Laowa 65mm f/2.8

2× Double Life-Size Ultra-Macro

For Sony, Fuji & Canon APS-C

Sample Images   Intro   Compatibility

Specifications   Performance   Compared

User's Guide   Recommendations

Laowa 65mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro

Laowa 65mm f/2.8 2× Ultra Macro, Fuji version (also comes for Sony and for Canon EOS-M, metal 52mm filter thread, 11.2 oz./318g, 0.54 feet or 6.5" or 0.165 meters close focus, 2× double life-size maximum macro reproduction ratio, $399). bigger.

I'd get mine at Adorama for Sony, for Canon EOS-M or for Fuji X APS-C, or at B&H for Sony, for Canon EOS-M or for Fuji X APS-C, or eventually get it used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.

This all-content, junk-free website's biggest source of support is when you use those or any of these links to approved sources when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Thanks for helping me help you! Ken.

 

February 2020   Better Pictures   Laowa   Fuji   Nikon   Canon   Sony   All Reviews

Why Fixed Lenses Take Better Pictures

Best Macro Lenses

How to Shoot Macro

Laowa 65mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro

Laowa 65mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro on my Fuji X-T30. bigger.

 

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Sample Images       top

Sample Images   Intro   Compatibility

Specifications   Performance   Compared

User's Guide   Recommendations

These are just snapshots; my real work is in my Gallery.

These are all shot as NORMAL JPGs; no FINE JPGs or raw files were used or needed. Raw files are for those who can't shoot it right in the first place.

Laowa 65mm f/2.8 2X Ultra-Macro Sample Image

Automotive Crest, 22 January 2020. Fuji X-T30, Laowa 65mm f/2.8 2X Ultra-Macro at f/2.8 at 1/1,000 at ISO 160. bigger or camera-original © file.

This is hand-held, and even breathing can move me enough to put this out of focus, In this shot, only some of the silver paint is actually in focus.

 

Laowa 65mm f/2.8 2X Ultra-Macro Sample Image

Islands, 22 January 2020. Fuji X-T30, Laowa 65mm f/2.8 2X Ultra-Macro at f/5.6 at 1/200 at ISO 160. bigger or camera-original © file.

 

Laowa 65mm f/2.8 2X Ultra-Macro Sample Image

Hamilton Lancaster County Grandfather Clock, 22 January 2020. Fuji X-T30, Laowa 65mm f/2.8 2X Ultra-Macro at f/5.6 at 1.6 seconds at ISO 80. bigger or camera-original © file.

Of course it's sharp at f/5.6 (remember the hands are moving in this time exposure); but what's awesome is how it's just as sharp wide-open at f/2.8:

Laowa 65mm f/2.8 2X Ultra-Macro Sample Image

Hamilton Lancaster County Grandfather Clock, 22 January 2020. Fuji X-T30, Laowa 65mm f/2.8 2X Ultra-Macro at f/2.8 at 1/1.9 second at ISO 80. bigger or camera-original © file. The second hand is still moving.

 

Introduction       top

Sample Images   Intro   Compatibility

Specifications   Performance   Compared

User's Guide   Recommendations

New   Good   Bad   Missing

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This 65mm lens has magnificently superb optics and is very well made, but has no mechanical or electronic communication with your camera.

This is a very basic manual-focus lens that can focus from infinity all the way down to double life size. 2X double life-sized means the image on the sensor is twice actual size, meaning an object 8 x 12mm (half inch on a side) fills your 16 x 24mm APS-C sensor!

When you're this close you're only an inch (2cm) from the front of the lens and depth-of-field is measured in microns at large apertures, so you need to work very carefully, ideally on a tripod and with subjects that don't move. Even your breathing is enough to move you enough to throw your photo out of focus at very close distances. This is the case with all lenses that focus this close.

This is a primitive "barrel" lens with absolutely no electronic or mechanical communication with your camera. There is zero EXIF data, aperture control or anything between them. Because of this your automatic finder brightness control will tend to be too dark stopped down.

The 1950s-style manual aperture must be moved manually to open the aperture to focus and closed again manually to stop down to the desired aperture.

There is no "preset" aperture control typical of early 1960s lenses to let you flick back and forth between your chosen aperture and wide-open, and there certainly is no automatic diaphragm that we take for granted with all cameras made since the 1960s where the diaphragm is always wide-open for precise focussing which automatically stops-down to take the picture.

With this primitive manual diaphragm we must open manually to focus, hold the camera immobile to retain focus and stop it down to our desired aperture, and take the picture — just like a view camera from 1888. That's why this lens, like 1800's view cameras, works best on a tripod, or if you're shooting at f/2.8.

Good news is it has great bokeh and it's ultrasharp even at f/2.8, but hand-held shooting is very clumsy if you intend to stop down.

I'd get my 65mm ultra-macro at Adorama for Sony, for Canon EOS-M or for Fuji X APS-C, or at B&H for Sony, for Canon EOS-M or for Fuji X APS-C, or eventually get it used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.

Laowa 65mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro

Laowa 65mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro. bigger.

New

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com First 2× macro lens I've seen that focuses out to infinity. Other ultra-macros like Canon's classic EF 5x macro can't focus out to normal distances.

 

Good

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Ultrasharp at every distance.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Built like a tank out of all metal domestically in China, not offshored to China from foreign companies and made out of crummy plastic like too many $2,000 Nikon lenses.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Smoooooooth manual focus.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com No distortion.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Primitive manual diaphragm control also means absolutely any aperture can be set continuously between f/2.8 and f/22, especially between click stops.

 

Bad

red ball icon © KenRockwell.com Zero mechanical or electronic communication with your camera, making hand-held shooting a pain.

red ball icon © KenRockwell.com While the nonlinear aperture scale makes it easy to tell which end is which when setting apertures by feel, the cramped space between f/16 and f/22 will make it difficult to set precise fractional apertures when I use this in my studio with manual high-power studio strobes.

 

Missing

gray ball icon © KenRockwell.com Non-compensating diaphragm: if using an external exposure meter you'll have to compensate 2⅔ stops between infinity and 2× life size.

gray ball icon © KenRockwell.com No automatic diaphragm; you must open diaphragm manually to focus precisely and close it down to shoot.

gray ball icon © KenRockwell.com No mechanical or electronic communication with your camera.

 

Compatibility       top

Sample Images   Intro   Compatibility

Specifications   Performance   Compared

User's Guide   Recommendations

 

It comes in mounts for Sony E, Fuji X and Canon EOS-M APS-C mirrorless cameras.

 

Specifications       top

Sample Images   Intro   Compatibility

Specifications   Performance   Compared

User's Guide   Recommendations

 

I'd get my 65mm ultra-macro at Adorama for Sony, for Canon EOS-M or for Fuji X APS-C, or at B&H for Sony, for Canon EOS-M or for Fuji X APS-C, or eventually get it used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.

 

Name       specifications       top

Laowa calls this the CF 65mm F/2.8 CA-Dreamer Macro 2X

    CF: "Compact Format;" mainland Chinese for "APS-C."

    CA: No chromatic aberration, which I found to be true!

    Dreamer: They can't possibly mean California Dreamin'!

    2X: Gets so close that the image is twice the size of the subject!

 

Optics       specifications       top

Laowa 65mm f/2.8 internal optical construction

Internal optical construction. ED elements. bigger.

14 elements in 10 groups.

3 ED extra-low dispersion elements, which help reduce secondary axial chromatic aberration.

Internal focussing.

Rear focussing.

Multicoated.

 

Filters       specifications       top

Metal 52 mm filter thread.

 

Coverage       specifications       top

APS-C (16 × 24mm).

 

Diaphragm       specifications       top

Laowa 65mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro

Laowa 65mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro at f/5.6. bigger.

9 rounded blades.

Manually actuated.

Stops down to f/16 with full stop clicks.

OK to set any aperture between clicks.

 

Focal Length       specifications       top

65mm.

When used on an APS-C camera, it sees the same angle of view as a 100 mm lens sees when used on a full-frame or 35mm camera.

See also Crop Factor.

 

Angle of View       specifications       top

24.4º diagonal on APS-C.

 

Focus Scale       specifications       top

Yes, feet and meters.

 

Infinity Focus Stop       specifications       top

No; goes past infinity.

 

Depth of Field Scale       specifications       top

Yes.

 

Infrared Focus Index       specifications       top

No.

 

Close Focus       specifications       top

0.54 feet (6.4 inches or 0.165 meters).

 

Maximum Reproduction Ratio       specifications       top

2:1 (2.0 × life size).

 

Reproduction Ratio Scale       specifications       top

Yes.

 

Image Stabilizer       specifications       top

None, just a barrel lens.

 

Caps       specifications       top

Included front 52mm and rear cap.

 

Hood       specifications       top

Laowa 65mm f/2.8 internal optical construction

Included hood. bigger.

Excellent hybrid hood included: metal hood with plastic bayonet mount for smooth mounting.

 

Case       specifications       top

None.

 

Size       specifications       top

2.24" ø maximum diameter × 3.94" extension from flange.

57 mm ø maximum diameter × 100 mm extension from flange.

 

Weight       specifications       top

11.218 oz. (318.05 g) actual measured weight.

Rated 11.8 oz. (335 g).

 

Quality       specifications       top

Domestically made in China by a genuine Chinese company.

 

Announced       specifications       top

24 January 2020.

 

Orderable Since       specifications       top

03 February 2020.

 

Included       specifications       top

Caps and hood.

 

Packaging       specifications       top

Nifty nested cardboard box with open-cell foam innards.

 

Price, USA       specifications       top

February 2020

$399 at Adorama for Sony, for Canon EOS-M or for Fuji X APS-C, or at B&H for Sony, for Canon EOS-M or for Fuji X APS-C.

 

Performance       top

Sample Images   Intro   Compatibility

Specifications   Performance   Compared

User's Guide   Recommendations

 

Overall    Manual Focus   Breathing   Bokeh

Distortion   Ergonomics   Exposure   Falloff   Filters

Lateral Color Fringes   Lens Corrections    Macro

Mechanics   Sharpness   Spherochromatism   Data

 

I'd get my 65mm ultra-macro at Adorama for Sony, for Canon EOS-M or for Fuji X APS-C, or at B&H for Sony, for Canon EOS-M or for Fuji X APS-C, or eventually get it used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.

 

Overall       performance       top

This is an optically superb lens in a sturdy but very basic mechanical mount.

 

Manual Focus       performance       top

performance          top

Manual focus is smooth and nicely damped. It's perfect!

The focus ring isn't perfectly calibrated; my sample is not at the infinity mark when focused at infinity This is weird; previously I've only seen this defect with Korean-made lenses.

There is no infinity stop; it focuses past infinity

 

Focus Breathing       performance       top

Focus breathing is the image changing size as focused in and out. It's important to cinematographers that the image not breathe because it looks funny if the image changes size as focus gets pulled back and forth between actors. If the lens does this, the image "breathes" by growing and contracting slightly as the dialog goes back and forth.

The image from this 65mm lens grows as focussed more closely.

 

Bokeh       performance       top

Bokeh, the feel, character or quality of out-of-focus areas as opposed to how far out of focus they are, is excellent. Backgrounds just melt away.

From headshot distance wide-open:

Laowa 65mm f/2.8 2X Ultra-Macro Sample Image

Made-in-USA Davis 6250 weather station, 22 January 2020. Fuji X-T30 at Auto ISO 320, Auto Dynamic Range 200%, f/2.8 at 1/2,000. bigger or camera-original © file.

As always, if you want to throw the background as far out of focus as possible, shoot at f/2.8 and get as close as possible.

 

Distortion       performance       top

I can't see any distortion at 1 meter to 10 meters, meaning any correction in Photoshop's lens correction filter would be less than ±0.10.

This is excellent; macro lenses should never have any distortion as often they're used for scientific or documentation purposes.

 

Ergonomics       performance       top

Laowa 65mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro

Laowa 65mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro

Laowa 65mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro. bigger.
Laowa 65mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro. bigger.

No mysteries here; the mechanics are straight out of third-party lenses from 1960s Japan.

This is a nice little lens perfectly suited to hand-holding with APS-C cameras.

What's a little odd is not even a preset ring for the totally manual aperture ring; in this lens the lens is always stopped down exactly as the ring is set; there is no fast way to slap in back and forth between open and your desired aperture.

It's easy to count the full-stop aperture clicks to stop down to your preferred aperture, and the nonlinear scale also makes it easy to remember which end is which when you're shooting by feel.

The focus ring is perfectly damped: super smooth and stays where you set it. It's not free like Nikon manual focus rings.

The lens mounting index dot is hidden as a small red dot engraved in the back of the lens mount on the mounting surface itself; you can't see or feel it in the dark to help mounting.

 

Exposure Compensation       performance       top

No one else will ever notice this, but if and only if you're using an external exposure meter and shooting in manual exposure mode at close distances (which I doubt unless you're shooting with manual strobes in a studio), you will have to compensate aperture settings manually as you focus more closely.

I measure about a 2⅔ stop loss of light when shooting at 2× life size. I see no user manual in my sample that chronicles this, but no big deal: this only works on digital cameras which all have through-the-lens metering which automatically compensates. Just know that it's perfectly normal if you get a 1/630 exposure time at infinity, expect to see about a 1/100 exposure time at the same indicated aperture at twice life size — to get the same exposure.

 

Falloff       performance       top

Falloff is invisible. This is superb!

I've greatly exaggerated the falloff by shooting a gray field and placing these on a gray background; it will not look this bad in actual photos of real things:

 

Falloff on APS-C at infinity, correction turned OFF.

f/2.8
f/4
Laowa 65mm f/2.8 falloff
Laowa 65mm f/2.8 falloff
Laowa 65mm f/2.8 falloff
Laowa 65mm f/2.8 falloff
f/5.6
f/8

© 2020 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved.

 

Filters, use with       performance       top

There's no need for thin filters. I can stack several normal 52mm filters with no vignetting.

Go ahead and use your standard rotating polarizer and grad filters.

 

Lateral Color Fringes       performance       top

There are no color fringes as shot on my Fuji X-T30. This is superb performance.

 

Lens Corrections       performance       top

There are NO automated corrections on any camera.

 

Macro Performance       performance       top

Obviously this lens is all about macro performance, getting twice as close as any other macro lens I've ever used.

This isn't a crop; this is my full image which is covering a tiny 8x12mm (0.3 x 0.5 inch) bit of subject:

Laowa 65mm Ultra Macro Sample image

Casio G-Shock Solar Atomic Watch wide-open at f/2.8 at close-focus distance at 1/350 at ISO 320, 22 January 2020. bigger or camera-original © file.

Of course depth-of-field is completely nonexistent at this aperture and distance, even the tiniest variations in height and depth of this watch face put those sections completely out of focus, and of course the hands are even further out of focus.

I'm hand-holding this shot, so it's not square to the watch face, either.

 

Mechanical Quality       performance       top

Laowa 65mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro

Laowa 65mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro, Fuji X mount. bigger.

This is an all-metal lens. There is no plastic anywhere; its all metal and glass. Hallelujah!

 

Finish

Black anodized aluminum.

 

Hood

Solid alloy with plastic bayonet flange for smooth mounting.

 

Front Bumper

None.

 

Filter Threads

Metal.

 

Hood Bayonet Mount

Metal.

 

Barrel Exterior

All metal.

 

Focus Ring

Metal.

 

Identity

Laser engraved on front top outside of barrel.

 

Internals

Seem like all metal!

 

Dust Gasket at Mount

No.

 

Mount

Chromed metal.

 

Markings

All laser engraved to bare aluminum under the black anodization.

 

Serial Number

Laser engraved on front bottom of barrel.

 

Date Code

None found.

 

Noises When Shaken

None - solid as a block of billet aluminum, except if you really listen carefully in a silent place you can almost imagine hearing the diaphragm blades.

 

Made in

Made domestically in China.

 

Sharpness       performance       top

Lens sharpness has nothing to do with picture sharpness; every lens made in the past 100 years is more than sharp enough to make super-sharp pictures if you know what you're doing. The only limitation to picture sharpness is your skill as a photographer. It's the least talented who spend the most time worrying about lens sharpness and blame crummy pictures on their equipment rather than themselves. Skilled photographers make great images with whatever camera is in their hands; I've made some of my best images of all time with an irreparably broken camera! Most pixels are thrown away before you see them, but camera makers don't want you to know that.

If you're not getting ultra-sharp pictures with this, be sure not to shoot at f/11 or smaller where all lenses are softer due to diffraction, always shoot at ISO 100 or below because cameras become softer at ISO 200 and above, avoid shooting across long distances over land which can lead to atmospheric heat shimmer, be sure everything is in perfect focus, set your camera's sharpening as you want it (I set mine to the maximum) and be sure nothing is moving, either camera or subject. If you want to ensure a soft image with any lens, shoot at f/16 at ISO 1,600 at default sharpening in daylight of subjects at differing distances in the same image.

This lens is ultrasharp. I detected only the slightest softening in the corners wide-open at f/2.8 at infinity, which sharpened right up at f/4.

Laowa 65mm f/2.8 2X Ultra-Macro MTF
MTF at infinity bigger.

Much to my surprise, while I found this lens ultra-sharp at normal distances (the first graph above), it gets even sharper at closer distances:

Laowa 65mm f/2.8 2X Ultra-Macro MTF
MTF at 1:1. bigger.

 

Laowa 65mm f/2.8 2X Ultra-Macro MTF
MTF at 2× magnification. bigger.

 

Spherochromatism       performance       top

Spherochromatism, also called secondary spherical chromatic aberration, is an advanced form of spherical and chromatic aberration in a different dimension than lateral chromatic aberration. It happens in fast lenses when spherical aberration at the ends of the spectrum are corrected differently than the middle of the spectrum. Spherochromatism can cause colored fringes on out-of-focus highlights, usually seen as green fringes on backgrounds and magenta fringes on foregrounds. Spherochromatism is common in fast lenses of moderate focal length when shooting contrasty items at full aperture. It goes away as stopped down.

This lens most wonderfully has no Spherochromatism, which is excellent performance:

Laowa 65mm f/2.8 Ultra Macro Spherochromatism

Mondaine A132.30348.11SBB at f/2.8, 22 January 2020. bigger or camera-original © file.

 

Laowa 65mm f/2.8 Ultra Macro Spherochromatism

Crop from above. bigger or camera-original © file.

 

Data       performance       top

There is NO data communication too or from your camera. Even mechanical SLRs have communicated mechanically with their lenses since the 1960s, but not with this lens.

Be sure to set "65mm" in your camera's menu system if you can so at least your images will be EXIF tagged as from your 65mm Ultra-Macro.

 

Compared       top

Sample Images   Intro   Compatibility

Specifications   Performance   Compared

User's Guide   Recommendations

I'd get my 65mm ultra-macro at Adorama for Sony, for Canon EOS-M or for Fuji X APS-C, or at B&H for Sony, for Canon EOS-M or for Fuji X APS-C, or eventually get it used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.

While this lens has superb optics and focuses closer than almost any other lens, its complete lack of system integration make it a pain to use, except on a tripod with non-moving subjects.

For normal photography stick with a camera-brand macro lens, but if you really want to focus straight up to double life-size, this is the only lens that can do this. Other lenses that focus larger than life size can't focus to infinity

 

User's Guide       top

Sample Images   Intro   Compatibility

Specifications   Performance   Compared

User's Guide   Recommendations

I'd get my 65mm ultra-macro at Adorama for Sony, for Canon EOS-M or for Fuji X APS-C, or at B&H for Sony, for Canon EOS-M or for Fuji X APS-C, or eventually get it used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.

 

Aperture Setting

It's totally manual. Set it to f/2.8 to focus, hold the camera and your subject still, then close it down to taking aperture.

It's OK to set it anywhere between clicks.

 

Hood Usage

This lens focuses so close that the hood will block all the light at very close distances, so obviously don't use it when you're that close.

 

Aperture Compensation

If and only if you're using an external exposure meter and shooting in manual exposure mode at close distances (which I doubt unless you're shooting with manual strobes in a studio), you will have to compensate aperture settings manually as you focus more closely.

I measure about a 2⅔ stop loss of light when shooting at 2× life size. I see no user manual in my sample that chronicles this, but no big deal: this only works on digital cameras which all have through-the-lens metering which automatically compensates.

If you're shooting with manual exposure at different magnifications, be sure to pay attention that the closer shots will be darker unless you also change the exposure a bit.

Most people will never have to worry about this since the camera's meter compensates by reading through-the-lens. This is only for people shooting in the same light at different distances with manual exposure settings.

 

Data

While there is no data communication with any camera, most cameras allow you to program the focal length of this lens in their manu systems so at least your files will be EXIF tagged as "65mm."

 

Recommendations       top

Sample Images   Intro   Compatibility

Specifications   Performance   Compared

User's Guide   Recommendations

This is a unique lens for people who want to get ultra, ultra close and also shoot regular telephoto pictures with the same lens. Just know that it's a pain to use for hand-held photography due to its completely manual diaphragm.

I use a clear (UV) protective filter instead of a cap so I'm always ready to shoot instantly. I only use a cap when I throw this in a bag with other gear without padding — which is never. The UV filter never gets in the way, and never gets lost, either.

The very best protective filter is the Multicoated Hoya HD3 52mm UV which uses hardened glass and repels dirt and fingerprints. It's expensive, but it will last forever long after this lens is gone.

For less money, the B+W 52mm 010 is an excellent filter, as are the multicoated B+W and the basic multicoated Hoya filters and the most basic Hoya multicoated filter, but the Hoya HD3 is the toughest and the best.

Filters last a lifetime, so you may as well get the best. The Hoya HD3 stays cleaner than the others since it repels oil and dirt.

All these filters are just as sharp and take the same pictures, the difference is how much abuse they'll take and stay clean and stay in one piece.

I'd get my 65mm ultra-macro at Adorama for Sony, for Canon EOS-M or for Fuji X APS-C, or at B&H for Sony, for Canon EOS-M or for Fuji X APS-C, or eventually get it used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.

This 100% all-content website's biggest source of support is when you use those or any of these links to approved sources when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Laowa does not seal its boxes in any way, so never buy at retail or any other source not on my personally approved list since you'll have no way of knowing if you're missing accessories, getting a defective, damaged, returned, non-USA, store demo or used lens. I use the stores I do because they ship from secure remote warehouses where no one gets to touch your new camera before you do. Buy only from the approved sources I use myself for the best prices, service, return policies and selection.

Thanks for helping me help you!

Ken, Mrs. Rockwell, Ryan and Katie.

 

© Ken Rockwell. All rights reserved. Tous droits réservés. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

 

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03 February 2020, 23 January 2020