Zhongyi (Mitakon) Super Macro Lens (1 - 5x)

dhmiller · Post by **dhmiller** » Fri Jan 24, 2020 6:20 pm

The Mitakon Zhongyi 20mm f/2 4.5x doesn't seem to get mentioned much in comparisons or elsewhere. I have had surprisingly good results with that, but curious if the Laowa or other (Nikon shooter) would have any advantages...

RobertOToole · Post by **RobertOToole** » Fri Jan 24, 2020 6:28 pm

dhmiller wrote:The Mitakon Zhongyi 20mm f/2 4.5x doesn't seem to get mentioned much in comparisons or elsewhere. I have had surprisingly good results with that, but curious if the Laowa or other (Nikon shooter) would have any advantages...

I must have really bad luck, the Mitakon Zhongyi 20mm f/2 4.5x Super Macro Lens that I tried had super bright lateral CAs. I boxed it back up and returned it the next day. It was even worse than the Olympus Zuiko auto-macro 2/20 that I owned.

Lou has had good results with his Laowa 25mm I think.

Some info here on the forum:

https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/ ... hp?t=36410&

I did test the Laowa 60 2x here:

https://www.closeuphotography.com/2x-60mm-lens-test

and here:

https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/ ... p?p=225806&

Best,

Robert

Lou Jost · Post by **Lou Jost** » Fri Jan 24, 2020 6:31 pm

Yes, I really like my Laowa.

Lou Jost · Post by **Lou Jost** » Fri Jan 24, 2020 6:36 pm

I vaguely remember that the 4.5x was also an engineering failure, that was supposed to have a range of magnifications but ending up with only one end of the range being usable, so they changed the specs. I am not sure if this is the lens from that story, though.

dhmiller · Post by **dhmiller** » Fri Jan 24, 2020 7:04 pm

Well even though this was my first extreme macro (ever!), I think it shows the lens is good enough to keep (and I've done so, with equally good results).

RobertOToole wrote:
dhmiller wrote:The Mitakon Zhongyi 20mm f/2 4.5x doesn't seem to get mentioned much in comparisons or elsewhere. I have had surprisingly good results with that, but curious if the Laowa or other (Nikon shooter) would have any advantages...
I must have really bad luck, the Mitakon Zhongyi 20mm f/2 4.5x Super Macro Lens that I tried had super bright lateral CAs. I boxed it back up and returned it the next day. It was even worse than the Olympus Zuiko auto-macro 2/20 that I owned.

Lou has had good results with his Laowa 25mm I think.

Some info here on the forum:

https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/ ... hp?t=36410&

I did test the Laowa 60 2x here:

https://www.closeuphotography.com/2x-60mm-lens-test

and here:

https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/ ... p?p=225806&

Best,

Robert

RobertOToole · Post by **RobertOToole** » Fri Jan 24, 2020 7:22 pm

dhmiller wrote:Well even though this was my first extreme macro (ever!), I think it shows the lens is good enough to keep (and I've done so, with equally good results).

Looks good at this size, and you picked one heck of a challenging subject!

Robert

dhmiller · Post by **dhmiller** » Fri Jan 24, 2020 7:39 pm

Oh, he was very cooperative (having died and laid himself to rest on my studio laptop ;-)).
There are definite issues when I zoom into the uncompressed, full size version, but some of the problems I see are related to my stacking technique.. Anyway, for $200, its a keeper lens.

RobertOToole wrote:
dhmiller wrote:Well even though this was my first extreme macro (ever!), I think it shows the lens is good enough to keep (and I've done so, with equally good results).
Looks good at this size, and you picked one heck of a challenging subject!

Robert

Ultima_Gaina · Post by **Ultima_Gaina** » Sat Feb 15, 2020 12:43 pm

I got the new version, mainly to use it in the 1x - 3x range.

However, I did a quick test, comparing its performance at 4x magnification (on a FF camera) against a Nikon CFI S Fluor 4x/0.2

Some samples below, unprocessed (except for WB), single shots straight from Lightroom.

The best performance is obtained @f/4 and, and while it can't compete with a good microscope objective (as expected), I believe that the quality is acceptable.

And these are 100% zooms of the highlighted area:

dhmiller · Post by **dhmiller** » Sat Feb 15, 2020 1:07 pm

Not too surprising, though that is a different model than the one I have, which is the 20mm 4.5x.

Macro_Cosmos · Post by **Macro_Cosmos** » Sat Feb 15, 2020 11:58 pm

Is there a market for a 5x-10x lens? If so, how much would people pay?

The designer of a specific... ehhh, let's just divide-the-range-by-two-lens will be able to make one, he just doesn't know if there's a wider market. I'd love to have one, but I'm afraid that's ultra niche territory.

Elivood · Post by **Elivood** » Sun Feb 16, 2020 6:20 am

Ultima_Gaina wrote:I got the new version, mainly to use it in the 1x - 3x range.

I would love to see more sample photos taken with the re-engineered version. 4x magnification was bit better than i expected.

Scarodactyl · Post by **Scarodactyl** » Sun Feb 16, 2020 9:21 am

Macro_Cosmos wrote:Is there a market for a 5x-10x lens? If so, how much would people pay?

The designer of a specific... ehhh, let's just divide-the-range-by-two-lens will be able to make one, he just doesn't know if there's a wider market. I'd love to have one, but I'm afraid that's ultra niche territory.

I'm not sure it's niche as much as pushing into a different genre. Maybe I'm wrong but isn't 5x towards the limit for handheld usage? It kind of seems like they'd end up making a photomacroscope more than a normal macro lens.

Macro_Cosmos · Post by **Macro_Cosmos** » Mon Feb 17, 2020 4:31 am

Scarodactyl wrote: I'm not sure it's niche as much as pushing into a different genre. Maybe I'm wrong but isn't 5x towards the limit for handheld usage? It kind of seems like they'd end up making a photomacroscope more than a normal macro lens.

Yeah many who purchased the 2.5-5x that's not as involved will constantly talk about how they can't get any results in the groups I'm in, 100% of the time it's their lack of shooting technique and will to learn. I can't imagine one that goes to 10x. It's gonna sit on a studio setup, where subjects are usually stationary. I don't think the general population would invest that much time and money into such a feat, as much as I'd love a 5-10x lens.

I won't call the 2.5-5x a normal macro lens either. It's a decent lens for inspection purposes too. A normal macro lens would only go up to 1x in my book.

Macro_Cosmos · Post by **Macro_Cosmos** » Tue Feb 25, 2020 1:00 am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx4tiNrw16g
Revision 2 of the lens... I'll be nicer here.
My take away of this video would be... they need a "Rev 3.0".
If I'm optimistic, third time's the charm...

mjkzz · Post by **mjkzz** » Fri Feb 28, 2020 11:13 pm

with extended holidays, finally got some time to do some work. But today a big BUG caught me, spent 2 hours debugging it, it turns out at 1:1 with Zhongyi Super Macro Mk II, magnification is NOT 1:1, it is 1.16:1, or 1.16x. I thought I had some bug in my software and it is "good" for others to be aware of it, instead of pulling your hair out

Here is a video about it