Dors
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Regular Member
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Posts: 320
Re: Fun with the new Venus Laowa EF-M 65mm 2x Macro
R2D2 wrote:
After reading some really rave reviews about the Laowa 100mm 2x Macro (available in multiple FF mounts), I thought I'd give it's little EF-M brother a try. And little it is. It's smaller in diameter than most other EF-M lenses, and it's a little bit longer (and slightly heavier) than the EF-M 18-150. IOW a lot less of a handful than my standard macro lens, the EF 100L.
Shooting macros with this lens is a breeze. The small diameter makes it very grip-able, and the heft is perfect to give it a little stability.
This is a fully manual lens, so focus is best done by pre-adjusting the focus ring (basically to a desired composition), and then moving the camera to and fro until your subject is in focus. Aperture is also adjusted manually using a ring on the lens. There are no electrical contacts on the lens, so no EXIF either.
A 2:1 macro ratio is about the highest I'm comfortable with hand-holding, esp without image stabilization to assist. And Canon's Focus Peaking really works well for macros.
Since it's still winter outside around here, I took my new toy down into the shop and grabbed a few things to practice on. All of these were shot at 2:1 (an object 11mm wide fills the frame),
22.2mm (sensor's width) : 11mm is 2:1! At last I got the meaning of macro ratios and 'life size' term.
Thank you!
and aperture was set to f/11 for improved DOF. F/11 is a little beyond DLA (into diffraction) but I've always found that macros can tolerate a large amount of fine detail sharpening.
I used diffused flash for these photos (for convenience), but a good set of photographic LED lights (or even a halogen work light) would work just as well. All but the first image (soda can) were shot at max 2:1, just to see how the lens would do. Files are 2160 high, full frame no cropping (no composing really either). EOS M6 Mark II, handheld. Just for fun.