Meike 50mm F0.95 Aps-C Manual Focus Lens for X mount

I was stunned by this lens's performance. I saw reviews on it and thought it'd be soft all the way through, but it really performs well once you've stopped down to f/1.4 and even more so at f/2.0. But even all the way open at f/0.95 it surprised me with how relatively sharp it was for the aperture, size, and price!

At f/0.95 its definitely a bit soft and low-contrast, but honestly the rendering is beautiful. It creates a soft glow-like halation, which ends up really being useful for portraits. And its not unlike the effect that you'd get with a "Pro Mist" diffusion/halation/bloom filter, which a lot of people have been using on their $2k+ glass anyway.

The build quality is fantastic and the handling is wonderful. While I would have loved a clicked aperture, I actually appreciated the aperture ring's steppings. I also really enjoyed manually focusing with this lens. The manual focus ring turns smoothly and accurately.

Finally, the bokeh effects with this lens wide open are wild. It creates a soft, smooth, creamy, eye-pleasing bokeh at f/0.95 that can actually swirl any sources of light. Once you stop down to f/1.4 the swirls go away, so you can effectively enable or disable that effect at will. I love this, as its a selectable "character" to the optic.

Now, of course I bought this lens to be ABLE to use it at f/0.95, so I'm going to often, but its wonderful to know that I can go from using it as a fun and specific-effect lens to a competent and balanced lens with the simple turn of the aperture ring.

Bravo!

(PS: I never write reviews like this, but I really felt compelled to. I was just so pleasantly surprised by the performance of this lens! I'm having a lot of fun with it!)