[bdery]

Is it a regarded brand in US?

It is a well-regarded brand...

Venus Optics Laowa 12mm F2.8 Zero-D Review - Introduction | PentaxForums.com Reviews

Venus Optics Laowa 60mm F2.8 2:1 Ultra Macro Review - Introduction | PentaxForums.com Reviews

[fgpinarli]

It is a well-regarded brand...

Venus Optics Laowa 12mm F2.8 Zero-D Review - Introduction | PentaxForums.com Reviews

Venus Optics Laowa 60mm F2.8 2:1 Ultra Macro Review - Introduction | PentaxForums.com Reviews

Thank you, I will remind that when I am hopefully out of country, it doesn't exist here

[bdery]

Thank you, I will remind that when I am hopefully out of country, it doesn't exist here

A pleasure to help, I don't understand your whole comment however.

[torge]

I know this thread is about the 100mm,
but I am just curious, as both of the famous Pentax lenses are unobtainable these days.

[fgpinarli]

A pleasure to help, I don't understand your whole comment however.

Venus brand doesn't imported in my country so I can only buy it in international visits, which is not easy to realize nowadays. Sorry for the bad English

[S.M.]

Are there any equivalent to the praised Pentax A*/FA* 200m macros out there.
I know this thread is about the 100mm,
but I am just curious, as both of the famous Pentax lenses are unobtainable these days.

With that quality not but if you search for a long focal macro you can search in the used market for a Sigma 180mm f/3.5, sometimes there are some that are not to expensive, I baught one in the EU for 630 € as the price + espedition cost.

[sculptor666]

the sigma 180 and irix 150 are both great... the irix is a bit more flare resistant. you don't loose as much contrast when pointed toward the sun as you do with the sigma. the irix is also shorter, so if you use a flash the lens doesn't get in the way as much.

[JensE]

The Irix however has f < 100mm (something like 93mm) at 1:1 due to internal focus, so up to that point, it competes with the Laowa :-)

[sculptor666]

the sigma 180, pentax 200, and laowa 100 are all internal focusing.


unscientific but pretty close distance from subject to front of lens at indicated 1:1


sigma 70mm: 6.35cm
laowa 100: 8cm
pentax dfa100: 13cm
irix 150: 17.5cm
sigma 180: 22.5cm


do with that what you will . in real world usage, they're very different!

[Mistral75]

the sigma 180, pentax 200, and laowa 100 are all internal focusing.


unscientific but pretty close distance from subject to front of lens at indicated 1:1


sigma 70mm: 6.35cm
laowa 100: 8cm
pentax dfa100: 13cm
irix 150: 17.5cm
sigma 180: 22.5cm


do with that what you will . in real world usage, they're very different!

smc Pentax-FA★ 200mm f/4 Macro ED [IF] : 27cm.

[JensE]

unscientific but pretty close distance from subject to front of lens at indicated 1:1 ...

smc Pentax-FA★ 200mm f/4 Macro ED [IF] : 27cm.

Thanks, interesting data! I wouldn't have thought the Laowa would be so tight - mine hasn't arrived yet. It the front lens retracted at 1:1 already? It must be pretty hard to even find your subject with the FA*200 at 1:1 ...


For the unit-focusing Elicar 90mm f/2.4 it's 13cm plus another ~2cm, by which the front lens is recessed - in contrast to the Irix, where however the deep hood takes up a lot of the space if you use it to protect the exposed front lens. The large diameter of the Irix contributes to feeling rather close.

The Elicar is about 17.5cm long at 1:1, so the camera is fairly far away from the subject.

[bdery]

Venus brand doesn't imported in my country so I can only buy it in international visits, which is not easy to realize nowadays. Sorry for the bad English

No need to apologize, and now I understand. Good luck with your purchase.

[sculptor666]

It the front lens retracted at 1:1 already?

the laowa lens length doesn't change... the front element retracts into the body of the lens at infinity, closer to the end of the lens body at 2:1. mine took a while to arrive... 4-5 days longer than someone i know who ordered it the same day.

[Doundounba]

Personally, I find the working distance is too great with a very long lens. It requires much more flash power and it's often hard to find an appropriate point to brace on while shooting so far from the critter. My poor man's long macro is a Tamron Adaptall 90mm (52BB) coupled with the well-regarded Adaptall 2X tele-converter, which gives a 1:1 180mm lens. I've gotten good results using this with a Raynox DCR-250 for high-magnification shots (e.g. here), but frankly it no longer sees much use. For me 90-105mm really is a nice sweetspot for in-situ nature macro of critters roughly 5 to 30mm in size.

To come back to the Laowa, they claim it's an internal focus design, but the front element recedes deeply into the lens at infinity and progressively extends as you focus closer and closer. To me this behavior is very similar to a more traditional macro design (like the D-FA 100mm WR), only with a fixed-length external barrel that goes all the way to the maximum extension of the internal barrel (rather than only extending to the infinity focus point as the external barrel on the D-FA 100mm WR does). Not sure if that description is clear...

Nevertheless, what I didn't expect is that having this fixed length external barrel is actually super useful. It makes it much easier to setup a diffusion surface since you know that the barrel will always be there and is a solid point on which to rest a diffusion surface. With the D-FA 100mm, you always have to worry about the lens extension/retraction - both in trying to avoid putting to much pressure on the internal barrel when fully extended, and at the other end not having anything there (to stop your diffusion surface from sagging into the field of view) when the lens is retracted. To me this difference is an unexpected but very welcome improvement in shooting with the Laowa versus D-FA 100mm plus Raynox DCR-250 (in the 1:1 to 2:1 macro range).

[bdery]

To come back to the Laowa, they claim it's an internal focus design, but the front element recedes deeply into the lens at infinity and progressively extends as you focus closer and closer. To me this behavior is very similar to a more traditional macro design (like the D-FA 100mm WR), only with a fixed-length external barrel that goes all the way to the maximum extension of the internal barrel (rather than only extending to the infinity focus point as the external barrel on the D-FA 100mm WR does). Not sure if that description is clear. Nevertheless, what I didn't expect is that having this fixed length external barrel is actually super useful. It makes it much easier to setup a diffusion surface since you know that the barrel will always be there and is a solid point on which to rest a diffusion surface. With the D-FA 100mm, you always have to worry about the lens extension/retraction - both in trying to avoid putting to much pressure on the internal barrel when fully extended, and at the other end not having anything there (to stop your diffusion surface from sagging into the field of view) when the lens is retracted. To me this is an unexpected but very welcome improvement in shooting with the Laowa versus D-FA 100mm plus Raynox DCR-250 (in the 1:1 to 2:1 macro range).

Their 60mm is also done this way. What you describe is indeed an advantage. One other advantage is that a "true" internal focus design changes the focal length when you focus while in this case, the whole optical assembly moves, the focal length never changes, just the position of the optical system inside the external barrel.