laowa 100mm macro test

The final image and crop shows in the real world portrait-distance work the Laowa 100M is plenty sharp:There is some minor pincushion distortion along with some moderate vignette. At infinity the front element is quite recessed (about three inches):At minimum focus, however, the front element moves all the way to near the end of the lens barrel:To help protect this front element and to keep dust from getting into the lens barrel, Laowa includes a filter with the 100M. I can attest that it is well made!Yes, a UV filter is part of the design. Die stufenlos erreichbare Nahgrenze von 25 cm führt bis zu einer zweifachen Vergrößerung. That means that 46% of the focus throw covers every other possibility from 40cm to infinity. Just for the fun of it, though, here is a real-world F5.6 image along with a crop from the extreme corner, which looks great:So, who knows? This produces a near absence of chromatic aberrations and allows for higher contrast and a near absence of the veiling (lack of contrast) that produces “soft” images. the APSC mode is especially interesting for these kind of shoot as we get a 150mm F2.8 macro equivalentFor portrait, the blurry background is very nice and soft,  the manual focusing however is quite challenging handheld with the small course of the focusing ring and its stiffnessThe Aperture ring with click is also not ideal for videoAll photos are straight out of the camera with no sharpening or any adjustmentsSharpness is Excellent à F2.8 and Outstanding  at F4The Laowa 100mm F2.8 Macro (450$ / 600 euros) provide excellent results both for macro and for portraitsVery good Bokeh at all apertures thanks to its 13 blades apertureContrast is good but competitors do better on that pointFocusing ring course is a little bit short for a macro : 120° onlyTokina is as sharp in the centre but corners are much below andBokeh balls when aperture is closed down are less pleasant on the Tokina as more geometric (you see the 9 blades)he Tokina feels much more plastic and cheap its mechanics are not ideal with very long course (3 full turn) for manual focusing, lens extending a lot at 1:1(1100 euros) : fast and efficient AF, better usability and controls , better sharpness(1200 euros) : Exceptional sharpness and very good usability in macroRonds de Bokeh bien réguliers grace au diaphragme à 13 lamellesLe contraste est bon mais certains concurrents font mieux sur ce pointAbsence de contact électroniques pour la transmission des EXIFLe Tokina est aussi piqué au centre mais moins beaucoup moins bon dans les coinLes ronds de Bokeh sont moins plaisant sur le Tokina car on voit les 9 lamelles du diaphragme. There is no aperture ring, which leaves a great expanse of smooth lens barrel than typical. A lens with an Apochromatic design has better correction of chromatic and spherical aberration than the much more common achromat lenses. On the macro front, this isn’t a big deal, as most macro photographers prefer to manually focus from a tripod, though one will likely find it more limiting when trying to use the lens for general purpose photography. They’ve successfully embraced more complex lens design (electromagnetic aperture iris) and delivered a highly competitive macro lens at an amazing price.

It can be a little flare prone, and I definitely wish they had added a little more focus travel into the mix, but neither of those things ruined my enjoyment of the lens. In many ways the Laowa 100mm F2.8 2x APO Macro is the most conventional of their lenses that I’ve reviewed, and even it has some unique attributes.

It’s worth noting that Laowa does sell a tripod collar for the lens (they only charge $30 for it), though I suspect the moderate size and weight of the lens mean that most photographers will find it unnecessary. It delivers gorgeous images when used to its strength, though nailing focus is slightly more difficult due to the short focus throw. That trend continues here, with the lens made entirely of metal and glass. © 2012 Dustin Abbott. Das bedeutet, dass Sie Objekte, die halb so groß wie der Sensor Ihrer Kamera sind, formatfüllend aufnehmen können. Nach dem 2,8/60 mm Ultra-Macro 2:1 ist es das zweite 2:1-Makro von Laowa mit der gleichzeitigen Einstellmöglichkeit auf Unendlich – das bedeutet, das Wechselobjektiv mit manueller Scharfeinstellung kann wie andere, herkömmliche 1:1-Makros eingesetzt werden, beispielsweise für Portraits.

Le Laowa avec ses 13 lamelles a des ronds de Bokeh bien plus “ronds”Le Tokina fait très plastique et fait pale figure à coté du tout métal du Laowa.

This image shows both the positives and negatives:The pros outweigh the cons (the image is beautiful), but you can see from the first crop that the CA correction is essentially perfect in these high-contrast white blossoms while from the second crop you can see that bokeh is perhaps slightly more busy than what I would like (though not in an objectionable way). They’ve done a good job of balancing the weight, however, as the lens weighs in at a moderate 1.4 lb (638g) despite the heavy grade construction. With the lens hood in place and measuring from the sensor on my Canon 5D Mark IV test body to the front of the lens hood, I came up with 9″. It doesn’t quite “melt away”.If you get a little closer to your subject (and have a slightly more distant background), the bokeh is smoother.In this unique image, I featured an old frying pan I found in the woods full of water.

If you can tolerate manual focus, then take a look at the Keywords: laowa 100mm, laowa 100 macro, laowa 2x macro, laowa, 100mm, F2.8, 2.8 Macro, 2X Macro, 2:1 Macro, APO, Apochromatic, Laowa 100mm Macro Review, Laowa 100 2x Macro Review, Review, Dustin Abbott, Portrait, Canon 5D Mark IV, Sony a7RIII, Sharpness, Resolution, Bokeh, Video Test, Sample Images, Real World There is also a lens hood (plastic), but at minimum focus distance you probably won’t want to use it for the simple reason that minimum focus distance is 9.72″ (24.7cm). That means your subject would be overwhelmingly shaded by the lens hood, and so I have removed it for doing my close macro work, making the protection filter all the more important.It’s worth noting that the laws of physics dictate that light transmission at close focus distances diminishes (effective aperture changes), and that’s even more obvious with the additional magnification of the Laowa 100M.