I use the kens on my Nikon Zf (camera firmware 3.00).
Workmanship and controls:
The workmanship is very good. The mount is made of metal, is carefully milled, fits perfectly on my Zf, and has a fairly thick rubber ring for sealing. Meike does not provide any further information about any additional weather sealing that may be present. In heavy rain, I would therefore not use the lens without a "raincoat."
The material of the outer barrel is plastic with a texture that is resistant to fingerprints and has a pleasant feel to me.
The focus and aperture rings appear to be made of metal.
The aperture ring clicks when turned, which cannot be deactivated. Since I don't shoot videos, this is not a problem for me.
There is also an Fn button that can be freely configured via the camera menu, as well as a switch for AF/MF switching.
The aperture ring does have a little play and moves when you try to move it sideways. This does not limit its functionality in any way, but it does give a somewhat cheap impression and reinforces my belief that it is better not to use the lens in the rain.
I find it very positive that the lens has a USB C port for installing firmware updates. This means that no proprietary software is required to update the firmware.
Image quality:
The sharpness in the center of the image is already very good at open aperture and therefore only improves minimally when stopping down. It decreases slightly towards the edges, but is still at a high level. Only in the corners is the lens slightly soft at open aperture, but it still delivers satisfactory results. At F2, the sharpness is good there too, and very good from F2.8 onwards.
I couldn't detect any chromatic aberrations, nor did I notice any purple fringing. LoCAs are also practically undetectable, which I find remarkable.
Bokeh:
This is, of course, always a matter of taste. Personally, I generally like an unobtrusive and soft bokeh. Something I have always greatly appreciated in the Sigma Art lenses mentioned above. I only find the so-called "character" bokehs (such as those found in the Nikkor Z 50mm and 35mm F1.4 lenses) advantageous in exceptional cases, as they often have a distracting effect and can lead to a very "nervous" overall impression with difficult backgrounds (e.g., leaves, grass, etc.).
Here too the lens absolutely convinces me. The bokeh is soft and harmonious with every background, sometimes downright dreamlike. And the foreground bokeh is also very pleasant and never "nervous." Even when stopped down, the bokeh remains soft and harmonious.
Point light sources in the background look harmonious and do not show onion rings or a bright edge, but when the aperture is open, they are no longer circular outside the center of the image, but become elliptical towards the edge (stopping down reduces this effect). However, this is not unusual, but is or was the case with all lenses I own.
Contrast, flares, and color reproduction:
The contrast is generally very good. Flares can occur when there are bright light sources in the image, but the contrast remains at a good level even then.
I also find the color reproduction to be very good. It is slightly warmer than with my other lenses, which I find particularly pleasant for portraits.
I haven't done any explicit "coma tests" such as star shots yet. However, I did take pictures of individual lights in a string of lights at open aperture, positioning the light source in the corners and placing the focus measuring field on it. I didn't notice any coma effect.
Autofocus:
The autofocus works reliably even in very low light and the focus is exactly where it should be.
While it was only usable for stationary subjects with firmware version 1.34, it is now significantly faster since today's firmware update to version 1.47, and the AF-C (photos) and AF-F (videos) modes are finally usable. In AF-C mode, however, 3D tracking must be activated as the metering field so that the autofocus reliably follows changes in distance.
What I don't like:
The lack of weather sealing.
The weight.
The lens cap (too slippery).
