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You might remember us getting our hands on the Mitakon Speedmaster 135mm F1.4 at the Photo Plus Expo back in October. We handled the lens and wrote up some quick impressions at the show, but we were lucky enough to be given one of the prototype lenses to take home to Seattle with us.
Our sample is an engineering prototype of the E-mount version of this beastly lens, and we’ve spent the past few weeks gathering samples both in our studio and out and about around Seattle, to give you an idea of what it can do.
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The 135mm F1.4 is a massive piece of glass, and in its E-mount flavor, absolutely dwarfs Sony’s a7 bodies. With a 105mm thread, fully manual operation and a weight of over six pounds (about 2.7kg), it can be rather intimidating, and is near impossible to use hand-held. With the proper support in place though it isn’t difficult to use at all, and can reward patient use with dramatic, unique results.
When viewing our samples, it’s worth bearing a couple of things in mind. Firstly, this lens is one-of-a-kind. Almost literally. So it has no direct competitors that we can shoot alongside. Also note what we said earlier – we were using an engineering prototype that was not cosmetically final, and may not be completely representative, optically, of the finished shipping lenses when they become available (although it’s likely to at least be extremely close)
With that in mind, take a look, and enjoy with us this truly unique hunk of metal and glass. Let us know what you think in the comments!
Take a look at our Mitakon Speedmaster 135mm F1.4 Pre-production Sample Gallery
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)