Venus 15mm 1:1 wide angle macro lens

Images of undisturbed subjects in their natural environment. All subject types.

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orionmystery
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Venus 15mm 1:1 wide angle macro lens

Post by orionmystery »

I received this lens from Venus/Laowa earlier this week and managed to test it out in the field a couple of times. A steep learning curve for me as wide angle macro is something completely new to me. I have seen many wide angle macro shots that I like though but getting the kind of shots I like is a different story altogether. Tough but fun to use and to see bugs in totally different perspective. Liking this lens so far.

Just like the Venus 60mm, this Venus 15mm has no auto-aperture and is fully manual - manual focus, manual stop-down to the aperture setting you want by adjusting the smooth, stepless aperture to the value you want. The viewfinder will be slightly dark, but not as dark as in the case of Venus 60mm from what I remember.

All shots taken with a 70D with fill flash from a diffused Canon 270EX/Nissin i40 on hot shoe. Mostly handheld, but sometimes, on tripod.

Venus 60 2:1 macro lens and Venus 15mm F4 1:1 wide angle macro lens. There is a SHIFT function for the 15mm but that's more for landscape/architecture.
Image2015-06-29 13.35.45 copy by Kurt (Orionmystery) G, on Flickr

Taken at F11 I think. I think I'll repeat this with smaller aperture, first thing in the morning when the light is good.
ImageVenus 15mm sample shot_MG_1560 copy by Kurt (Orionmystery) G, on Flickr


ImageVenus 15mm sample shot_MG_1508 copy by Kurt (Orionmystery) G, on Flickr
Link to full res: https://farm1.staticflickr.com/265/1940 ... 3bca_o.jpg

ImageVenus 15mm sample shot_MG_1509 copy by Kurt (Orionmystery) G, on Flickr
Link to full res image: https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3939/192 ... 01fe_o.jpg

ImageVenus 15mm sample shot_MG_1272 copy by Kurt (Orionmystery) G, on Flickr
Link to full res: https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3899/192 ... 7a1f_o.jpg

ImageVenus 15mm sample shot_MG_1255 copy by Kurt (Orionmystery) G, on Flickr
Link to full res: https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3802/194 ... c048_o.jpg

ImageVenus 15mm sample shot_MG_1159 copy by Kurt (Orionmystery) G, on Flickr
Link to full res: https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3748/188 ... 0399_o.jpg
Last edited by orionmystery on Wed Jul 08, 2015 5:54 am, edited 3 times in total.

Charles Krebs
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Post by Charles Krebs »

Kurt,

Thanks for posting these. I've been curious to see what this lens can do in the hands of an accomplished photographer like yourself. Nice.

Can you give a little info (if you remember) at to what apertures were used?

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Very nice -- thanks for the posting.

Leading up to a question... A lot of old manual-aperture lenses had a "preset" ring that essentially provided tactile feedback for when you had reached a particular f-stop setting. For example on an f/3.5 lens you might turn the preset ring to f/11, so that then you could quickly turn the real aperture ring from f/3.5 to f/11 without having to look at it.

Is there any such facility on this lens, or do you really have to look at the scale every time you want to set f/11?

--Rik

johan
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Post by johan »

Very interesting what it did to the beetle shot - I suspect you'll get some great shots with it. Looks like a useful addition to your arsenal
My extreme-macro.co.uk site, a learning site. Your comments and input there would be gratefully appreciated.

orionmystery
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Post by orionmystery »

Charles Krebs wrote:Kurt,

Thanks for posting these. I've been curious to see what this lens can do in the hands of an accomplished photographer like yourself. Nice.

Can you give a little info (if you remember) at to what apertures were used?
Thanks for the encouraging words, Charles. I really had zero experience in wide angle macro prior to this. I normally set the aperture to F11 but the aperture ring is smooth and stepless, and get easily moved/rotated when you fiddle with focusing.

orionmystery
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Post by orionmystery »

rjlittlefield wrote:Very nice -- thanks for the posting.

Leading up to a question... A lot of old manual-aperture lenses had a "preset" ring that essentially provided tactile feedback for when you had reached a particular f-stop setting. For example on an f/3.5 lens you might turn the preset ring to f/11, so that then you could quickly turn the real aperture ring from f/3.5 to f/11 without having to look at it.

Is there any such facility on this lens, or do you really have to look at the scale every time you want to set f/11?

--Rik
Thanks, Rik. Unfortunately, there's no preset ring on this lens. Would be nice to have that. I have to look to make sure it's at the aperture I want every time before taking a pic!

orionmystery
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Post by orionmystery »

johan wrote:Very interesting what it did to the beetle shot - I suspect you'll get some great shots with it. Looks like a useful addition to your arsenal
Indeed, Johan.

An improved shot of the fungi at F32: sharpness looks good even at such small aperture.
ImageVenus 15mm sample shot at F32_MG_1604 copy by Kurt (Orionmystery) G, on Flickr

Check out the high res version and let me know what you think of the sharpness and CA issue.
F32 shot (this image):

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/344/1946 ... b114_o.jpg

F22 shot:

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3835/194 ... a971_o.jpg

F16 shot:

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/544/1946 ... 26e7_o.jpg

F11 shot:

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/560/1946 ... 11c3_o.jpg

orionmystery
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Post by orionmystery »

As mentioned, there's a SHIFT feature too. Check these out:

No SHIFT, lens in normal position
Image_MG_1454 copy by Kurt (Orionmystery) G, on Flickr

+6mm SHIFT (Up)
Image_MG_1452 copy by Kurt (Orionmystery) G, on Flickr

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Thanks for the further images.
let me know what you think of the sharpness and CA issue
I find the CA pretty annoying in the full-size image at Flickr, but fortunately it cleans up well with correction in Photoshop. At least it did in the lichens & river aperture test series. I can't test with the architectural tower images or any of the other images because when I try to visit those, Flickr complains "This photo is private. // Oops! You don't have permission to view this photo."
Unfortunately, there's no preset ring on this lens. Would be nice to have that.
A puzzling omission for a lens intended to be used in the field. Perhaps you could bodge something usable by gluing a tab to the aperture ring and fastening a preset stop to the lens with double-sided tape or a stretchy band so that it's movable?

--Rik

Carmen
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Post by Carmen »

thank you Kurt for sharing this intriguing method. I really like the mantis portraits!

Kurt, what working distance does this lens have at 1:1 magnification? Interestingly, in your photo's the lens does not appear to block much light.

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Post by ChrisR »

I can't get rid of the CA at all well using (old version) Photoshop tools. I can clean the top edge of the rock in the stream, but not the "<" shape just to the left of that edge.
And the top right corner is worse.
I don't know if settings change between versions, but what did you use Rik?

orionmystery
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Post by orionmystery »

rjlittlefield wrote:Thanks for the further images.
let me know what you think of the sharpness and CA issue
I find the CA pretty annoying in the full-size image at Flickr, but fortunately it cleans up well with correction in Photoshop. At least it did in the lichens & river aperture test series. I can't test with the architectural tower images or any of the other images because when I try to visit those, Flickr complains "This photo is private. // Oops! You don't have permission to view this photo."
Unfortunately, there's no preset ring on this lens. Would be nice to have that.
A puzzling omission for a lens intended to be used in the field. Perhaps you could bodge something usable by gluing a tab to the aperture ring and fastening a preset stop to the lens with double-sided tape or a stretchy band so that it's movable?

--Rik
Rik - I didn't do a CA removal for any of the shots posted. Just my usual processing in Adobe Camera Raw, and noise removal with 3rd party plugin, followed watermarking/text in CS6.

All except the temple/tower pics can be viewed in full res. The temple pics are meant to show how the SHIFT feature works.

DIY Preset for the aperture ring sounds like a great idea. I will give it some thoughts.

orionmystery
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Post by orionmystery »

Carmen wrote:thank you Kurt for sharing this intriguing method. I really like the mantis portraits!

Kurt, what working distance does this lens have at 1:1 magnification? Interestingly, in your photo's the lens does not appear to block much light.
Thanks, Carmen. The working distance at 1:1 is 4.7mm! All the shots above sans the fungi shots were with fill flash - a diffused 270EX on hotshoe.

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

orionmystery wrote:All except the temple/tower pics can be viewed in full res.
Not by me. I just rechecked. Flickr complains: "This photo is private. // Oops! You don't have permission to view this photo."

I get that same response when I click on any of the images to visit whatever they are linked to, for example https://flic.kr/p/vjmG8q for the first image, showing the lenses themselves.

The only links that I can follow and get images are the URL-type links that you provided to the .jpg files, for example https://farm1.staticflickr.com/344/1946 ... b114_o.jpg for the F32 shot.

--Rik

orionmystery
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Post by orionmystery »

rjlittlefield wrote:
orionmystery wrote:All except the temple/tower pics can be viewed in full res.
Not by me. I just rechecked. Flickr complains: "This photo is private. // Oops! You don't have permission to view this photo."

I get that same response when I click on any of the images to visit whatever they are linked to, for example https://flic.kr/p/vjmG8q for the first image, showing the lenses themselves.

The only links that I can follow and get images are the URL-type links that you provided to the .jpg files, for example https://farm1.staticflickr.com/344/1946 ... b114_o.jpg for the F32 shot.

--Rik
Ah sorry, I'll add links to the full res now!

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