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Laowa 90mm f/2.8 2x Ultra-Macro APO - Review / Test Report |
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Lens Reviews -
Canon EOS (Full Format)
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Page 1 of 3
Review by Klaus Schroiff, published June 2022
Introduction
Competition is always a good thing and preventing it is not overly consumer-friendly. Canon still created a closed system with the introduction of the RF mount - making it difficult for 3rd party manufacturers to supply alternatives.
Non-Canon lenses with electronic coupling are non-existent after Samyang had to withdraw their initial offerings. Thus if you'd like to shop for a more affordable option, you either have to go for an EF adapter solution or a fully manual lens. One of the more interesting offerings in the latter category is the new Laowa 90mm f/2.8 2x Ultra-Macro APO. For those who don't know yet - Laowa is a Chinese manufacturer. They have released a number of interesting products in recent years and this new lens has at least two aspects that stand out - also compared to Canon's own macro lenses. As the name implies, it offers a max magnification of 2:1 (instead of 1.4:1 or 1:2 over at Canon) and it promises an apochromatic correction of axial CAs (LoCA/Bokeh Fringing). The lack of electronics has also a positive side effect - the lens is reasonably priced at $499USD and available for all relevant full-format mounts.
Typical for most Laowa lenses - and in fact most Chinese lenses - the build quality is on a high level thanks to a tightly assembled all-metal construction. The aperture is controlled in full f-stops clicks up to f/22. The lens doesn't offer any weather sealing but thanks to internal focusing the physical length remains constant throughout the focus range. The mechanically-coupled focus ring operates smoothly. The Laowa 90mm f/2.8 2x Ultra-Macro APO has been exclusively designed for mirrorless cameras so it's quite compact. In fact, it's shorter than the Canon RF 100mm f/2.8 L USM macro. A barrel-shaped hood is part of the package.
As already mentioned, it's a fully manual lens thus you will have to live without EXIF data, autofocus and a camera-controlled. Typically, you set the camera into aperture priority mode so the camera will control the speed according to the aperture set on the lens.
| Specifications |
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| Optical construction | 13 elements in 10 groups inc. 3x ELD elements |
| Number of aperture blades | 13 (rounded) |
| min. focus distance | 0.2m (2:1 max magnification) |
| Dimensions | 74x120mm |
| Weight | 619g |
| Filter size | 67mm |
| Hood | barrel-shaped (bayonet mount, supplied) |
| Available Mounts | Canon RF, L-mount, Nikon Z, Sony FE |
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