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Distance scale on Laowa 12mm very incorrect

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Mzuiko

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I have a laowa 12mm and love it. It’s sharp enough for me and it produces stunning pic with a ultra wide perspective.
but I just discovered the distance scale on the lens is very incorrect while I tried to use it to align the hyperfocal distance. It focuses far past the infinity mark. And other distance is way off mark too.
do you own one? Please share your observation . I wonder I am so lucky to get a misaligned one.



This is the true infinity confirmed by numerous focusing attempts. Way before the lens’ infinity mark.
This is the true infinity confirmed by numerous focusing attempts. Way before the lens’ infinity mark.



This is focus at 0.63m. On the lens’ marking, it doesn’t even reach 0.5m
This is focus at 0.63m. On the lens’ marking, it doesn’t even reach 0.5m
 
Mzuiko said:
I have a laowa 12mm and love it. It’s sharp enough for me and it produces stunning pic with a ultra wide perspective.
but I just discovered the distance scale on the lens is very incorrect while I tried to use it to align the hyperfocal distance. It focuses far past the infinity mark. And other distance is way off mark too.
do you own one? Please share your observation . I wonder I am so lucky to get a misaligned one.

This is the true infinity confirmed by numerous focusing attempts. Way before the lens’ infinity mark.
This is the true infinity confirmed by numerous focusing attempts. Way before the lens’ infinity mark.

This is focus at 0.63m. On the lens’ marking, it doesn’t even reach 0.5m
This is focus at 0.63m. On the lens’ marking, it doesn’t even reach 0.5m
Click to expand...
This is a manual lens. I would not use the markings on the ring for focusing. I would use the camera focus tools instead. You paid a lot of money for those tools.
 
sludge21017 said:
I got a Laowa 9.5mm today and thought I was learning new distances.
Click to expand...
I have a Laowa 10-18mm, and infinity for it is around 3m (it actually varies significantly with temperature). However, the 10-18mm takes a rear-mount filter. If you take out the filter, the focus scale is closer to correct....

In any case, I think open & shim is probably a good idea....
 
AFAIK this is not totally uncommon with modern manual lenses, tho yours seems to be way more off than the average one. Very often infinity won't be right at the marking but it's still in the vicinity, not numerous markings away... Some newer Laowas allow you to adjust the focus ring so it lines up as necessary (via a screw in the focus tab).

I've heard lenses need a certain tolerance leeway to account for manufacturing variance, mount variance, and even things like thermal expansion (hence why infinity is seldom put at the hard stop anymore); but again yours seems to be well beyond that. As others said, you might be better off using MF aids like magnification rather than going by the markings anyway.
 
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Impulses said:
AFAIK this is not totally uncommon with modern manual lenses, tho yours seems to be way more off than the average one. Very often infinity won't be right at the marking but it's still in the vicinity, not numerous markings away... Some newer Laowas allow you to adjust the focus ring so it lines up as necessary (via a screw in the focus tab).

I've heard lenses need a certain tolerance leeway to account for manufacturing variance, mount variance, and even things like thermal expansion (hence why infinity is seldom put at the hard stop anymore); but again yours seems to be well beyond that. As others said, you might be better off using MF aids like magnification rather than going by the markings anyway.
Click to expand...
The issue is particularly marked in short focal length lenses, where a small difference in lens to sensor distance makes a huge difference in focusing distance. Tolerances used with 50mm lenses are not acceptable at around 10mm.
 
sludge21017 said:
I got a Laowa 9.5mm today and thought I was learning new distances.

But they were much closer to the marking and not as extreme as yours!

Have you read any online reviews (amazon, b&h)?
Click to expand...
I read every single review available pin the Internet.

b&h and amazon are always the first two

no mention of distance scale accuracy
 
Mzuiko said:
I have a laowa 12mm and love it. It’s sharp enough for me and it produces stunning pic with a ultra wide perspective.
but I just discovered the distance scale on the lens is very incorrect while I tried to use it to align the hyperfocal distance. It focuses far past the infinity mark. And other distance is way off mark too.
do you own one? Please share your observation . I wonder I am so lucky to get a misaligned one.
Click to expand...
I do not have the Laowa 12 but almost every lens I have focus distance is never " correct". I have totally 12 or 13 Zeiss Milvus, Loxia, Voigtlander primes total and a few Samyang MF, distance scale is one of the useless feature and I never use it for anything. with a modern high resolution sensor, even off by few mm on the focus distance marking will throw you off completely, so again to me, focus distance marking is a totally useless " feature". it's so much easier to just look thru the VF and see if the object is actually in focus or not compare to keep on looking at the focusing scale.
 
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Dan_168 said:
Mzuiko said:
I have a laowa 12mm and love it. It’s sharp enough for me and it produces stunning pic with a ultra wide perspective.
but I just discovered the distance scale on the lens is very incorrect while I tried to use it to align the hyperfocal distance. It focuses far past the infinity mark. And other distance is way off mark too.
do you own one? Please share your observation . I wonder I am so lucky to get a misaligned one.
Click to expand...
I do not have the Laowa 12 but almost every lens I have focus distance is never " correct". I have totally 12 or 13 Zeiss Milvus, Loxia, Voigtlander primes total and a few Samyang MF, distance scale is one of the useless feature and I never use it for anything. with a modern high resolution sensor, even off by few mm on the focus distance marking will throw you off completely, so again to me, focus distance marking is a totally useless " feature". it's so much easier to just look thru the VF and see if the object is actually in focus or not compare to keep on looking at the focusing scale.
Click to expand...
I too never focus by the distance scale on lenses. So, I don’t pay much attention to the distance scale too on lenses. Just going on a trip and want to shoot quick with my 12mm lens and investigate the versatility of “hyper focal distance”. Thus, discovered the discrepancy the markings and the real distance. As you know, hyperfocal distance setting is Very much relied on the infinity marking on the lens.
Very interesting, will look into other manual lens that I have. I got some newer ones like voigtlander and several dozen of old manual lenses.
 
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