Mitakon 90mm f/1.5
Full-frame für LEICA M & all mirrorless cameras
Intro Format Compatibility Specifications
Mitakon 90mm f/1.5 für LEICA M und all mirrorless cameras (metal 67mm filter thread, 27.2 oz./772g, 3.6'/1.1m close focus). bigger.
It comes in mounts für LEICA M in black und für LEICA M in silver ($649, which can be adapted to every mirrorless camera), or in dedicated mounts for Canon RF ($599), for Nikon Z ($599) and for Sony E ($599). You also can get it at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
This all-content, junk-free website's biggest source of support is when you use those or any of these links to approved sources when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Thanks for helping me help you! Ken.
December 2021 Better Pictures LEICA LEICA Lenses Zeiss Canon Sony Nikon Fuji Hasselblad All Reviews
Mitakon 50mm f/0.95 für LEICA & all mirrorless
LEICA SUMMICRON 90mm f/2 (1959-1980)
LEICA SUMMICRON-M 90mm f/2 (1980-1998)
LEICA APO SUMMICRON-M 90mm f/2 ASPH (1998-today)
LEICA SUMMILUX-M 90mm f/1.5 ASPH (2019-today)
Sony vs. Nikon vs. Canon Full-Frame
Why Fixed Lenses Take Better Pictures
Introduction top
Intro Format Compatibility Specifications
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This Mitakon 90mm f/1.5 is a special-purpose bokeh lens for LEICA M or any mirrorless camera. It is a crude and inexpensive copy of the LEICA NOCTILUX-M 90mm f/1.5.
This domestic Chinese lens is sharp enough at large apertures in the center, but softer in the corners, all of which which improve as stopped down. It's not for astronomy or scientific use; it's an effects lens for lovers of great bokeh. Things can get very far out of focus at f/1.5, which is why people buy this lens.
It is a completely mechanical, all-metal manual-focus-only lens that's easy to adapt to any mirrorless camera from its LEICA M mount, and also come in mounts dedicated to Nikon Z, to Canon RF and to Sony E.
Like many classic LEICA rangefinder lenses it cannot focus closely. It only can focuses to 3.6 feet or 1.1 meters.
I'd get my Mitakon 90/1.5 at Amazon für LEICA M in black, für LEICA M in silver, for Canon RF, for Nikon Z and for Sony E. You also can get it at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
Mitakon 90mm f/1.5. bigger.
Good intro top
Surprisingly little spherochromatism.
All-metal construction.
Same-colored engraving and similar cosmetics as a real LEICA lens.
Same obvious red mounting-index ball as a real LEICA lens — but it's in the wrong place!
9-blade diaphragm.
It's a big, fat lens, but since it's 90mm it doesn't block much of the finder.
$13,050 less expensive — or less than 1/20 the price — than the real LEICA NOCTILUX-M 90mm f/1.5!
Bad intro top
Doesn't key the proper 90mm viewfinder frame on LEICA M cameras; you have to use the finder preview lever, if your LEICA has one (not a problem on mirrorless).
Sloppy construction quality. Look at the aperture index and the focus index and you'll see they aren't even close to being lined up.
Sloppy construction quality: rangefinder focus was way off in my sample (not important for mirrorless but very important for LEICA M).
Not really a LEICA lens, with none of the precision, optical quality, mechanical quality, prestige or heritage of bloodline.
Apertures crowded close together.
Aperture ring has no clicks.
Not 6-bit coded - even though the recesses are machined into the mount, they are not filled in black-and-white so this lens is unrecognized on digital LEICA M kameras.
Red mounting-index ball is in the wrong place! You have to squint and use the tiny red speck on the lens mount rather then the big red ball.
So fat that it's hard to reach an American finger under the lens to hit the lens release button on a LEICA.
The diaphragm blades don't close with a uniform shape, as they should in a manual rangefinder lens.
Missing intro top
Keine Stammbaum (no heritage, no pedigree and no bloodline).
No aspherical elements.
Unit focussing (no floating elements seen).
No aperture clicks.
No half-stop clicks like a real LEICA lens.
No image stabilization. (Real men don't need image stabilization.)
No case included.
No identity; nowhere does it say "90mm f/1.5; " other than the aperture ring and an engraved "90."
Format top
Intro Format Compatibility Specifications
I'd get my Mitakon 90/1.5 at Amazon für LEICA M in black, für LEICA M in silver, for Canon RF, for Nikon Z and for Sony E. You also can get it at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
This is a full frame lens and I'm reviewing it as such.
It also works on APS-C cameras, on which you may make the usual inferences.
Compatibility top
Intro Format Compatibility Specifications
I'd get my Mitakon 90/1.5 at Amazon für LEICA M in black, für LEICA M in silver, for Canon RF, for Nikon Z and for Sony E. You also can get it at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
This Mitakon 90mm f/1.5 is a completely manual lens, with manual focus and manual aperture setting. It has no electronic communication to anything.
This Mitakon 90mm f/1.5 comes in a universally adaptable LEICA M mount as shown here, as well as mounts dedicated to Canon RF, to Nikon Z and to Sony E.
I prefer the LEICA M mount as it works on LEICA and it's easy to adapt to any other mirrorless mount because LEICA invented the 35mm full-frame format over 100 years ago. As the Master Mount for all 35mm cameras, it's easy to get a passive $15 mechanical adapter to go from LEICA M to your mirrorless camera and you're good. Go for the LEICA M version and no matter what brand you may get in the future you'll be able to adapt your lens to it.
This LEICA-mount lens focuses and meters on every LEICA M camera, from 1954's LEICA M3 through today's newest LEICA M-A, LEICA MP, LEICA M10 Monochrom, LEICA M10-P and LEICA M10-R the same as LEICA's own lenses — although the rangefinder focus calibration can be way off with this lens.
It cannot mount on any LEICA screw-mount camera.
If you want autofocus on Nikon Z, the Megadap MTZ11 autofocusing adapter has its own built-in autofocus motor if used with the LEICA M version. Bravo!
Specifications top
Intro Format Compatibility Specifications
I'd get my Mitakon 90/1.5 at Amazon für LEICA M in black, für LEICA M in silver, for Canon RF, for Nikon Z and for Sony E. You also can get it at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
Name specifications top
Zhong Yi Optics calls this the Mitakon 90mm F1.5 M ∅67:
M: LEICA M mount.
∅67: 67mm filter thread.
Colors
Black as shown, and optionally silver for LEICA M mount only.
Optics specifications top
Mitakon 90/1.5 internal optical construction. bigger.
9 elements in 6 groups.
No aspherical elements.
Unit focussing (no floating elements seen).
Multicoated.
Filters specifications top
Metal 67mm filter thread.
Coverage specifications top
Full-Frame (24 × 36mm), 35mm film (24 × 36mm) and APS-C (16 × 24mm).
Diaphragm specifications top
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At f/1.5. bigger. |
At f/5.6. bigger. |
9 blades.
Stops down to f/16 with no clicks.
You may set any intermediate aperture.
Sadly the diaphragm isn't that uniform, as it should be in a manual lens like this.
Focal Length specifications top
90mm.
When used on an APS-C camera, it sees the same angle of view as a 135 mm lens sees when used on a full-frame or 35mm camera.
See also Crop Factor.
Angle of View specifications top
27º diagonal on full-frame.
Focus specifications top
Traditional unit focus.
Focus Scale specifications top
Yes.
Infinity Focus Stop specifications top
Yes.
Depth of Field Scale specifications top
Yes.
Close Focus specifications top
3.6 feet (1.1 meters)
Maximum Reproduction Ratio specifications top
1:11.1 (0.09×).
Reproduction Ratio Scale specifications top
No.
Image Stabilizer specifications top
None.
Caps specifications top
Plastic snap-in 67mm front and plastic rear LEICA M-style rear cap.
Hood specifications top
None.
Case specifications top
None included.
Size specifications top
2.91" ø diameter × 34.02" extension from flange.
74 mm ø diameter × 102 mm extension from flange.
Weight specifications top
27.215 oz. (771.5 g) actual measured weight.
Rated 27.2 oz. (770g).
Quality specifications top
Made domestically in China.
Announced specifications top
30 November 2021.
Box specifications top
Box, Mitakon 90mm f/1.5. bigger.
Included specifications top
Lens, caps, warranty and inspection paperwork.
Price, U. S. A. specifications top
November 2021
About $745 if you know How to Win at eBay. (4,990 yuan in China.)
Performance top
Intro Format Compatibility Specifications
Overall Focus Breathing Bokeh Ergonomics
Finder Blockage Lens Corrections Macro
Mechanics Sharpness Spherochromatism Sunstars
I'd get my Mitakon 90/1.5 at Amazon für LEICA M in black, für LEICA M in silver, for Canon RF, for Nikon Z and for Sony E. You also can get it at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
Overall performance top
The Mitakon 90mm f/1.5 is an all-metal lens that looks just like the LEICA NOCTILUX-M 90mm f/1.5 with sloppy mechanics and optics good enough for people who don't actually shoot LEICA.
This is an effects lens, not one for astronomy, lab or exacting scientific use. It's for portraits and fun.
Focus performance top
Focus is completely manual.
Focus on my LEICA M9 at f/1.5 was always a bit in front of the subject, about 5 inches at six feet, meaning that it was way out of focus at f/1.5 unless you compensate manually.
As rangefinder shooters know, rangefinders are mechanical and often require calibration for perfect results. With my sample of 90/1.5 I have to push focus just a bit out each time, or use the mechanical stop at infinity.
I'm unsure if there's an easy user adjustment on the lens. If there is, adjust it so your rangefinder indicates perfect focus when the lens is set to the infinity stop and you're focussing on something at least a couple of miles away.
This isn't new; I've been having to adjust all my 35mm cameras for this for many, many many decades. Like a 1950s carburetor and ignition points, these systems may require periodic adjustment if you want dead-on focus at f/1.5 on a LEICA.
On mirrorless there's nothing to adjust when you focus with live view; you're always good.
Focus Breathing performance top
Focus breathing is the image changing size as focused in and out. It's important to cinematographers that the image not breathe because it looks funny if the image changes size as focus gets pulled back and forth between actors. If the lens does this, the image "breathes" by growing and contracting slightly as the dialog goes back and forth.
As a conventional unit-focus lens, the image grows a bit as focussed more closely.
Bokeh performance top
Bokeh, the feel, character or quality of out-of-focus areas as opposed to how far out of focus they are, is very good. That's the whole point of this lens.
Here are photos from headshot distance wide-open. I'm focused on the DAVIS logo. Click for the camera-original © 18 MP image:
Made-in-U. S. A. Davis 6250 weather station, 27 November 2021. LEICA M9, Mitakon 90mm f/1.5 at f/1.5 at 1/4,000at ISO 160, Perfectly Clear. bigger or camera-original © JPG.
As always, if you want to throw the background as far out of focus as possible, shoot at f/1.5 and get as close as possible.
Ergonomics performance top
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This is a big, chunky lens with traditional focus and aperture rings — except that the focus ring has such large and sharp serrations that they are uncomfortable, and that the aperture ring has no click and very closely spaced settings.
The red mounting-index ball is visible in low light, and easy to feel in total darkness — so too bad that it's in the wrong place! Instead, you have to find the tiny red mark engraved into the lens mount.
The worse part on LEICA is that it fails to key the correct 90mm frame, so if your LEICA has a preselector, you have to use a finger to hold it in the 90mm position.
Finder Blockage performance top
This is a big, fat lens, but since you use the 90mm frame, it doesn't block that much.
Lens Corrections performance top
LEICA digital cameras may have a lens profile, which do some minor corrections for falloff and corner color shading for LEICA's lenses, and that's it. Feel free to try any of the manual sections.
No camera corrects for distortion or other aspects of this lens.
Macro Performance performance top
This lens does not focus closely. It has no macro ability. For macro, use the LEICA SUMMICRON 90mm f/2 mit near-focussing range or the LEICA MACRO-ELMAR-M 90mm f/4.
Mechanical Quality performance top
Mitakon 90mm f/1.5. bigger.
This Chinese lens is all metal, and otherwise feels pretty crappy because it's so sloppily made. There is play in most directions. Look at the straight-on image, the front and rear aperture and focus indices don't even line up. I've seen hundreds, maybe thousands of different lenses, and never seen one that didn't line up or had the mounting index in the wrong place.
Finish
Black anodized aluminum.
Front Bumper
None.
Filter Threads
Metal.
Front Barrel Exterior
Metal.
Aperture Ring
Metal.
Focus Ring
Metal.
Rear Barrel Exterior
Metal.
Identity
None, just an engraved "90."
Red Mounting Index Ball
Plastic.
Internals
All metal!
Dust Gasket at Mount
No.
Mount
Chromed metal.
It's not that precisely made, there is some marring on my sample.
Markings
All engraved and filled with paint.
Serial Number
Engraved and filled with paint around front of barrel.
Date Code
None found.
Noises When Shaken
Almost none.
Made in
Made domestically in China.
Sharpness performance top
Lens sharpness has nothing to do with picture sharpness; every lens made in the past 100 years is more than sharp enough to make super-sharp pictures if you know what you're doing. The only limitation to picture sharpness is your skill as a photographer. It's the least talented who spend the most time worrying about lens sharpness and blame crummy pictures on their equipment rather than themselves. Skilled photographers make great images with whatever camera is in their hands; I've made some of my best images of all time with an irreparably broken camera! Most pixels are thrown away before you see them, but camera makers don't want you to know that.
This is a bokeh lens, not a lens for people who count their pixels.
It's sharp enough in the center at f/1.5 for its intended purpose, but if you count each pixel of course it's softer than other 90mm lenses. Like all lenses it gets sharper as stopped down.
It's soft or softer in the sides and corners, getting sharper as stopped down, but never perfectly sharp there.
Mitakon's MTF Curve. bigger.
Spherochromatism performance top
Spherochromatism, also called secondary spherical chromatic aberration or "color bokeh," is an advanced form of spherical and chromatic aberration in a different dimension than lateral chromatic aberration. It happens mostly in fast normal and tele lenses when spherical aberration at the ends of the color spectrum are corrected differently than in the middle of the spectrum. Spherochromatism can cause colored fringes on out-of-focus highlights, usually seen as green fringes on backgrounds and magenta fringes on foregrounds. Spherochromatism is common in fast lenses of moderate focal length when shooting contrasty items at full aperture. It goes away as stopped down.
It has surprisingly little spherochromatism.
Sunstars performance top
Its 9-bladed diaphragm should give 18-pointed sunstars on brilliant points of light.
Recommendations top
Intro Format Compatibility Specifications
I'd get my Mitakon 90/1.5 at Amazon für LEICA M in black, für LEICA M in silver, for Canon RF, for Nikon Z and for Sony E. You also can get it at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
This is is for people who like to experiment with different toys and lenses. It is very good if you want portraits with soft backgrounds.
This is a special effects lens for people who want their backgrounds really out of focus at f/1.5. It's not that sharp at f/1.5, so it's not for astronomy, science or people who want the sharpest images in low light. If you want sharp, stick with a camera-brand lens.
Specifically for LEICA, for about the same price if you know How to Win at eBay you can get a used LEICA SUMMICRON 90mm f/2 (1959-1980) which is far superior for sharpness if that's your goal.
Men buy LEICA to establish dominance. Owning LEICA is tangible proof of a man's superior vision, inimitable taste and superior level of accomplishment. LEICAs, instruments of the immortal, are a plaything for the talented. We own LEICA because it is who we are, not because we need them to take pictures. LEICAs haven't been about taking pictures since they went obsolete back in the 1960s. LEICA lenses cost what they do because they are well made and use very high grades of glass (for instance, you have to pay a lot for better homogeneity grades as LEICA does), but most of the price is paying for intangibles like bloodline and heritage. Oskar Barnack's martyrdom isn't free. LEICA is about a superior lifestyle, never the price or the pictures.
While this Mitakon lens works on a LEICA camera, it doesn't deserve to be mounted on a LEICA because it lacks bloodline and has no heritage, and certainly doesn't confer any sort of prestige. It just takes pictures. If you have to worry about price, you should not be playing with LEICA. Sit down and let the big boys play if you can't afford genuine LEICA lenses for your LEICA camera. The guys I know who own NOCTILUX own an average of three of them, not just one.
To shoot at f/1.5 in direct sunlight you may need a neutral-density filter. I use my Made-in-USA Tiffen 0.9 (8x or 3-stop) neutral-density filter. Not only are Tiffens among the least expensive ND filters, they are the best because they are the most neutral and made of glass. Too many other brands cost more, are made overseas, are made of plastic and add color casts.
I use a clear (UV) protective filter instead of a cap so I'm always ready to shoot instantly. I only use a cap when I throw this in a bag with other gear without padding — which is never. The UV filter never gets in the way, and never gets lost, either.
The very best protective filter is the Hoya multicoated HD3 67mm UV which uses hardened glass and repels dirt and fingerprints.
For less money, the B+W 67mm 010 is an excellent filter, as are the multicoated version and the basic multicoated Hoya filters, but the Hoya HD3 is the toughest and the best.
If I was working in nasty, dirty areas, I'd forget the cap, and use an uncoated 67mm Tiffen UV filter instead. Uncoated filters are much easier to clean, but more prone to ghosting.
For color slides like Fuji Velvia 50, I use a 67mm Hoya HMC 81A outdoors.
For B&W film outdoors to make clouds look natural in the sky I use a 67mm Hoya HMC K2 Yellow, or usually a 67mm Hoya HMC Orange for a stronger effect, or a 67mm Hoya HMC Red for the most dramatic skies or to hide pimples on skin.
Filters last a lifetime, so you may as well get the best. The Hoya HD3 stays cleaner than the others since it repels oil and dirt.
All these filters are just as sharp and take the same pictures, the difference is how much abuse they'll take and stay clean and stay in one piece.
I'd get my Mitakon 90/1.5 at Amazon für LEICA M in black, für LEICA M in silver, for Canon RF, for Nikon Z and for Sony E. You also can get it at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
This all-content, junk-free website's biggest source of support is when you use those or any of these links to approved sources when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Thanks for helping me help you! Ken.
Thanks for helping me help you!
Ken Rockwell.
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