Camera: Sony A7
Lens: Zhongyi (Mitakon) 50mm 0.95 and Leica 50mm Noctilux 0.95.

There were some rumors going around before this lens publicly announced. When I heard about it, I knew this is going to be true, because Zhongyi (some people called Mitakon, but actually they named Zhongyi) has released a 35mm F0.95 for Fujifilm X Mount and Sony Next mount. But that crazy lens only for ASP-C sensors only.

After they have tell the public they are going to release this lens for full frame FE mount. I asked my friend in China ordered one, and also ordered an Sony A7 as well. This lens only avaliable for Sony FE mount (Full Frame E-mount), yes, I bought a Sony A7 just for this lens. I think this Zhongyi 50mm F0.95 lens might help the sales for Sony A7 series cameras a bit.

After the long wait (actually, not that long time, but I can’t wait to get hands on this lens.), I got this lens in May. But I don’t have the time play around with it due to the work load from my work.

Last weekend, I planed a day for this lens, and I also want to try out how this lens perform against the King of Lignt from Leica — Leica 50mm Noctilux 0.95.

I was trying to make this game fair enough for this lens, I have a Leica M-mount to Sony FE-mount converter. So I could make all the files came from the same camera body. And I shot Raw files, for the test below I converted those raw files to JPEGs without any processing from Lightroom 5.5, and I let you judge by yourself.

Zhongyi (Mitakon) 50mm F0.95 VS Leica 50mm Noctilux 0.95

Those 3 sets for the first round, I focus on the followers on different tables.

1. SET 1:

2. SET 2:

3. SET 3:

I could not tell any big difference from the files I see on the screen of Sony A7. I only can tell after I imported all files to my computer, but I will tell what I thought after next around.

4. SET 4, a few pictures from Leica Noctilux 0.95.

Then For similar settings and lighting situations, the photos from Zhongyi 50mm F0.95.

5. SET 5: two files from Zhoingyi 50mm F0.95 first, then two files from Leica Noctilux 0.95 with same lighting situations.

Zhonigyi 50mm F0.95:

Leica 50mm Noctilux F0.95.

This Preview Conclusion:
To be honest, I didn’t think the 799 USD Zhongyi 50mm F0.95 could perform well even before I asked my friend to order it. First of all, we all know the rules “You will get what you paid for.”, specially for photography gears, this rules always apply. The higher price we pay, the better quality we get. But this lens really changed my mind after the day I put it against with Leica 50mm Noctilux 0.95. Secondly, this lens made by a Chinese optic company which not many people have heard about, and I hardly ever trust any company doesn’t have any track of records.

After the test, I was shocked when I reviewed those files on my monitor. For Leica Noctilux, you might need 9000-10000 USD to get one, and you need to wait for months before you can actually get one from Leica. But this Zhongyi 50mm F0.95 only cost $799, and this was the main reason I didn’t think this lens would do well.

From all the files above, the Monster Noctilux 0.95 does produce sharper files and it has a little less Chromatic aberration.

Bokeh? Well, from the test files so far, the Leica Noctilux does have creamy soft bokeh, and Zhoingyi 50mm F0,95 has harsher bokeh. Creammy-Soft in out of focus area and very sharp in focused area is what Leica lens famous for.But The Zhongyi 50mm F0.95 produced bokeh with a unique look, and some people might hate it, some people might love it.

To conclude this preview, the Zhongyi 50mm F0.95 is an really amazing lens to have if you really love the shallow depth of field. For the price $799, it might cost as same as a second-hand Zeiss M-Mount lens. For me, I will keep this lens as one of my collections.

(All the files below are the files after some minor processing in LightRoom, and this preview end here. I will continue to review this lens as I spend more time with it. )