Meike’s New 85mm f/1.4 MIX II Costs $569 and Comes for the $1,800 Portrait Kings

Key Takeaways

• Meike officially launched the AF 85mm f/1.4 MIX II on July 15 for Sony E, Nikon Z, and L-mount at $569, in black, white, and two-tone finishes.
• The second-generation MIX flagship gets APO optics, a weather-sealed body, a clickable aperture ring with lock, and drops roughly 87 g versus the original, now 648 g.
• The-Digital-Picture’s lab review is already out: 4.5/5, with sharp f/1.4 results across the frame. Cons are corner coma, stepped manual focus, and a basic AF motor.
• Comparable first-party 85mm f/1.4-class lenses run $1,200 to $2,800. At $569 the MIX II undercuts even most budget f/1.8 alternatives per stop of light gathered.

The 85mm f/1.4 has always been the portrait lens photographers want and skip for budget reasons. Meike just attacked that math. The new AF 85mm f/1.4 MIX II, officially launched July 15, brings an apochromatic optical design, weather sealing, and a proper aperture ring to Sony E, Nikon Z, and L-mount bodies for $569, with the Sony E version already listed on Amazon.

That is less than a third of what the first-party portrait flagships cost, and the first independent lab review suggests the gap in image quality is far smaller than the gap in price.

What Meike Launched

The MIX II is the second generation of Meike’s premium MIX line and replaces the original 85mm f/1.4 MIX at the top of it. The upgrades are substantial rather than cosmetic. The optical formula moves to an 11-element, 8-group apochromatic design that Meike rates as “67MP ready,” marketing shorthand for resolving power aimed at bodies like the Sony a7R V and whatever comes next. The barrel slims down too: 648 g against the original’s roughly 735 g, in a 110mm-long housing with a 77mm filter thread.

Pricing is $569 across all three mounts, and Meike sells the lens in three finishes: black, white, and a black-and-white two-tone. A white fast prime is practically unheard of outside supertelephoto territory, and it doubles as free advertising at any wedding where the second shooter carries one.

The original MIX 85mm f/1.4 stays in the lineup at $399, which now makes Meike the only brand selling two autofocus 85mm f/1.4 full-frame lenses under $600.

The Specs That Matter

On paper, the MIX II reads like a lens twice its price. Autofocus comes from Meike’s Hyper STM stepping motor driving a focusing group, with an AF/MF switch and a customizable function button on the barrel that defaults to AF hold for focus-and-recompose work. The manual aperture ring runs f/1.4 to f/16 plus an A position, with a lock button so the ring stays where a video shooter parks it.

The rest of the sheet: 11 aperture blades for round highlight discs, a 0.8 m minimum focus distance producing 0.13x magnification (enough for tight headshots), and gasketing that The-Digital-Picture describes as genuine weather-sealed build quality. There is no optical stabilization, which is the norm for fast 85s since in-body stabilization handles the focal length well.

The First Lab Review Is Already In, and It Is Good

Launch-day coverage usually means press-release rewrites. This launch is different: Bryan Carnathan at The-Digital-Picture published a full lab-tested review on day one and scored the lens 4.5 out of 5. His most telling detail is procedural. Meike sent the lens without revealing its price, he shot real assignments with it before lab testing, and the untested lens “delivered sharp image quality, including wide-open at f/1.4.” Then he learned it cost $569.

The review is not uncritical, and the flaws it lists are the honest cost of the price tag. Coma is noticeable in the corners, which matters for astro shooters putting stars at the edges. Manual focus moves in small discrete steps rather than a smooth analog feel. And the AF system is described as basic: fine for portraits and events, not built for tracking erratic action the way Sony’s or Nikon’s own linear-motor lenses are.

The Price Math Against Everything Else

Here is the landscape the MIX II walks into. Sony’s FE 85mm F1.4 GM II lists at $1,798. Nikon’s Z 85mm f/1.2 S runs about $2,800, with the f/1.8 S at roughly $800. Sigma’s 85mm f/1.4 DG DN Art, the long-standing third-party value pick, lists around $1,199. The Meike undercuts the Sigma by more than half while matching its aperture, adding an aperture ring, and weighing about 200 g less.

The more interesting comparison is against budget f/1.8 lenses in the $250 to $550 window from Viltrox, Samyang, and the camera makers themselves. The MIX II costs about the same as the upper end of that group while gathering two-thirds of a stop more light and producing visibly shallower depth of field. For photographers who chose f/1.8 purely on price, that trade just changed. Understanding what 85mm does to composition in the first place is covered in our focal-length framing guide, and if the three-mount launch leaves you wondering about your own system’s options, see our breakdown of every major mirrorless mount.

Who should skip it: sports and wildlife shooters who need top-tier AF tracking, astro shooters bothered by corner coma, and Canon RF owners, since Canon’s mount remains closed to this lens entirely. Everyone else gets most of the money shot for a third of the money. The bargain-lens wave keeps building, as launches like Brightin Star’s $140 ED-glass fisheye keep proving.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which camera mounts does the Meike 85mm f/1.4 MIX II support?

Sony E, Nikon Z, and L-mount (Panasonic, Sigma, and Leica full-frame bodies). There is no Canon RF version, because Canon still does not license RF to most third-party full-frame autofocus lenses.

How is the MIX II different from the original Meike 85mm f/1.4?

New apochromatic 11-element optical design tuned for high-resolution sensors, roughly 87 g less weight (648 g vs about 735 g), weather sealing, and the aperture lock. The original stays on sale at $399; the MIX II costs $170 more and earns it.

Is the autofocus good enough for weddings and events?

Based on the first lab review, yes for portraits, ceremonies, and posed work, where the Hyper STM motor and AF-hold button do the job. It is not the lens for fast, erratic subjects like sports or birds in flight, where first-party lenses with faster motors keep a real advantage.

Where can you buy it?

Amazon currently carries only the Sony E version at $569, in black and two-tone finishes, with limited launch stock. Nikon Z and L-mount orders go through Meike’s own store; also check B&H Photo and Meike’s own store. The all-white finish is currently a Meike-direct exclusive.

The Bottom Line

Every few months a Chinese lens maker moves the value bar, and this one moves it further than most. A weather-sealed, APO, autofocus 85mm f/1.4 at $569 with a day-one 4.5/5 lab review is not a curiosity, it is a direct threat to a lens category that has charged $1,200 and up for a decade. The corner coma and workmanlike AF are real tradeoffs, but they are the right tradeoffs for the portrait shooters this lens is aimed at. The safe prediction: Sigma and Samyang price planners are having a bad week.

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Same Subject, Six Focal Lengths: How Your Lens Frames the Shot (Free Cheat Sheet) See exactly what 85mm does to a portrait before you spend a cent.