Laowa 50mm f/2.8 2:1 Ultra Macro APO - MFT Lens

OK

Do not buy if you own a Gh6

This lens does not work on the GH6. I am so bummed because I loved it on my GH5. Please fix this issue. I really don't want to purchase another Macro lens.

Excellent optical and mechanical performance.

I do a lot of macro photography of many kinds of subject. The extension over the usual 1:2 or 1:1 to its 2:1 is a very useful addition before resorting to a microscope. I have tested the lens and its lateral and axial chromatic aberration correction are excellent, curvature of field and distortion are also well corrected. Performance at f2.8 is excellent and hardly improved on at f8 (depth of field not included).I've not properly tested its performance with distant objects but the floating lens group should correct spherical aberration for whatever distance the lens focuses upon.However, you must bear in mind that this is a lens with a 50 mm focal length and, whilst with a Micro two-thirds sensor it provides the same angle of view as a 100 mm lens with a ... MoreI do a lot of macro photography of many kinds of subject. The extension over the usual 1:2 or 1:1 to its 2:1 is a very useful addition before resorting to a microscope. I have tested the lens and its lateral and axial chromatic aberration correction are excellent, curvature of field and distortion are also well corrected. Performance at f2.8 is excellent and hardly improved on at f8 (depth of field not included).I've not properly tested its performance with distant objects but the floating lens group should correct spherical aberration for whatever distance the lens focuses upon.However, you must bear in mind that this is a lens with a 50 mm focal length and, whilst with a Micro two-thirds sensor it provides the same angle of view as a 100 mm lens with a full-frame sensor, its working distance is just the same as any other 50 mm lens. If you had the lens hood fitted and set the lens to 2:1 the lens hood might very well contact the object you are photographing. Otherwise, it prevents a good angle of illumination. At least, it can be reversed back over the lens without compromising the operation of the lens.My only quibble is that the finger grips for the front lens cap are too round-edged and without sufficient recess to get a firm grip on this. You don't want to drop your lens hood into a muddy pond, or worse!

Good macro and all-around lens

I mostly shoot with legacy lenses and compared the Laowa to a highly regarded SMC Pentax 50mm f4. The Laowa was sharper at .5x than the Pentax (the Pentax's max magnification) and had noticeably better light transmission. It was far superior at infinity. l think it would make a nice all-around lens, Very sharp, and no noticeable distortion or chromatic aberrations. I have to caveat this by saying I only took a handful of shots.

Great Lens

I have only been using this lens for a couple of weeks. Prior to this I have been using the Laowa 100mm 2X lens (also a great lens) for a bit over a year.Macro is my main interest in photography. This lens is very sharp, even at 2X magnification. I am typically around f/8 for anything below 2X and as I approach 2X I open up to f/7.1-f/6.3. I mention this because I am not sure what diffraction is like at smaller apertures. After some more time with the lens maybe I will be able to update, but those are my typical shooting apertures.It is a very short lens making it tricky to diffuse flash. The end of the speedlight is almost reaching the end of the lens so you really have to figure out a system that bounces the light down.A very versatile lens because you can ... MoreI have only been using this lens for a couple of weeks. Prior to this I have been using the Laowa 100mm 2X lens (also a great lens) for a bit over a year.Macro is my main interest in photography. This lens is very sharp, even at 2X magnification. I am typically around f/8 for anything below 2X and as I approach 2X I open up to f/7.1-f/6.3. I mention this because I am not sure what diffraction is like at smaller apertures. After some more time with the lens maybe I will be able to update, but those are my typical shooting apertures.It is a very short lens making it tricky to diffuse flash. The end of the speedlight is almost reaching the end of the lens so you really have to figure out a system that bounces the light down.A very versatile lens because you can go from shooting a jumping spider at 2X to shooting a deer near infinity focus if you want to. As I get out towards infinity focus I find I start wishing for autofocus, but for anything near 1X and above AF isn't something I look for in a lens.In summary I am very happy with it.

Nice lens, but POOR packing!

The Laowa 50mm macro for Micro 4/3 is a little beauty. It takessharp photos, it's easy to use if your camera has focus peaking, andit’s handsome to boot. The build quality is very high, and thelens hood is metal. The only thing that would improve it would beweather sealing.That said, I returned it because it was packaged very poorly on two levels. First, it arrived in a B&H box with only one partially-filled airpillow, so that the lens box could move quite freely inside; the lensbox arrived dented on a corner. Second, the Laowa box has about an inch of clearance between the foam glued to the lid and the lenssitting in its foam cradle in the bottom of the box, so that the lensarrived loose in the Laowa box, too. The plastic bag the lenswas in had split, ... MoreThe Laowa 50mm macro for Micro 4/3 is a little beauty. It takessharp photos, it's easy to use if your camera has focus peaking, andit’s handsome to boot. The build quality is very high, and thelens hood is metal. The only thing that would improve it would beweather sealing.That said, I returned it because it was packaged very poorly on two levels. First, it arrived in a B&H box with only one partially-filled airpillow, so that the lens box could move quite freely inside; the lensbox arrived dented on a corner. Second, the Laowa box has about an inch of clearance between the foam glued to the lid and the lenssitting in its foam cradle in the bottom of the box, so that the lensarrived loose in the Laowa box, too. The plastic bag the lenswas in had split, and the weird plastic “lens bag” that Laowa provideswas also beat up to the point of being unusable. I can’t bring myself to trust the lens even though I really like it because of the possibility that it could have concealed damage that comes back to bite me later.I was going to replace my current macro lens with this one, but I’ll stick with the known, rather than take a chance on this lens.I hope B&H and Laowa get their acts together to take care of packaging!

Superb macro resolution and 4x magnification

With a MFT Camera this lens give fullframe equivalent of 4x magnification. High quality build and superb optics. And one the few Laowa lenses that gives some electronic talk to camera so you can get the EFX data and also the camera can control the aperture. Stunning optical image quality from 4x to infonity.

very sharp

I use this lens only to copy negatives and slides over a light box. It replaced a 55mm Micro-Nikkor f2.8 on my Panasonic DMC-GX85. This lens is very sharp and the electrical connection to the camera is one of the reasons I wanted this lens. Unlike the Nikkor, this lens gives me pincushion distortion but I fix that very quickly in PhotoShop. Also, unlike the Nikkor, it can focus much closer for small areas I want to copy. This lens looks and feels very well made. I also have the excellent Laowa 7.5mm f2 lens which is smaller than this one. I would not hesitate to buy any of their other lenses.