The Meike 8mm f/2.8 MFT is a pleasant surprise in the MFT arena. Its primary strength is sharpness across the image field and all relevant aperture settings. Field curvature is a slight issue at f/2.8, so it's still best to stop down to f/4 for optimal results. This will also reduce the vignetting, which is very noticeable at a fully-open aperture. Image distortion can be visible, but they are still fairly moderate for such an extreme ultra-wide lens. If you are into sun stars, the lens can do that for you. They are pretty pleasing around the f/5.6 mark, less so at other settings. The lens is comparatively resistant against flare, but you may spot veiling glare at harsh contrast transitions.

The build quality of the Meike lens is excellent. It's a tightly assembled, full-metal construction. Compared to e.g. some of the Loawa lenses, the Meike 8mm f/2.8 MFT is fairly big, but the complex optical design has to fit in somewhere. The control rings are super-smooth. Whether you like the clickless aperture ring or not is a matter of taste - videographers will surely prefer it, but we were perfectly fine with it during our field sessions as well. If anything, we'd say that the plastic front cap could be improved. That's besides the fully manual nature of the lens. There is no electronic coupling thus, you'll have to live with manual focusing, manual aperture and without EXIF data. Given the ultra-wide focal length, we wouldn't call this a showstopper.

The Meike 8mm f/2.8 MFT is fairly priced at $399USD. So if you are in the market for a new ultra-wide prime lens, it's worth putting the Meike lens on your radar.