Meike MIX 24mm F1.4 FE Review

I’ve reviewed a few Meike lenses before, but never one like this one. My early experience with Meike lenses was that they were budget lenses that stood out above all for their bargain price rather the quality of their performance. I wasn’t particularly interested in that kind of lens, so I checked out for a few years. But I started hearing from my audience that Meike has been producing some seriously good lenses, so when the company invited me to check out their new Meike MIX 24mm F1.4 prime for Sony FE and Nikon Z-mount, I said “yes”. This review explores whether the nearly $600 USD MIX 24mm is worth investing in. Find out more in either the video review below or by reading on in the text review.

Thanks to Viltrox for sending me a review copy of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the Sony a7RV and the Sony Alpha 1. You can find the listing for the Meike 24mm F1.4 here.

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24mm Lens Options

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AI SUMMARY: The Meike MIX 24mm F1.4 lens represents a significant improvement in quality and performance over previous Meike lenses, particularly standing out in the competitive landscape of 24mm lens options with its attractive pricing. At $589 USD, it offers a compelling value proposition against other more expensive options like the Sony 24mm F1.4 GM and Sigma 24mm F1.4, especially given its good build quality and solid optical performance. Autofocus and video performance are strong, though the lens does exhibit some complex distortion and contrast variation across different focus distances. While it lacks some of the advanced features of more expensive models, such as optical stabilization, it provides a broadly competitive option for budget-conscious photographers seeking a fast 24mm lens.

Strengths:

Competitive pricing with good value for a 24mm F1.4 lens.
Good build quality with strong weather sealing.
Solid autofocus performance for both stills and video.
Excellent flare resistance and attractive color rendering.

Weaknesses:

Heavier and bulkier than some competitors.
Complex distortion correction needed, with minor chromatic aberrations.
Limited aperture control features compared to higher-end lenses.
Contrast varies depending on focus distance, particularly at wide-open apertures.

It seems like everyone is making 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm lenses, but fast 24mm options are rarer. There are two other main options on Sony, the 24mm F1.4 G-Master (currently $1498 USD) and the Sigma 24mm F1.4 ($869 USD). On Nikon the options are even slimmer, with just the 24mm F1.8 S available in a native Z-mount, and that carries an MSRP of over $1000 USD. That makes the Meike lens an intriguing value play on both platforms at just $589 USD.

The MIX 24mm isn’t quite as feature rich as either the Sony or the Sigma, though it does sport a nice build quality that feels premium. The optical performance is fairly strong, too, making this an intriguing option for those who love fast 24mm lenses but are budget constrained. You can definitely make some beautiful images with this lens.

Let’s explore the details…

Meike MIX 24mm Build and Handling

24mm F1.4 is part of Meike’s MIX series, which started with the MIX 85mm F1.4, a lens that I haven’t reviewed but one that many viewers claim is very good optically. This is a series of fast aperture, full-frame prime lenses designed to compete with other mid-level primes from Sigma or Viltrox. In this case Meike benefits from the fact that a Viltrox PRO series lens at 24mm doesn’t exist.

The build quality certainly feels compelling, with a tough engineered plastic housing that feels a lot like Canon’s L-series lenses…and that red gasket at the lens mount certainly promotes that vibe.

The lens also has a thorough weather sealing, with seven or eight seals throughout the lens.

There is a USB-C port on the lens mount along with the weather sealing gasket, allowing for quick and easy firmware updates.

Sony’s 24mm F1.4 GM was well regarded for many reasons on its release back in October 2018. I didn’t get to review it until 2020, and I felt that in many ways it was the beginning of Sony’s golden age for G Master lens design. Previous G Master lenses had typically had some unexpected flaws, but the 24mm F1.4 GM was a solid effort throughout. More importantly, however, it was the first of the GM lenses to be able to combine high performance with a compact size, and it remains the smallest (92.4mm in length) and lightest (445g) lens in the class. When the Sigma 24mm F1.4 ART arrived in 2022 I gave it a very positive review because it managed to really deliver optically while undercutting the GM lens by a big margin in price. The Sigma wasn’t quite as compact, however, being 97.5mm in length and weighing in at 510g. The Meike 24mm F1.4 is bigger still, with a 79mm (3.1″) diameter by a 107mm (4.2″) length. The weight is 556g or 19.2oz. That does make it the biggest and heaviest lens in the class, though not in any kind of ridiculous way. The 550g weight is still very moderate and nothing like the 800g weight we have been seeing from the Viltrox Pro series.

The feature set consists of an aperture ring, custom (Fn) button which can be programmed from within the camera, and an AF | MF switch.

Aperture control is nice but minimal. There is only a clicked option with one-third stop detents throughout. There is no click/declick switch or iris lock.

The iris itself has 11 aperture blades, and these make for a nicely rounded aperture (though with a slight outline of the blades) even when stopped down a fair bit. Here’s F1.4, F2, and F2.8.

The specular highlights demonstrate nice geometry, though there is a fairly definite outlining that causes a bit of a “soap bubble” effect.

Some people like this look, others don’t.

Here’s a look at the aperture iris itself.

The manual focus ring is wide, ribbed, and moves nicely. It has a nice weight and delivers a good manual focus simulation.

The MIX 24mm comes with a petal-shaped hood that has a ribbed grip section to help mounting or unmounting. The hood fits a little too tightly, requiring an uncomfortable amount of pressure to remove it – enough so that the first time I went looking for a lock as I feared I was going to break something.

There is no lens based stabilization, so you will need to rely upon the in-camera stabilization if your camera is so equipped.

The front filter thread size is 72mm, the same as the Sigma and a bit bigger than the 67mm filter size on the GM.

The minimum focus distance is 28mm and while the magnification isn’t provided, it looks to be in the 0.10x level.

Up close performance is fairly strong, with good detail but slightly less contrast. Here’s the highest level of magnification I could achieve in a real world situation.

The Meike MIX 24mm F1.4 isn’t quite as feature rich as the Sigma 24mm F1.4 ART, but it definitely covers most of the desired features, and the build quality feels very solid. It is a little heavier than competing lenses, but not in any unusual way. I generally felt positive about the quality of the lens and the way that it handled.

Autofocus for Stills

Meike is utilizing an STM (stepping motor) to drive autofocus in the MIX 24mm. While STM motors aren’t as sophisticated as the higher end Linear or Voicecoil motors used in some of the top lenses, they can work well when properly deployed. Wide angle lenses like this one put less stress on a focus motor than longer focal lengths, so I felt that the STM motor provided sufficient thrust.

Focus is very quiet, though if I put my ear next to the barrel, there is a faint high-pitched whine as focus moves back and forth.

There is only a split second lag in major focus changes from close to distant, and focus not only moves quickly but arrives with great confidence. I had no problem nailing a very narrow backlit subject with great precision.

I didn’t get a chance to shoot anything sports related, though sport shooters are the ones that I most typically recommend go with first-party Sony lenses because Sony does bake in a number of advantages for their own lenses in those situations.

As with all third-party lenses, burst rate will be limited to 15FPS with autofocus, though that’s probably less of a limiting factor with a fast 24mm lens than a telephoto. You’ll rarely use a lens like this for sports or wildlife, so there isn’t much to complain about here. Focus is generally snappy and smooth, and my accuracy was excellent as well. Meike has done a solid job implementing autofocus on the MIX 24mm.

Video AF

Stepping motors definitely vary in their performance for video work, but the MIX 24mm does mostly very well in my tests. When doing “touch to focus” transitions, the transitions from near to distant subject are nice and smooth. They happen with good pace, but are smooth and well damped.

There is some focus breathing, but it is not pronounced.

My “hand test” where I alternatively block and unblock the camera’s view of my face with my hand went well, with smooth and confident transitions from my hand to my face and back. Likewise, when I approached the camera, focus stayed locked effectively on my face, and then when I either ducked out of frame or moved out of frame to the side, focus was nicely reactive to lock back on me accurately.

Stable video clips were just that…stable.

Generally autofocus for video was great in all my clips where I was on camera. No complaints here.

Meike MIX 24mm F1.4 Image Quality

The MIX 24mm sports an optical design of 15 elements in 12 groups. That’s fair complex for a 24mm prime, and includes 3 ED (extra low dispersion) elements, 2 HR (high refractive index) elements, and 3 Aspherical lenses. The result MTF shows a strong center and midframe (all above 80%) and then a dip towards the corners.

Here’s the F8 MTF chart (which has an odd flaw of a black bar across it…but that’s the way it displays on Meike’s website). As is often the case with these fast F1.4 lenses, they are a bit less sharp in the center and mid-frame, but more consistently good across the frame.

I found a more noticeable difference between wide and stopped down results in my real world tests…particularly at landscape distances.

More on that in a moment.

The MIX 24mm shows a relatively small amount of distortion for a 24mm prime, though unfortunately the nature of that distortion is somewhat complex.

I only needed to dial in a +3 to correct for a bit of barrel distortion, but you can see that there is a bit of mustache pattern remaining after a manual correction. Vignette was moderate, requiring a +57 to correct.

Here’s an image where I did a bit of correcting to help get the lines more acceptable.

I saw low levels of longitudinal style chromatic aberrations (LoCA) either on my chart…

Or with my Dad’s old SLR. Everything looks very clean.

This allows the Pro 50mm to easily handle high contrast situations, like this:

I saw a tiny amount of lateral style chromatic aberrations (LaCA) found in the contrast transitions near the edge of the frame.

I saw no problems in real world results, however, with the edges of the frame looking nice and clean even at 100%:

Other than the distortion being a little complex, this is a really nice example of taking care of corrections through the optics.

So let’s return to focus on resolution. These results are shot on a 61MP Sony a7RV and the crops are shown at roughly 200% magnification level. Here’s a look at the test chart that the crops are taken from.

If we zoom in and look at the 200% crops from the center, mid-frame, and lower right, we discover that sharpness is good really all across the frame, though there’s room for improvement in the contrast.

My real world perspectives on contrast varied somewhat by subject and distance. At fairly close distances, contrast looks pretty good

At longer distances, though, I wasn’t nearly as impressed.

Not to fret, however, as contrast takes a serious uptick even at F1.8:

By F2 and then F2.8 corners have sharpened up to excellent levels.

Improvements past F2.8 are minimal. I think there is very slightly more sharpness and contrast in the corners by F5.6, but you have to look hard to see it.

Real world results are plenty sharp on a high resolution body, with good detail and contrast throughout.

Landscape results look fantastic. Great colors, great contrast, and great detail.

Here’s another landscape result for you.

Diffraction is an unfortunate reality on higher resolution cameras, so you will see a faint softening by F11 and a more obvious softening by the minimum aperture of F16.

The MIX 24mm gets solid marks from me for the rendering. 24mm is too wide to completely defocus backgrounds, but it manages to rendering those backgrounds nice and softly.

You move a little further away and the background will not be strongly defocused, but it doesn’t get harsh, either.

I generally though it was quite nice.

I also think that color rendition is really quite good, too.

Flare resistance is excellent. I found the lens very resistant to ghosting or veiling even with the bright sun right in the frame.

The backlighting in this shot was intense, but the lens has done a great job of maintaining contrast despite it.

l was able to shoot the stars on night and the results were generally good. The lens is not as sharp in the corners at F1.4, so the star points aren’t as crip, but coma is fairly low. Stopping down to F2 would help brighten the corners and increase the sharpness there, though at the cost of less light gathering.

In general, though, I was pleasantly surprised by the image quality from the MIX 24mm. It’s a very nicely executed lens optically. Enjoy the images in the mini-gallery here.

Conclusion

Meike has definitely come a long way since I last tested one of their lenses. The Meike MIX 24mm F1.4 FE is a very competitive lens in most every facet, and if it not as feature rich as the Sigma, I suspect that the $300 savings may help make up for that. This gives a good bit of the GM quality for a whole lot less money, and that is the sweet spot for a lens like this.

Having an additional fast 24mm lens is very welcome, as there are plenty of people who just don’t find 35mm wide enough, and high resolution cameras make it easy to crop in that extra little bit if more reach is wanted.

There are lighter 24mm F1.4 lenses out there. There are more feature rich 24mm F1.4 lenses out there. There are even slightly sharper 24mm F1.4 lenses out there…but none of them come close to the level of performance the MIX 24mm offers at anywhere near this price tag of $589 USD. This is a perfect lens for those who love the 24mm focal length and have been wanting an F1.4 lens but don’t have the budget to spend on the more expensive existing options. This is a perfect lens to slot into that hole. Keep them coming, Meike!

Pros:

Beautiful built lens
Decent feature set
Very good weather sealing
USB port for firmware updates
Clean and elegant design
STM motor delivers fast, quiet, and accurate autofocus
Focus pulls are nicely damped
Comparatively low focus breathing.
Good wide open sharpness at most focus distances
Extremely sharp across the frame by F2.8
Little distortion
Solid control of fringing
Colors look great
Nice bokeh
Great flare resistance
Good price to performance ratio

Cons:

Some mustache pattern distortion
Contrast at landscape distances and F1.4 isn’t great
A bit bigger and heavier than competitors

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GEAR USED:

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