Review by Klaus Schroiff, published June 2022
Table of Contents
Introduction
Competition is always a good thing and preventing it is not overly consumer-friendly. Canon still created a closed system with the introduction of the RF mount – making it difficult for 3rd party manufacturers to supply alternatives.
Non-Canon lenses with electronic coupling are non-existent after Samyang had to withdraw their initial offerings. Thus if you’d like to shop for a more affordable option, you either have to go for an EF adapter solution or a fully manual lens. One of the more interesting offerings in the latter category is the new Laowa 90mm f/2.8 2x Ultra-Macro APO. For those who don’t know yet – Laowa is a Chinese manufacturer. They have released a number of interesting products in recent years and this new lens has at least two aspects that stand out – also compared to Canon’s own macro lenses. As the name implies, it offers a max magnification of 2:1 (instead of 1.4:1 or 1:2 over at Canon) and it promises an apochromatic correction of axial CAs (LoCA/Bokeh Fringing). The lack of electronics has also a positive side effect – the lens is reasonably priced at $499USD and available for all relevant full-format mounts.
Typical for most Laowa lenses – and in fact most Chinese lenses – the build quality is on a high level thanks to a tightly assembled all-metal construction. The aperture is controlled in full f-stops clicks up to f/22. The lens doesn’t offer any weather sealing but thanks to internal focusing the physical length remains constant throughout the focus range. The mechanically-coupled focus ring operates smoothly. The Laowa 90mm f/2.8 2x Ultra-Macro APO has been exclusively designed for mirrorless cameras so it’s quite compact. In fact, it’s shorter than the Canon RF 100mm f/2.8 L USM macro. A barrel-shaped hood is part of the package.
As already mentioned, it’s a fully manual lens thus you will have to live without EXIF data, autofocus and a camera-controlled. Typically, you set the camera into aperture priority mode so the camera will control the speed according to the aperture set on the lens.
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Optical construction | 13 elements in 10 groups inc. 3x ELD elements |
| Number of aperture blades | 13 (rounded) |
| min. focus distance | 0.2m (2:1 max magnification) |
| Dimensions | 74x120mm |
| Weight | 619g |
| Filter size | 67mm |
| Hood | barrel-shaped (bayonet mount, supplied) |
| Available Mounts | Canon RF, L-mount, Nikon Z, Sony FE |
Distortion
Due to the lack of electronic coupling, the Laowa lens has to rely on its original capabilities regarding distortion, vignetting and CAs.
With respect to image distortions, the Laowa 90mm f/2.8 2x Ultra-Macro APO has no issues – at all. The lens is fully corrected.
Vignetting
The vignetting figures are in line with what you can expect from such a lens. At f/2.8 there is some visible light falloff albeit it’s far from being excessive at ~1.5EV (f-stops) in the full format scope. Stopping down reduces the issue but it’s a gradual process and there is still some light falloff (~0.8EV) present at f/8.
MTF (resolution) at 45 megapixels
The resolution characteristic is pretty impressive. The center resolution is already great at f/2.8. The outer image field isn’t quite on this level but still manages to achieve good marks. Stopping down to f/4 has a fairly substantial impact lifting the borders/corners to very good levels. The peak performance is reached at f/5.6 with a great center and a very good to excellent outer image field. Diffraction has a limiting effect from here on albeit you won’t really notice it at f/8 yet. f/16 remains usable but you should stay clear of f/22.
Our sample had a slight centering issue which prevented better results at f/2.8. The field curvature is minimal.
Please note that the MTF results are not directly comparable across the different systems!
Below is a simplified summary of the formal findings. The chart shows line widths per picture height (LW/PH) which can be taken as a measure of sharpness. If you want to know more about the MTF50 figures, you may check out the corresponding Imatest Explanations.
MTF (resolution) at 30 megapixels
Not everybody is using a high megapixel body so let’s have a look at how the results turn out at 30 megapixels.
Unsurprisingly, the results are better on pixel level due to the reduced pixel density. You can easily use the lens at f/2.8 here. The slight corner softness is mostly gone. The results are, of course, tack sharp at medium aperture settings again. f/22 remains unimpressive and should best be avoided.
Please note that the performance numbers are higher at f/22 compared to the 45mp chart because the edges are “sharper” and, as such, more receptive to the mild default sharpening that we apply during RAW conversion.
Chromatic Aberrations (CAs)
Lateral CAs (color shadows at the image borders) are reasonably well controlled, with an average CA pixel width of around 1.1px. Remember that there is no auto-correction available for this lens but you can easily remove these CA traces manually during post-processing if needed.
Bokeh
Given the large max aperture and macro capabilities, the quality of the bokeh will be an interesting aspect for most users.
Out-of-focus highlights are nicely rendered. The discs have a very smooth inner zone and minimal outlining effect. Please note that the outlining gets emphasized when stopping down. The circular disc shape is maintained from f/2.8 to f/5.6 which is better than on most lenses. The lens features no less than 13(!) aperture blades which certainly helps in this respect.
The above is true for the image center. As so often, the circular disc shape deteriorates to cat eyes in the image corners – a mechanical vignetting effect. However, the deterioration is comparatively moderate. The “circular shape” zone broadens at f/4 although the corner discs look less pleasing. Circular corner discs require stopping down to f/5.6.
As far as the general blur is concerned, there are two flavors to discuss here. The background blur (shown to the left below) isn’t ideal with some rough edges whereas the foreground blur is much smoother.
Bokeh Fringing
Laowa emphasizes the apochromatic design of the lens. Such a design should suppress axial CAs (LoCAs), also called bokeh fringing. And we can confirm that there are only very faint traces of LoCAs present at f/2.8,
If you scroll across the aperture range below, you may spot that the focus point is shifting towards the front when stopping down (while the focus setting on the lens is the same). These are so-called residual spherical aberrations. We have seen a similar issue in the Canon RF 100mm f/2.8 L USM IS macro already.
Sample Images
Competition
As mentioned in the introduction, the primary competitors are Canon’s own RF 85mm f/2 STM IS macro and RF 100mm f/2.8 L USM IS macro. If you can’t live without AF, the answer is simple – it has to be a Canon RF lens or an EF lens via adapter. The same goes for electronic coupling. However, keen macro photographers often prefer manual focusing anyway – and optically, these 3 lenses aren’t worlds apart. The Laowa lens has an edge over the RF 85mm f/2 due to the lack of axial CAs. And unlike the Canon lenses, it offers an even higher max object magnification. However, if you want to explore macro photography while also being interested in shallow DoF photography, the RF 85mm f/2 STM IS macro may be the better choice because of its faster speed. The RF 100mm f/2.8 L USM IS macro features unique SA control on top of its macro capabilities – if you are into this – but its pricing is steep, very steep. It’s also the biggest of the bunch. Still, it’s the best option overall if money doesn’t matter.
The Laowa 90mm f/2.8 2x Ultra-Macro APO is another attractive macro lens in their arsenal. As of the time of writing this article, it's their 9th (true) macro lens - a release frequency and variety that is putting original manufacturers to shame in this market segment. And like most of its in-house cousins, it is capable of delivering very good results … with just a few caveats. Image sharpness is very decent at f/2.8 and superb at medium aperture settings. The native image distortions are absent. Lateral CAs are well controlled and axial CAs are negligible. The vignetting is only moderately high at f/2.8. The quality of the bokeh is a bit of a mixed bag. Out-of-focus highlights are nicely rendered but the general out-of-focus blur can be a little nervous in the image background. The lens is also quite prone to flare thus you should always use the supplied lens hood. The RSAs aren't ideal in extreme close-up scenarios.
It is a fully manual lens which may or may not be a showstopper for some users. There is no AF, the aperture has to be controlled on the lens and there's no EXIF data. On the positive side, the build quality is great thanks to a tightly assembled full-metal body and a super smooth focus ring. Like most Laowa lenses, the 90mm f/2.8 2x Ultra-Macro APO is also comparatively compact. There is no weather-sealing but the inner focusing system should help to protect it against the elements to some degree at least. A big selling point for macro enthusiasts is certainly the maximum object magnification of 2:1 - even Canon doesn't offer this.
And finally, let's not forget the pricing. At $499USD, the Laowa lens is very reasonably priced for such an extreme macro lens, especially when taking its apochromatic design into account. It's not a lens for everybody but it'll surely find its friends out there.
-
Optical Quality
-
Build Quality
-
Price / Performance