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Thursday, 30 August 2018

Fast Lenses 1 - Mitakon Zhongyi Speedmaster 25 mm f/0.95 Standard Lens for Micro Four-Thirds Mount



I've been using a lot of fast, wide aperture lenses lately. Above shows my Leica M10 with a Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f/1.1, Leica SL (Typ 601) with a Canon 28mm f/1.8 and my latest 'speed lens' a Mitakon Zhongyi Speedmaster 25 mm f/0.95 Standard Lens for Micro Four-Thirds Mount. See more below.











This is a relatively cheap f/0.95 lens and is beautifully made. It even comes in a rather nice presentation box. It's made for m4/3 cameras. As you can see below it works very well wide open at f/0.95. All the pictures below were shot at that aperture. 










Until recently I wasn't a great fan of bokeh, but this lens is helping to convince me. I can't say how it compares to other lenses of this aperture. It's a long time since I had a Voigtlander version for m4/3, but I suspect the Mitakon Zhongyi is slighter sharper wide open. There is no way I'm ever going to get the 50mm Leica f/0.95 Noctilux M, so don't expect a comparison with that. At £8000+ let's just assume it's a decent lens!!!

My much cheaper version is however a very good lens indeed and has a real character about it. On my Lumix G9 it's really easy and quick to focus with the brilliant focus peaking that lens has. It's sharp, has a very nice colour rendition and does exactly what it's supposed to. I tried it on my Lumix GX9 and it produced some nice images, but the viewfinder and focusing is so much easier on the G9, so that's the camera I will be using it on. Particularly as it's so small and light. Plus as you can see it looks really good on the camera as far as I'm concerned, with the small rig video cage I have fitted permanently on the G9. Not everybody's idea of an aesthetic camera / lens combination I assume, but I love it. It feels great to use as well. The metal of the cage matches the lens very well.

My idea of m4/3 has always been somewhat different to the 'mini DSLR' look that many mirrorless manufacturers are now producing. And one of the reasons I like using the G9 + cage is that it looks and feels different and makes me want to take it out and create some images with it. Plus if I want a DSLR type camera I have my Canon 5DS R for that.

So in terms of what it offers and produces I'm very pleased with the results. Anything that gives a different experience to the current prevailing trends is very welcome in my book. It looks different, it feels different and it produces different looking images. As I bang on about endlessly, there seems to be a uniformity that the photographic internet seems to embrace, in terms of the gear / pictures expectations. To my mind obsessing about dynamic range, focus points and the like misses the point. I'm much more interested in the images and the creative relationship I establish with the gear I use. if I like using it, I usually produce more creative images. That the Mitakon Zhongyi Speedmaster 25 mm f/0.95 Standard Lens for Micro Four-Thirds Mount lets me do that means I can think of no higher praise to confer on it's merits.

Some review links -

1. https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/56996325

2. https://www.ephotozine.com/article/zhongyi-mitakon-speedmaster-25mm-f-0-95-review-28248

3. http://www.lens-rumors.com/mitakon-zhongyi-25mm-f0-95-lens-sample-images/

4. https://www.mu-43.com/threads/review-mitakon-speedmaster-25mm-f-0-95-lens.80829/

Plenty more on Google.



Stock photography by david martyn hughes at Alamy

© David Taylor-Hughes / Soundimageplus Blog

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