I finally used mine for the first time last week, doing Dahlia closeups. Indeed it does have beautiful rendering - I'll post a few samples as soon as I have time to process them!
bluloo wrote:
Mine arrived today.
Came with a lens filter attached. Maybe to keep dust from entering via the front element?
Yes. There's grease on the inside of the outer barrel in all the ones I've seen to help, presumably, with the inner barrel sliding inside it. That would clog up with dust pretty quickly if there were no filter on the front. Keep that filter on at all times; we aren't talking the risk of a few specs of dust on the glass here, but of a more serious issue if dust and grease mix up...
Fred Miranda wrote:
It's true that nowadays, one can buy the Canon 100/2.8 1:1 Macro for a bargain, but it actually costs $599 new. If you use it on a Sony body, add the adapter price to the mix. The Laowa 100/2.8 2:1 Macro APO is only $449.
The Canon is still a great macro lens but can't match the new Laowa in terms of aberration control, resolution and magnification.
It will transmit EXIF to the camera though while the Laowa does not. That's one plus for the adapted Canon.
The Canon might well be better in back light, though. The Laowa has limited flare control (One reviewer I trusted found something I didn't, maybe by dissasembling, namely very ineffective or no blackening of the inner barrel at various places. Not the first lens from China that's great in many ways, except for the price of some good matt black paint...)
freaklikeme wrote:
Are you guys hyped about the coming FF 60/2.8 2x now that you've used this lens?
It won't cover FF at infinity, so not quite as useful.
Also, one of the best features of the 100mm Macro is the APO property, something we won't see on the 60/2.8.
Other than that, I would very much prefer the smaller size.
freaklikeme wrote:
Are you guys hyped about the coming FF 60/2.8 2x now that you've used this lens?
Not really. I have a Canon 65 1-5x if I want a lot of enlargement in that focal range. Typically, though, I'll use my favorite, a Zeiss 50/1.4 ZE, with an extention tube and shoot wide open to get the bokeh effects that I'm looking for.
However, I really miss my Voigtlander 65/2 macro, which I had to sell when I got out of Sony. As I posted recently, now that Sony finally put in 4:3 and 1:1 aspect ratios, I'm planning to get an A7RIV just to use with the Voigt 65 and 110. And I'll probably sneak in a 21/1.4 somewhere along the line.
keepcoding wrote:
It won't cover FF at infinity, so not quite as useful.
Also, one of the best features of the 100mm Macro is the APO property, something we won't see on the 60/2.8.
Other than that, I would very much prefer the smaller size.
freaklikeme wrote:
And that won't cover the FF at infinity? I haven't seen much about it aside from the Facebook tease SAR keyed off of.
Well it is not 100% clear yet, but judging from the size of the lens and the fact that it is available for Fuji X mount as well, I think it is much more likely that this lens is actually for APS-C and can only be used on full frame for macro shots.
I mean the lens is smaller than the existing 60mm, which doesn't cover FF as well:
keepcoding wrote:
Well it is not 100% clear yet, but judging from the size of the lens and the fact that it is available for Fuji X mount as well, I think it is much more likely that this lens is actually for APS-C and can only be used on full frame for macro shots.
I mean the lens is smaller than the existing 60mm, which doesn't cover FF as well:
You may be right, but I wouldn't judge it based on the size difference between the two lenses, since the 60 was designed for APSC-SLRs. It looks to be about the same size as the Loxia 85. We shall see (eventually).
