Venus Optics unveils a new 90mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro APO for mirrorless camera

[Canon Rumors Guy]

Anhui China, 13 June 2022 – Three years since Venus Optics launched its award-winning 100mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro APO, the brand announced the new 90m f/2.8 2X Ultra-Macro APO lens specially designed for full-frame mirrorless cameras. It is the eighth addition to Laowa’s 2:1 magnification macro lens lineup. The new 90mm lens not only inherited the 2:1 magnification to infinity ability and APO design but also appears much smaller in size. It provides mirrorless systems with superb optical performance and delivers outstanding sharpness. Satisfying photographers’ need for exploring unbelievable details our eyes cannot normally see and offer surprising versatility for capturing wildlife, products and portraits.
Highlights:

Incredible 2x magnification
Apochromat APO design
Specifically designed for mirrorless camera
Much smaller than equivalents
Outstanding image sharpness
Smooth bokeh
Internal focusing


Incredible 2x magnification
This...

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[Stig Nygaard]

I'm saying it again... It is a pity (but understandable if motivation for site is gone) if you don't want to update your "Third Party Lenses for RF" list which is now more than half a year of new lens releases behind. But if you don't want to update the list, maybe you should remove it from the site's main menu?

 

[SereneSpeed]

Am I the only one who can’t use this site anymore?

This is a full screen capture on my phone.

It’s literally 99% advertisements.

Why do I even try...

 

[HMC11]

Am I the only one who can’t use this site anymore?

This is a full screen capture on my phone.

It’s literally 99% advertisements.

Why do I even try...

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The free version of CR used to have relatively few ads but I appreciate that it had to spend considerable time and efforts sourcing for information (rumours) related to Canon, particularly cameras and lenses, as well as to do verifications and curations. To keep afloat, especially as I imagine the process gets increasingly time consuming as the rumour world gets more complex with information overload, the site would have to take on ads. While it is true that the ads numbers have increased over the years, the site does offer an ads free experience for a relatively small subscription with options for a once-off lifetime payment. I was happy to sign up to help the site to continue as well as to show appreciation for the many years where it offererd its services for free, which I have greatly enjoyed. It is a site that aggregates cannon news that would take a long time to search out on my own. Also, I really like reading the comments (the vast majority of the time), and think that it would be a much poorer world for me if the site cannot be sustained.

 

[Chaitanya]

Watched Stewart Woods review of this lens and some interesting improvements(focus throw) and compromises carried over from 100mm lens.

Laowa 90mm f/2.8 2x Ultra-Macro APO - Review / Test Report

Laowa 90mm f/2.8 2x Ultra-Macro APO - Review / Test Report

www.opticallimits.com

 

[liv_img]

Interesting, but it's really a shame that in the XXI century a lens has not automatic aperture. If you close the f to 11 or 16 it's difficult to see or focus in a lens like that. No AF, OK. No IS, O. But not automatic iris, NO.

 

[Nemorino]

Using a mirroless this no more an issue. Since I had the R I used my 60mm Laowa much more.
I hope Venus Lens could reduce the terrible focus breathing the 60mm is suffering from.

 

[Chaitanya]

Interesting, but it's really a shame that in the XXI century a lens has not automatic aperture. If you close the f to 11 or 16 it's difficult to see or focus in a lens like that. No AF, OK. No IS, O. But not automatic iris, NO.

This is a mirrorless lens so its much "easier" to use with EVF(still would be a pain to use it in dark) which can brighten up at smaller aperture settings.

 

[koenkooi]

Interesting, but it's really a shame that in the XXI century a lens has not automatic aperture. If you close the f to 11 or 16 it's difficult to see or focus in a lens like that. No AF, OK. No IS, O. But not automatic iris, NO.

This is why I like the EF version of the Laowa 100mm, that has electronic aperture!

 

[koenkooi]

This is a mirrorless lens so its much "easier" to use with EVF(still would be a pain to use it in dark) which can brighten up at smaller aperture settings.

True, but then you get back behind your desk to review and process the pictures with only the shutter speed as metadata. No way to distinguish between "angled the lens wrong" and "bumped the aperture from f/11 to f/8" when the DoF is thinner than expected.

That severely triggers my OCD, which is why I went with the RF100L. I have the MP-E for when I need to go beyond 1:1.4x. If Laowo releases a super macro with electronic aperture in RF or EF-M mount, I'd very strongly consider buying that.

The Laowa probe lens is still on my wish list, its features outstrip my OCD

 

[Chaitanya]

True, but then you get back behind your desk to review and process the pictures with only the shutter speed as metadata. No way to distinguish between "angled the lens wrong" and "bumped the aperture from f/11 to f/8" when the DoF is thinner than expected.

That severely triggers my OCD, which is why I went with the RF100L. I have the MP-E for when I need to go beyond 1:1.4x. If Laowo releases a super macro with electronic aperture in RF or EF-M mount, I'd very strongly consider buying that.

The Laowa probe lens is still on my wish list, its features outstrip my OCD

I am used to shooting with old MF lenses reversed for high mag ratio so I am quite used to making sure aperture ring isnt bumped over to wrong f no. Though yes having electronic aperture on this lens(like EF version of 100mm Macro and MFT macro) would have been nice additions especially for having right exif embeded in photos.

 

[koenkooi]

I am used to shooting with old MF lenses reversed for high mag ratio so I am quite used to making sure aperture ring isnt bumped over to wrong f no. Though yes having electronic aperture on this lens(like EF version of 100mm Macro and MFT macro) would have been nice additions especially for having right exif embeded in photos.

My complaints are solidly in the "first world problems" category

 

[2 cents]

The EF version with adapter remains king. If you want more, get EF 65mm 1-5x.

 

[entoman]

Laowa are to be congratulated for producing this nice new compact macro, but I agree that automatic aperture is a major omission.

True macro (1:1 or higher magnification) is nearly always done with a tripod, making AF and OIS unnecessary.

BUT, a lot of macro lenses are frequently used for photographing living insects etc, often at reproduction ratios between 1:4 and 1:1, so it's a great pity that the lens doesn't have AF and OIS, which would make it far more usable in those scenarios.

 

[davidcl0nel]

BUT, a lot of macro lenses are frequently used for photographing living insects etc, often at reproduction ratios between 1:4 and 1:1, so it's a great pity that the lens doesn't have AF and OIS, which would make it far more usable in those scenarios.

And the RF 85 2.0 is excellent for that.

 

[neuroanatomist]

True macro (1:1 or higher magnification) is nearly always done with a tripod, making AF and OIS unnecessary.

I don’t agree with the first part. Personally, at least, I rarely shoot macro on a tripod. My handheld shooting in the 1:1 to 5:1 range is generally with the twin flash mounted on the lens or on Wimberly F-2 brackets. That does render IS unnecessary, and at those magnifications I generally 'focus' by just moving the camera back and forth.

 

[Felix]

And the RF 85 2.0 is excellent for that.

no, the stm motor is much too slow

 

[Jasonmc89]

Interesting, but it's really a shame that in the XXI century a lens has not automatic aperture. If you close the f to 11 or 16 it's difficult to see or focus in a lens like that. No AF, OK. No IS, O. But not automatic iris, NO.

I often shoot with the Laowa 25mm 2.5-5x macro and the manual aperture really is an issue. Unless I have a powerful flashlight illuminating the subject it’s pitch black at f8 and onwards. This is all field work of course, in a studio it’s not really a problem because you just use lights. An auto iris would be game changer for Laowa. Everything else about their lenses is brilliant.

 

[photophil]

I have the 100mm, which is one of my absolute favorites. Judging from the 90mm's specs and performance in tests, there does not seem to be any noticeable difference between the two when it comes to performance.

 

[Jethro]

Klaus (at Optical Limits) likes it a lot:

Laowa 90mm f/2.8 2x Ultra-Macro APO - Review / Test Report

Laowa 90mm f/2.8 2x Ultra-Macro APO - Review / Test Report

www.opticallimits.com

I have the RF 100mm version (ie no AF), and I'm very happy with it optically, hand-held or on tripod. It's a little like driving a manual car after years in automatic - when you get used to it, it feels fine.