Author Topic: Meike 3.5mm f/2.8 Circular Fisheye  (Read 2318 times)

Birna Rørslett

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Meike 3.5mm f/2.8 Circular Fisheye
« on: September 03, 2021, 19:50:07 »
The ultrasmall Meike fisheye 3.5mm f/2.8 has an impressive 220° angle of view. Just like the enormous Fisheye-Nikkor 6mm f/2.8 that Erik hauled around in Scotland during our 2016NG trip, but weighs 190g compared to > 5 kg.

I purchased the Meiko on a whim, admittedly, partly because it was offered very cheap partly for its potential use on my Olympus E-M1.2 in an underwater housing. After I few tries I retired the lens for that purpose and only when I later this summer got the Z Fc I was tempted to explore the tiny Fisheye again. It fits the Z camera through an m43-Z adapter, no problem, and of course will draw the full circle as the DX format is larger that its targeted sensor size.

I found the lens is quite sharp and with some judicious processing, the chromatic aberrations can be kept at a minimum. The überwide angle of view means you frequently get your hands, face, shoes or legs inside the frame. The consolation of course is anything near the periphery will be rendered small.

The image below indicates the Meike can deliver the goods as it were. In my neighbourhood we have a lot of ancient burial mounds, most of which are thousands of years old. The municipal planners try to ignore these when they plan a development as they only too well know a protected artefact will cost time, money, and efforts due to the mandatory archaeological excavations. However, many of these mounds are substantially sized thus not so easily "overlooked". The next best approach then apparently is "writing" the mound itself into the development scheme, in this case letting it stand in the middle of a new school yard.

Jack Dahlgren

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Re: Meike 3.5mm f/2.8 Circular Fisheye
« Reply #1 on: September 03, 2021, 23:00:07 »
Very nice. The story helps the image as I find myself looking more closely at it for clues.

Luc

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Re: Meike 3.5mm f/2.8 Circular Fisheye
« Reply #2 on: September 04, 2021, 00:15:48 »
Fantastic shot and great use of that Meike Fisheye. I'm very interested in using this lens on my Olympus cameras.

Erik Lund

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Re: Meike 3.5mm f/2.8 Circular Fisheye
« Reply #3 on: September 04, 2021, 00:59:26 »
Amazing it’s so small  great composition and light
Erik Lund

Bill De Jager

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Re: Meike 3.5mm f/2.8 Circular Fisheye
« Reply #4 on: September 04, 2021, 01:03:09 »
Amazing it’s so small  great composition and light

Outstanding!

MEPER

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Re: Meike 3.5mm f/2.8 Circular Fisheye
« Reply #5 on: September 04, 2021, 09:33:24 »
I wonder how close the lens is to the tree?
How does a 100% crop looks like of the leaves?

Birna Rørslett

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Re: Meike 3.5mm f/2.8 Circular Fisheye
« Reply #6 on: September 04, 2021, 10:49:40 »
I wonder how close the lens is to the tree?
How does a 100% crop looks like of the leaves?

I was approx. 1m away from the nearest tree.

The requested 100% crop is below. I can identify the tree as Betula pendula Silver Birch from the leaf shape and  the doubly serrated edges. Not bad for such a cheap little lens.

MEPER

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Re: Meike 3.5mm f/2.8 Circular Fisheye
« Reply #7 on: September 04, 2021, 11:27:33 »
Is it also known as "curly birch"?     ......good for knife handles with nice pattern. Old Mora knives used that kind of handles. I have a couple. Looks nice.

Yes, good sharpness.

Birna Rørslett

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Re: Meike 3.5mm f/2.8 Circular Fisheye
« Reply #8 on: September 04, 2021, 11:44:30 »
Cancer creates growth aberrations. This holds for both main large birch species in the Nordic region, viz. Silver Birch Betula pendula and Downy Birch B. pubescens.

MEPER

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Re: Meike 3.5mm f/2.8 Circular Fisheye
« Reply #9 on: September 04, 2021, 12:26:07 »
That kind of tree-cancer is more "artistic" than usual cancer as shown on birch-handle of one of my vintage Mora knives.
I wonder if the "curling" creates a harder wood. Maybe a little "off-topic" but something with birch.
I wonder how the knife will look if shoot with a 220 degree fisheye. If centered horizontal or vertical it will probably look close to "normal"?

Michael Erlewine

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Re: Meike 3.5mm f/2.8 Circular Fisheye
« Reply #10 on: September 07, 2021, 02:14:15 »
Does anyone have a link for Amazon, B&H, or Ebay for an adapter for this lens to the Nikon Z7, please?
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Birna Rørslett

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Re: Meike 3.5mm f/2.8 Circular Fisheye
« Reply #11 on: September 07, 2021, 09:15:22 »
Enter 'm43 to nikon z' in the search field of eBay or one of the other sites and there should be lots of options to choose from.

Michael Erlewine

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Re: Meike 3.5mm f/2.8 Circular Fisheye
« Reply #12 on: September 07, 2021, 09:17:43 »
Enter 'm43 to nikon z' in the search field of eBay or one of the other sites and there should be lots of options to choose from.

By 'M43" you mean "M4/3?" as in Micro Four Three, correct?
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Birna Rørslett

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Re: Meike 3.5mm f/2.8 Circular Fisheye
« Reply #13 on: September 07, 2021, 09:52:07 »
That's right. The Meike is designed for m4/3.

Michael Erlewine

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Re: Meike 3.5mm f/2.8 Circular Fisheye
« Reply #14 on: September 07, 2021, 09:56:44 »
That's right. The Meike is designed for m4/3.

Got it. I was reading it as 43... like 43mm or something. Just dumb on my part. I ordered an adapter and the lens. I have always been fascinated by ultra wide angle lenses and wondered hold folks could produce some of the very close ultra-wide images of like a bug or butterfly large (super close) and everything around it in good focus. I will check it out. Thanks.
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