Review on Meike 12mm f2.8 Ultra Wide Angle Fixed Lens with Removable Hood for Fujifilm Mirrorless Cameras: Compatible with X-T Series, X-Pro Series, X-E Series, X-A Series, and More APS-C Models by Alicia Watts

This is a first impression, not an overview of the lens. The Meike 12mm f/2.8 ultra wide angle lens is very well made with high quality materials. It is solidly built and feels heavy in the hand. Mounted on the Fujifilm X-E2S, the focus and aperture ring worked smoothly. Several test images were completely satisfactory. So far I rate this lens as excellent value for money. Here are three things to keep in mind. First, this rather large lens will make modern very compact cameras with interchangeable lenses head-on heavy. A good collar, and holding it carefully in your hand most of the time, can prevent heartbreak. Secondly, everything works in manual mode with this lens, so it's usually necessary to go into your camera's setup or capture menu, find and select a setting for something like "shoot without a lens" (and then don't forget to select that one option to disable). when swapping out a manual lens for one with electrical contacts for auto exposure and focus.) Third, the new Meike lens on my new X-E2S has the camera almost in a stranglehold. It took an awful lot of grappling and brute force to tear it down. I hope this becomes less of an issue after the lens has been mounted and removed a few times. A final note is that this lens is fully manual. You can get auto exposure with a manual lens like this Meike by setting your camera's mode dial to "A" (preferred aperture) in PASM. You then choose the aperture you want, and the camera chooses the appropriate shutter speed. This works well in fairly bright light. In low light, make sure that the camera does not set the shutter speed too slowly, otherwise your images will not be sharp due to lack of stability in the exposure. The fact that this lens has a maximum aperture of f/2.8 should help avoid this problem. However, pay attention to the shutter speeds set by your camera. If it's slower than 1/30 second, add some light, use a tripod, or increase the ISO.