Venus Optics has announced the Laowa 90mm F2.8 2x Ultra Macro APO, its latest macro lens designed for full-frame mirrorless camera systems.
The lens is constructed of 13 elements in 10 groups, including three extrea-low dispersion (ED) elements. It features a 13-blade aperture diaphragm, has an aperture range of F2.8, uses a 67mm front filter thread and has a minimum focusing distance of 20.5cm, at which it offers 2x magnification.
Despite its longer focal length, the lens is significantly smaller than its contemporaries, including Laowa’s own 100mm F2.8 2x macro lens, which was released three years ago. It measures 74mm (2.9”) in diameter by 120mm (4.7”) long and weighs 619g (21.8oz). And it won’t get any larger than that, thanks to its internal focus mechanism.
Below is a sample gallery of full-resolution images, provided by Venus Optics:
The Laowa 90mm F2.8 2x Ultra Macro APO is available to purchase starting today for Canon RF, L, Nikon Z and Sony E mount camera systems for $499.
Word to the wise. Laowa has had my 10-18mm since before Christmas for repair. In that time, they've released and started shipping 9 new lenses. Yet when I reach out for an update on my lens repair. They tell me that their factories haven't been open all year. I reach out each month for an update and it's another excuse each time. If they were smart, they'd simply replace it if they have no intention of repairing it.
I recently bought the 100mm 2.8 version. It is every bit as sharp as my Sony 90 2.8 I think even as this lens was just announced I would have still opted for the 100. It is bigger for sure but I use the canon version on my Sony with an mc11 EF to FE adapter as the canon version is the only version that is chipped to control the aperture from the camera i have been so impressed with the 100mm I will be selling the Sony to also fund the 25mm 2.5-5x Laowa for getting even more macro. The 2:1 verses the Sony and many other brand 1:1 is a huge advantage of the laowa macros and the build quality is every bit as good as any other brands macros that I have used. Canon sigma tamron tokina Sony Fujinon Nikon I’ve used them all and would put the laowas up to them any day. And for half the price of the brand names and 2:1 it’s a no brainer
Tempting, if I should jump from my Sony FE 90 F2.8 macro to this one - especially for use with A7R IV. Most of my macro work is related to wedding details only.
Do you use the AF on the Sony? Do you use it handheld and have benefitted from it's OIS? Those would be the main benefits obviously, if Sony had auto focus bracketing I might've bought the 90G tbh, but since they don't I went with a Laowa (the older 100/2.8). The clutch on the Sony is probably the nicest MF implementation you'll find on a macro that also has AF tho.
It’s all up to what you use it for. If it’s only for mainly to be used as a macro then af isn’t a big deal If your going to use the Sony 90 for other stuff then af may be a bigger deal I used my 90 Sony exclusively for macro as I have the 85 1.8 for portraiture so I am selling my Sony after getting and using the laowa 100mm 2.8.
I got the canon chipped version rather than the Sony FE non chipped so I could still control the aperture from the camera. It really comes down to two factors do you need AF and do you want to do macro beyond 1:1 vs 2:1 As far as image quality there is really no decernable difference that I have seen And I would suspect this new 90 would be equal to the 100mm
The Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro wins hands down undoubtedly. Very appealing quality with capable auto focus. If I want larger image, I simply use that with an APS-C body or crop with higher resolution shots. Unless you genuinely need that extra magnification and that you have the lighting equipment to goes with such close up photography work, the Sigma is simply the no brainer. Having said that, it should be appreciated that Laowa does try hard to find it's niche, though I am quite sure not too many people really prepare to invest the extra equipment and time to make their macro lenses worthwhile.
@BrentSchumer What I mean is having 2x magnification is a whole different way of operation from a usual 1:1 macro lens. You need a lot more efforts, preparations and equipment such as additional lighting, support to be able to take a decent photo. Achieving precise focus alone is on another level of operations for such magnifications. And that definitely does not have a genuinely wide user base. I know there is always a smaller or a bigger world out there for capturing images. But there are always limits for any photographer in real life operations. You bring so much equipment for macro, micro or astro photographies, and you sacrifice other opportunities in return. There are always more you can do, but how far you can go in reality is another story. And the Laowa lens doesn't look like fitting the needs of a lot of people out there in real life.
Being able to shoot at 2X doesn't mean you have to. It's more about having an extended magnification range and you never know when you will need to use it. Bottom line, you can still shoot at 1X with this lens.
I would not trade off the convenience of auto focus for something which is far harder to focus, need lighting equipment in those extreme close cases. The depth of field is so razer thin at that magnification, it makes that a lot more clumpsy to deal with. That's my point. Just as I said, there is always a bigger and a smaller world to explore in photography. But what trade off you need to pay. I only wanted to say the lens is not for most photographers, not that it is no good at all.
Distorted - your fallacy is thinking you know what everyone else wants/needs - you don't. Don't confuse your personal wants/needs with everyone else's. It is no way a 'no brainer' as you called it. I wish they had both personally - but they don't so I'm left with having to prioritize. I would love to have the ability to go all the way to 2:1 when needed/wanted - but I also love to have AF, as I use the af motor to change focus with the remote to create focus stacked images from my Sony, since they don't have focus stacking functionality built into their firmware. It's all tradeoffs - and I doubt you've gone out a polled the required number of people to have any sort of actual data as to what people will want. In addition - while I would prioritize AF over 2:1 a little bit for me, when I'm shooting most of my macro I don't use AF at all (unless I'm trying to create a stack) as I move the camera back and forth, not the focus - much easier IMO to obtain the proper focus that way.
@woodyggg Your fallacy is thinking your desire to express your own opinions without reading through other's words is more important than what others really said. What I said is the Laowa's spec is not for the majority of photographer out there. It is only for a specific group of people who really need and are capable of utilising the capabilities of the lens. Because the sigma offers auto focus and 1:1 magnification, it is sufficient for my use and thus it is a no brainer. And I am quite sure it's sufficient for most of the photographers out there. Don't confuse your personal preference with most other people's. 1:2 magnification is not for most people after all!
It's still a great 1:1 macro (and an APO at that) which costs a little over 1/2 what the Sigma does tho, for many photogs the price alone is a big draw.
@Distorted - nice job just regurgitating what I stated - however you were the one assuming - and I did read your words, in fact, I quoted you - a 'no brainer'. You are quite the gas lighter - you should keep that away from all those strawmen you like to build.
@woodyggg The term "no brainer" does not rule out other products for specific usage. Your reply is pretty self evident in showing how hollow your arguement is.
Something fishy with the EXIF data - e.g. in the photo of the human eye, it can't be f/2.8 with so many things in focus. I know effective working aperture decreases as you get close to macro range, but it still doesn't look right.
That doesn't seem right. The fact that it's a manual lens doesn't necessarily mean it can't report focus distance and aperture value. On some cameras (e.g. Nikon DSLRs), if the body can't read the aperture value, it will simply read "f/0". That f/2.8 there seems like someone manually changed the value in the metadata.
I have two of the Laowa/Venus macro lenses and they do not have any electronic connections with the camera, recording no true EXIF data. In fact, with my R5, I have noticed that I can't even use the remote shutter cable using these lenses, due to this reason I suspect. A pretty annoying problem.
It doesn't have AF. This means it can't be used with af bracketing. AF bracketing is now the standard for the macro work, especially in the field. Note the very limited dof in the sample spider shot. That's where today, you would be using af bracketing. This feature on Olympus cameras is now so good you can use it, with care, in the field without a tripod. I wouldn't buy one of these Laowas..
Yeah I sort of agree now I have a Nikon Z9. I can't wait to get my Nikon 105 Z macro to do focus stacking. But those APO lenses are pretty sweet, so too bad it isn't AF as you should be using these lenses for a lot more than macro IMO.
Mike, i saw the pictures and was going to say exactly what you just said. i regularly use in camera stacking hand held out in the bush with my em5.3. And manage to get jumping spiders in focus. These spider pictures are not a good advertisement for this lens.
The irony is that I'm a Sony shooter. Despite the outstanding AF on Sony, they DO NOT have AF bracketing on any of their cameras. I have friends with Olys with this feature and know just how good it is on Olys.
And Olympus in camera stacking works with extension tubes so you can even get close to the 2 times magnification with an olympus 1;1 lens. Its true that the eyes are very nicely in focus in these Laowa pictures. This is not so easy to achieve with the olympus 60mm. But you can get close. it doesnt always produce the best results and its often too slow for fast moving insects like bees. but its usually good for spiders. Olympus has had this feature for years while Sony has shown no sign of introducing it.
and a final thought, the olympus in camera system can be used with the camera in all sorts of odd positions in the middle of bushes where rails and tripods are not practical.
I did not know Sony doesn't have in-body focus bracketing available. If you want this feature, I would highly recommend the Helicon FB tube. It works with any AF lens and can be used with flash, unlike the internal focus bracketing feature on the Canon R5.
Why would you not but this lens because it does not AF even though you say Sony doesn't do focus bracketing at all. This lens is no worse than an AF lens for focus bracketing if Sony doesn't do focus bracketing?
Jumping spiders are the best, they often jump on my lens when I photograph them and it's often hilarious watching them another jumping spider shows up.
Is there any downside to adapting this lens on APS-C cameras? If my understanding is right, maximum magnification would be 3x, and minimum working/focusing distance would remain the same since the mount adapter would ajust the distance to the focal plane, right?
Magnification does not change as it is independent of sensor size. 2:1 just means double life size on sensor. Smaller sensor means less of the subject fits on the sensor (or is larger in the frame).
@Impulses, I am referring to the mount adapter to Fuji for example. Afaik the flange distance (from focal plane to sensor) is adapted by the mount adapter.
This lens is a curious addition to me. They released a very compact 85mm a short time ago for FF mirrorless. So I wonder why another nearly identical lens? Granted, the 85mm is slower, but still?
This one is somewhat more versatile (can use it for portraits, optics might even favor it for landscapes, somewhat better in general even for macro), but larger obviously, the tiny 85/5.6 makes some sacrifices for it's size... It's nice that they have such variety IMO. They even make similar native 2x macros for APS-C and M4/3.
^ Their 85/5.6 2x is currently labeled as an APO on the site/stores as well, even tho some of the early reviews didn't state as much (in fact PhillipReeve's review states it's more deserving of the label than other APO lenses IIRC, heh).
The only thing I didn’t like was the feel of the focusing ring, which is quite important to me for a manual lens. Other than that, really a superb optic. Liked it a lot for other subjects than macro too.
Using a focusing rail does make operation a bit more precise, but it would have been nice if the focusing ring had slightly more resistance for regular on-the-go usage without tripods.
I wonder if they will eventually make this in EF mount, as I like the idea of internal focusing........and there are still plenty of EF cameras being used. The old one had the barrel extend, making it more vulnerable to weather issues.
This one is a native mirrorless design so there's no way they could make it for EF, and the old 100/2.8 for EF doesn't actually extend at all... The focus group on it moves along within the outer barrel, but if you put a filter at the end of said barrel (which they now supply) then it's not really any more vulnerable to dust than the 90/2.8.
What was wrong with Laowa's 100/2.8 2x macro for EF? It is internal focus (kind of crude unless you used the filter) and comes with the benefit of electrical connections for auto-aperture and image metadata. Slap on an EF/RF adapter and you have all those features plus R5's great focus assist options.
I retract what I said above. I had read somewhere that the barrel on the EF version extended, and therefore why I made my original comment. My bad :( Thanks for the correction :)
Love to see lenses like these. I might not be interested in everything Laows makes but thank goodness for third party lens manufacturers, they make the whole industry much better than it'd otherwise be. This lens in particular seems pretty decent and 2x macro is always fairly tempting. Nicely done Laowa.
1.4" / 35mm shorter than their old 100/2.8 2x APO (DSLR design they had transplanted to mirrorless), same filter size, about the same weight (+30g)... Looks like this one comes with an actual front element rather than a filter attached there.
I'm pretty happy with the 100/2.8, curious to see if this one handles flaring any better tho, probably the weakest aspect of the 100/2.8. New one is the same price, as are most of their 2x macros across different formats.
Looks like the focus throw is longer on the 90/2.8 too (than the 100/2.8's which bugged some people, I was fine with it) and it might be closer to 76-85g lighter after taking into account the bundled filter on the 100/2.8, etc. Dustin Abbott has his review up:
I've been pretty happy with most macro lenses, but this does seem like a winner. Bokeh look comparably good to my old Tamron SP 90mm f/2.5 macro, but this does 2:1 rather than stopping at 1:2. From the MTF charts, might not be as crisp far off axis as some macros, but looks very good overall.
Yes, I was looking at bokeh as well. Usually macro lenses do not have the greatest bokeh but this one looks pretty good, for both near and far distant details. The sample image set makes it hard to find good bokeh examples though.
I'd agree that macros as a group don't give great bokeh. However, there are exceptions; I think all the Tamron 90mm macros since the 52B have actually been very viable as portrait lenses as well as macros.
There's plenty of smooth bokeh in the sample shots here, but nearly all are macros, and the dragonfly image and the pink flower shots seem to be the only ones with specular highlights out of focus. They all look pretty good except the last pink flower shot, which shows quite a bright edge on the OOF PSF as well as some internal structure and vignetting towards the corners. I think (and hope) that might be due to unusual scene content. The one portrait has really nice bokeh.
The only clear weak point for me is that many Laowas, this included, seem to have a Vivitar-by-Komine-like color/tonality that I don't love... but I don't hate it either.
Interesting addition, though I hope Venus optics starts adding electronic aperture for their future lenses.
Edit: there is also their Compact Macro so users do indeed have choice of small and compact dedicated macro lens vs much normal Macro lens that can be used for multiple scenarios.
The 100/2.8 2x lens for Canon EF does have electronic aperture - which makes the absence somewhat odd here.
Owning the 100/2.8 2x for EF, well, I see this lens as a bit of a regression. Could be better optically and certainly better in terms of handling but I'd much prefer auto-exposure control!
^ It's not really that odd, out of the 4 or 5 different mounts they sell it in the EF one was the only one with electronic aperture control, probably because EF has been copiously reverse engineered. AFAIK the only other mount where they've brought out some (native) glass with electronic aperture control is M4/3 (1 or 2 years ago, shortly after joining the M4/3 consortium).
Even their E mount lenses don't have electronic aperture control and there's substantial evidence that various other 3rd parties have reverse engineered that mount pretty successfully. Canon EF version of the 100/2.8 was also the only one with 9 aperture blades, Nikon one had 7 oddly, and the mirrorless versions all had 13 for really round stopped down bokeh (as does this 90/2.8).
It would have been nice if the lens at least identified itself for image meta-data, and told the camera its focal length so sensor stabilization could set itself up automatically.
When juggling a couple of fully manual lenses it is annoying to have to manually dial in the right focal length for the stabilization.
It's odd because the EF protocol works on RF - so while Laowa may not have been able to implement a native RF coupling, they could have simply used EF coupling.
And then you'd have aperture control and thus full auto-exposure as well as lens identification with focal length reporting.
As for the lack of electronic coupling support for E-mount - that's really inexcusable.
" It's odd because the EF protocol works on RF - so while Laowa may not have been able to implement a native RF coupling, they could have simply used EF coupling. " -John
Didn't Samyang have to pull back some lenses from shelves after backdooring AF unto RF lenses thru EF backwards compatibility like that?
I'm not sure anything concrete about it was ever known, they could be selling them again for all I know (haven't checked), I just heard about SY stuff getting pulled around here on the DPR boards but there was at least some truth to it:
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