All those years with the Nikon F mount that was on the small side due to its age, has me so used to lenses widening out considerably from the mount, that a lens like this that's almost the exact same diameter for the full length just feels vaguely...wrong and unnerving.
This ... The Sigma 180 Macro 2.8 DG lens with FTZII adapter is an awesome combo with fast AF at longer working distances IF you can deal with the weight. This incredible optic can be had for relatively cheap money and is extremely capable.
mklass wrote:
I bought one, along with the optional less collar/foot.
Physically, it is smaller and lighter that the Z MC 105.
A firmware upgrade eliminated most of the restrictions on AF focal length, which increases its usefulness.
I find the IQ to be very good. Pixel peepers may find it not a great answer the Z MC 105, but it is certainly as good as any of teh F mount Nikon Micros.
I loved the Sigma 150 and 180 macros, but they are beasts!
What restrictions? distance restrictions?
So do you like this lens so far?
Can you share some photos taken with it?
I'm curious how people find it, as a macro and tele.
As far as I can tell, the lens is unique in that it has two different focus systems, an AF one and a MF one. The firmware update allows you to first set the focus using MF, and then it will run the AF system on top of that. At macro distances the range of focus the AF system can travel isn't large, but it's probably enough to focus stack over a few cm.
The performance of the lens under the two focus systems isn't identical in controlled tests, making it a difficult lens to carefully evaluate. I tried two copies on the Fuji GFX 100s, one I returned because of an issue with the aperture stopping down too much (possibly because I was using an adapted EF version), and one for alignment. I'll probably try again later this year in the hopes that Laowa gets their production improved, because I would really like a lightweight macro telephoto.
