Quick Review: Meike EF-EOS M Adaptor

When the EOS M (review) was first revealed 13 months ago, Canon announced an adaptor that would let owners use their EF lens collection on the mirrorless body. While I personally find this ability to be more of a novelty than anything else (after all, you lose the size/weight advantage with EF lenses on the M), the lack of EF-M lenses leave plenty of gaps that need temporary filling for some users. Not the least of which is a telephoto lens for the system.

The Canon adaptor was announced with a price of $199. While that isn't a particularly unreasonable price considering that it could let you use thousands of dollars worth of gear on the M, for the occasional user of it that's a lot to fork out. Even though the canon adaptor has gone on sale for $100 a few times, the price is still a bit steep. So much like with battery grips and lenses, some people look to third parties for cheaper options...as I've done here.

There are several Chinese brands that make their own EF-EOS M adaptors that retain autofocus, ranging in price from $30 to around $60. Sadly some of them have been reported by users have having bad contacts, leading to intermittent connections with lenses, while others are said to fit loosely between the body and lens.

I ended up getting one off eBay from Meike for $35, a brand that's known fairly well for its battery grips. Strangely, the sketchier brands were more expensive than the Meike, so the choice was easy. Unlike a few of the other third party adaptors out there, the Meike product isn't a straight clone of Canon's; it actually has a unique design. The tripod foot isn't detachable, but is instead smaller than on the Canon. Also different from canon is the choice of material used - the outer shell on the Meike is plastic, whereas the Canon has a metal outer barrell. But despite being plastic, it still feels fairly solid...mine rolled off my camera bag and made an 8 inch drop to pavement with no ill-effects. The Meike doesn't exhibit any flexing when used, it makes a pretty firm seal between the body and lens. No shakes, rattles, or rolls. In my usage I haven't had the contact connection cut out at any point, either.

So does the Meike work? Yep. I've used it with 5 EF lenses so far and haven't encountered any issues. Both AF and IS work flawlessly, at least with Canon lenses. I can't compare performance to using the Canon adaptor, but with each EF lens one-shot AF was spry, with USM lenses focusing slightly faster than the native 22mm f/2.0 STM. The only odd thing about it was that my Tokina 12-24's AF was significantly slower than normal with adaptor. Again, I have no idea if this is also the case with the Canon-made product also.

For $35, it does exactly what it's supposed to do. Unless you really need the outer barrel and tripod foot to be made of metal there's isn't much reason to spring for the $200 Canon equivalent.

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