Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

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RobertOToole
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Re: Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

Post by RobertOToole »

lothman wrote:
Fri Feb 19, 2021 7:04 am
I sent my Laowa 100 to the dealer because of the focus creep when holding upwards and got a replacement lens. I found a lot of grease at the wall of the inner tubus, is this normal with your copy?
They offered to exchange it again, I'm afraid the next lens will be the same.
regards
Lothar

grease.jpg
This is interesting, thanks for taking time to post this Lothar.

I'm interested since I was planning on picking up one of these in the future and I have a feeling this would have had these same issues if I would have picked one up. Thats the way its been with me lately. :-k

Everyone should be aware that this is the main difference between the larger brands like Canon, Nikon, Sony, Sigma being more consistent between copies and the smaller brands like Laowa, Samyang and Meike, where the quality will vary a lot from copy to copy. This is why Sigma tests every lens now and has made big strides in improving consistency over the years (with less problems than Nikon now, according to LensRentals). Nikon is only going to get worse. Canon has always been the most consistent and is getting better all the time with QC. Just FYI.

Robert

lothman
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Re: Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

Post by lothman »

RobertOToole wrote:
Fri Feb 19, 2021 8:38 am
Everyone should be aware that this is the main difference between the larger brands like Canon, Nikon, Sony, Sigma being more consistent between copies and the smaller brands like Laowa, Samyang and Meike, where the quality will vary a lot from copy to copy...
Robert
to be fair, the Laowa comes with a front filter, so the internals would never get in touch with anything. And optically I really cannot complain.

RobertOToole
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Re: Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

Post by RobertOToole »

lothman wrote:
Fri Feb 19, 2021 11:13 am
RobertOToole wrote:
Fri Feb 19, 2021 8:38 am
Everyone should be aware that this is the main difference between the larger brands like Canon, Nikon, Sony, Sigma being more consistent between copies and the smaller brands like Laowa, Samyang and Meike, where the quality will vary a lot from copy to copy...
Robert
to be fair, the Laowa comes with a front filter, so the internals would never get in touch with anything. And optically I really cannot complain.
There is a front glass cover? Okay. Hard to tell from the image you posted.

The Oshiro/Laowa 65mm f/2.8 2x Ultra Macro APO I tested years ago also ran a front cover glass. That Oshiro 65mm copy I tested had centering issues since one corner was softer than the rest but it wasn't too bad compared to the Canon MP-E.

lothman
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Re: Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

Post by lothman »

lothman wrote:
Fri Feb 19, 2021 7:04 am
I found a lot of grease at the wall of the inner tubus, is this normal with your copy?...
Again to all Laowa 100mm owners, is the grease layer "normal"?

Ichthyophthirius
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Re: Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

Post by Ichthyophthirius »

The copy I had had thin patches of grease but not a thick layer.

You're right, it should be used with the Laowa front filter. Otherwise, it will collect lots of dust sticking to the grease film.

Bryce McQuillan
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Re: Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

Post by Bryce McQuillan »

Ive not had an issue of it creeping, but I have had aperture issues, where the aperture is getting "sticky" eg if you have it at F11, it keeps shooting at F2.8, after a number of shots it eventually changed to F11, I have sent mine in for repair.
Bryce McQuillan

clarnibass
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Re: Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

Post by clarnibass »

Lothman, if I understand, you had the focus creep problem, but didn't replace it yet? If I keep my count right it's 4 out of 11 lenses now that I know of with the creep.

Re the grease, yes, both lenses I have/had, the new one without creep, and the old one I replaced which had the creep, had a layer of grease there. It's normal for this lens. Whether it's "thick" or "thin"... hard to say. It's not really possible to tell from that (or maybe any) photo. I can't tell if it's thicker from the one I have or not... so I'm going with not based on that photo. I suspected that the creep might be from something as simple as them putting too much grease, but I doubt it since both I've had looked the same really. I suspect it's probably that some have parts that come out on the smaller/larger side of the tolerance, causing a looser fit, but it's also a guess.

As far as the replacement lens also having the problem, sure it's possible. See statistics I found above. From the ones I actually tried, it's worse. Two with the problem out of three.

lothman
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Re: Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

Post by lothman »

I changed the lens, they also meant that there should be no grease. The second copy has the same grease layer but focus creep has gone. So I have to be careful not to get any particles inside the tube sticking to the grease.

RobertOToole
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Re: Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

Post by RobertOToole »

Quick Laowa 100mm f/2.8 2x Ultra Macro APO note

I'm planning on getting the Laowa 100mm f/2.8 2x Ultra Macro APO in the office soon, maybe in a week or so. Should be able to post some test images soon after for anyone interested. Let me know any of your ideas for a comparison, my first thought is Laowa 100mm f/2.8 2x Ultra Macro APO vs Canon MP-E at 2x.

Lou Jost
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Re: Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

Post by Lou Jost »

I would suggest trying it against a reversed ordinary macro lens set to 1:2, like the Cosina 65mm. Even better would be to use a reversed 60mm Olympus macro lens set to 1:2

RobertOToole
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Re: Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

Post by RobertOToole »

Lou Jost wrote:
Sun Jun 06, 2021 9:05 am
I would suggest trying it against a reversed ordinary macro lens set to 1:2, like the Cosina 65mm. Even better would be to use a reversed 60mm Olympus macro lens set to 1:2
Thanks for the ideas Lou.

I'll have a Sigma 70mm Art by then.

BTW, I wouldn't call the Cosina APO-Lanthar 2/65 ordinary but I get what you mean :-k

Best,

Robert

Lou Jost
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Re: Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

Post by Lou Jost »

The 70mm Art lens is difficult to reverse, because the inner (recessed) front lens housing has the threads.

Didn't mean to offend the great people at Cosina by calling their lens "ordinary" :wink:

RobertOToole
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Re: Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

Post by RobertOToole »

Lou Jost wrote:
Sun Jun 06, 2021 11:25 am
The 70mm Art lens is difficult to reverse, because the inner (recessed) front lens housing has the threads.

Didn't mean to offend the great people at Cosina by calling their lens "ordinary" :wink:
The APO-Lanthar is worse even! The shroud is really deep! Actually I sold my APO-Lanthar 65 and will eventually sell my APO-Lanthar 125 cream machine :-)

I don't use the Apo-lanthar(s) much the lack of AF being a big downside since I am photographer not a collector, also selling only one would finance a new Sigma Art 70 + Sigma Art 105 + Printing-NIKKOR!
_Voigtlander-APO-Lanthar-65mm-f2-lens-Robert-OToole-Photography.jpg

(https://www.closeuphotography.com/voigt ... -lens-test)


Photo of the 70mm Art with the lens focused at 1x, from Ephotozine:

https://www.ephotozine.com/articles/sig ... 450706.jpg

_ephotozine-Sigma-70.jpg

lothman
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Re: Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

Post by lothman »

RobertOToole wrote:
Sun Jun 06, 2021 8:55 am
Let me know any of your ideas for a comparison, my first thought is Laowa 100mm f/2.8 2x Ultra Macro APO vs Canon MP-E at 2x.
What about the Minolta 5400 scanner lens at 2x at full frame - glad the Laowa 100 made it on your list :D

chris_ma
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Re: Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

Post by chris_ma »

On my rudimentary tests the Minolta 5400 was loosing sharpnes on FF corners.

The benchmark lenses would be the printing nikkors 1x and 2x, but the laowa being a traditional macro lens, it might make more sense to compare it to something similar. Most of those will stop at 1:1 though where there are a lot of choices. The 2:1 is quite an unique point on the laowa.
chris

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