum aperture.
For years, I have been curious about the Speedmaster 35mm f/0.95 for my FUJIFILM X bodies, but never pulled the trigger on the purchase. After a few days with the lens, I am incredibly tempted to flex my Payboo card and pick one up. The lens feels totally solid and dense and balances nicely on the FUJIFILM X-T3. It is much (9.4 oz) heavier than my usual FUJIFILM XF 35mm f/1.4 companion, but it is not unwieldy. For travel, I would probably stick with the lighter Fujinon lens. But, if you want razor-thin depth of field, dialing-in f/0.95 provides a very fun photographic experience. While I am not a fan of click-less aperture rings, and I especially wish the aperture ring were mounted closer to the lens instead of out in front, the Speedmaster’s ring has the same nice damped feel as the focus ring. Because of its placement, more than once, I was racking the aperture when trying to adjust focus.
After a day of shooting the Speedmaster and getting some sharp images, I needed confirmation for my eyes, so I bench-tested the lens at home. It is truly sharp, even respectably sharp with a film-like softness wide open—at f/0.95! If there were a negative revealed in the bench tests, it was some minor chromatic aberrations, minor barrel distortion, and light vignetting. Most of that is correctable in post-processing, and, to be honest, I didn’t notice it in “real-world” images. The Speedmaster focuses pretty close (1.15') on its own, but I slapped a pair of extension tubes on it for some super-shallow DOF close-up work—very fun! The lens is currently racking up a 5-star review average on our site, so I must not be the only person enjoying the Speedmaster!
I also took the 20mm f/2 4.5x Super Macro Lens for a close-and-personal spin on some household items. In my usual world of macro photography, I find myself working at 0.5x or 1x with a comfortable working distance, but the 0.8" working distance of this lens and no real focusing—the lens changes magnification with a turn of the ring—this was a new experience. You’ll definitely want macro focusing rails to assist you. With its tiny front element and unique aperture ring (and three-bladed aperture), the lens is a bit of oddity and, even though it is totally different than the Speedmaster, a lot of fun to use.
When you look at the Mitakon Zhongyi line of optics, you see that, aside from the premium Speedmaster lenses, there is some very reasonably priced glass for portrait shooting, macro work, and normal lenses for street photography and general use including the Creator and FreeWalker series. As previously mentioned, there is also a line of optical lens adapters so that you can take full advantage of your mirrorless system by shooting other brands of lenses on your mirrorless camera.
Have you used a Mitakon Zhongyi lens? Are you curious about them? Let us know in the Comments section, below!
