Laowa 2:1 Macro Lens

July 26, 2018 ChrisA

I purchased an ex demo Laowa 2:1 Macro Lens to allow me to shoot high magnification macro images whilst my Canon MPE-65mm was off for repair. ( previous experience of a different Canon authorised repairer ( H. Lehmann Ltd ) who I would never ever use again due to the time they took on a previous repair 8 months – and that sped up as I chased them up – plus doubling the original quote – meant I was not sure how long it would be before the MPE-65mm was repaired).

I have another Laowa macro lens the 15mm Wide Angle that I am impressed with, so I thought the 2:1 would be a worthy stand in, despite being a fully manual lens ( both in aperture and focus – the focus is not a problem as the Canon MPE-65mm lens is also manual only focus).

The 2:1 macro lens is marketed as the “World’s First 2:1 Macro Lens with infinity focus” by the manufacturer

The specifications are –

Magnification range from 0.1x to 2x. Easily alter the magnification ratio without installing any extension tube or teleconverter. Ideally suited for rapidly changing macro photography scenarios.
Wide magnification range also makes it extremely useful for shooting macro objects (e.g. insects) with different sizes.
Designed also for normal shooting purposes with a 60mm focal length. An all-in-one solution for normal portrait shooting as well as ultra-macro photography.
Houses with 9 elements in 7 groups patented optical structure to provide great deal of image clarity and color tenderness.
The optical system consists of 2 major moving lenses groups in order to minimize the barrel distortion.
14 pieces of aperture blades form a close-to-circular aperture, capable of creating creamy shallow depth of view.
The enclosure of the lens is made of metal to strengthen its durability.
A complimentary lens pouch and filter are included in the package.
Canon EF, Nikon F, Sony Alpha and Pentax K mount are available.
This lens can also be used with Full Frame Cameras. Everything can work EXCEPT you will get slight vignetting during infinity focus. For Macro shooting, there is no influence.

I used this lens with a Full Frame Camera – and whilst there is a slight vignet effect backed off, there is definitely no overly noticeable effect when shooting macro. The only “hard” thing with the lens that is different from the Canon MPE-65mm is seeing you subject with the lens aperture set to F8 or above, as the aperture is fixed – unlike the Canon’s which stays wide open till the shot is taken. Fortunately on my first outing had the advantage of using another new bit of macro kit ( a YONGNUO YN24EX E TTL Macro Flash Speedlite – more about that in a later post ) that allowed me to use its LED lights to light the subject a bit – but this was still difficult. On subsequent trips I taped up a torch between the flash heads to aid focusing – and this made life much easier.

My first successful shot using this lens was the following shot of a young Speckled-bush cricket.

It has the advantage over the Canon MPE-65mm in that you can back off a fair bit when using the lens – as the contrasting range on these two shots of some mating Common Blue damselflies show.