Laowa 58mm f/2.8 APO 2x Macro Review (great value, D. Abbott)

Laowa 58mm F/2.8

Here is a Laowa 58mm f/2.8 APO 2x Macro review by one of the most serious and professional gear reviewers you may find. The The Laowa 58mm f/2.8 2x Ultra-Macro APO has been just announced, and sells at $499 at Venus Optics.

Dustin Abbott posted his exhaustive and complete Laowa 58mm f/2.8 2x Ultra-Macro APO review. From Mr. Abbott’s conclusion:

[…] I’m delighted with the Laowa 58mm F2.8 APO 2x Macro. While it is very similar in many ways to the 90mm F2.8 APO 2x Macro, the wider focal length opens up a lot of different and unique opportunities. Very close macro is a little more difficult due to the closer working distance, but I do think that is compensated for by the versatility of the focal length for other subjects.

It is that versatility that makes this such an appealing option, much like my Voigtländer 65mm but with more macro capabilities […]

When you look at the price tag (about $500 USD) relative to the competing lenses, the Laowa really starts to feel like a great value, particularly if you tend to do your macro work utilizing manual focus anyway. Modern mirrorless bodies eliminate a lot of the sting of doing macro work, and you can’t argue with the kinds of results you can get from this lens. This is a top-notch value lens, and should be near the top of your macro list if you own a Canon, Sony, Nikon, or Leica mirrorless body and would prefer a slightly wider angle of view in your macro lens.

Read the full review on Dustin Abbott’s website…

The review comes with test charts, sample pics, and much more. As usual, D. Abbott also posts a video-review that someone might prefer to the written review. It’s here for your viewing pleasure.

More reviews by Dustin Abbott are listed here.

Click here to open the rest of the article

Laowa 58mm f/2.8 2x Ultra-Macro APO Lens Announced

Laowa 58mm F/2.8

Venus Optics announced a new lens, the Laowa 58mm f/2.8 2x Ultra-Macro APO, RF mount version available among other mount types.

The Laowa 58mm f/2.8 2x Ultra-Macro APO sells at $499 and is available at Venus Optics.

Press release:

Anhui China, 22 September, 2022 – Venus Optics, the lens manufacturer that has been always endeavouring to invent unique lenses, is stoked to release the Laowa 58mm f/2.8 2x Ultra-Macro APO. This mirrorless-designed macro lens offers a 40.9° angle of view on full frame sensors. And like many other Laowa macro lenses, it can focus from 2:1 magnification to infinity which makes it suitable for professional macro, portrait or a walk-around lens. It features an apochromatic (APO) design that chromatic aberration is compressed to the minimum. With 3 ED elements and 3 Ultra-High Refractive Index elements, the lens delivers an outstanding sharpness. Despite its metal housing, the lens only weighs 595g which is extremely portable. It comes with 4 mount options: Sony E / Canon R / Nikon Z / L mount and a price of USD499.

Up to 2x magnification 

This new 58mm lens has the capability to focus from 2X magnification to infinity. The minimum focusing distance is 7.29” (18.5cm). Giving you more flexibility in subject selection. From tiny ant to larger dragonfly, you can capture it with one single lens.

More than a macro lens

Being able to focus infinity, the 58mm focal length (40.9° AoV) pair with the f/2.8 aperture give the lens more usage than just a macro lens. You can also use it for portrait, product photography or use as walk-around lens.

Apochromat (APO) design

The lens is engineered to suppress both longitudinal and lateral chromatic aberration across in-focus & out-of-focus areas. Purple fringing and ghosting are controlled to the minimum throughout the aperture range. The APO design greatly reduces your post-editing time substantially especially in macro photography.

Outstanding sharpness and image quality

Specially designed for mirrorless system, the lens packed 3 ED elements and 3 Ultra-High Refractive Index elements. With a shorter flange distance, it is not only improving the image sharpness but also makes the lens more compact. It brings you a whole new macro shooting experience.

Deeper depth of field 

The shorter focal length relative to 100mm would give greater depth of field. You can get more in-focus details from your subject under the same aperture. This gives you more control when creating unique visual narratives.

Smooth and Pleasant Bokeh

The 13 aperture blades would create smooth and pleasing bokeh. A stunning background can easily achieve.

Compact size

This lens weighs only 595g with the dimensions of Ø74 x 117mm, making it much smaller than other main-stream option in the market. You can carry it around without burden.

Internal Focusing

The internal focusing design avoids collision of the lens and your subject. It also reduces the chance for dust particles getting into the lens.

Meyer Optik Görlitz Announced Biotar 58 f1.5 II Lens (RF mount, and others)

Biotar 58

Meyer Optik Görlitz announced a new lens, the Biotar 58 f1.5 II.

At a glance:

  • RF-Mount Lens/Full-Frame Format
  • Aperture Range: f/1.5 to f/16
  • Manual Focus Design
  • 14-Blade Diaphragm
  • Filter Thread: 52mm

The Biotar 58 f1.5 II for RF mount can be preordered at B&H photo for $999.

Press release:

Meyer Optik Görlitz – Biotar 58 f1.5 II available!

Press release

Bad Kreuznach, Germany – September 07th, 2022 – Meyer Optik Görlitz releases the Biotar 58 f1.5 II, the long-awaited new edition of the world famous lens and adds another unique imaging style to its existing portfolio, of high quality character lenses. The Biotar 58 II is available now and can be purchased directly from the manufacturer & from well-stocked photo retailers.

“After several delays simply due to the current unforeseeable circumstances, we are extremely pleased to welcome this very exciting lens to our family and introduce it to the public,” says Timo Heinze, Managing Director Meyer Optik / OPC Optics. “Even though the Biotar is not a classic Meyer lens, it fits perfectly into our portfolio of creative tools, with unique characteristics. Nevertheless, to honor its foreign origin, we decided to manufacture it with a Biotar-exclusive coloring.”

About Biotar 58
Originally, the Biotar 58, among other focal lengths and versions, was designed by the ingenious optical designer Willi Merté. After its launch in the mid-1930s, it was offered for about 25 years, making it the longest and best-selling Biotar in that series to date. The new version of that extremely popular, highly versatile lens also delivers its incomparable charm and comes up with excellent imaging characteristics as the Biotar 58 f1.5 II. With the help of the Görlitz-based designer, Dr.-Ing. Wolf-Dieter Prenzel, the new edition of the Biotar 58 has been significantly improved in terms of light intensity, image sharpness and contrast behavior, and the wonderful characteristics of the original Biotar 58 have been transferred to the new version of this classic lens.

What makes the Biotar 58 f1.5 II stand out?
Biotars have always been appreciated for their wonderful bokeh options, a creamy image look, particularly harmonious focus gradients and good sharpness performance. In the out-of-focus area, with the right setting, a swirl of light circles can be created (also called ‘Swirly-Bokeh’), which particularly emphasizes the focused main subject. The captured light points near the center of the image appear circular and take on a more elliptical shape toward the edge of the image (also called ‘cat eyes’). The Biotar 58 f1.5 II is already characterized by high image sharpness at open aperture and at the same time delivers the beautiful effects in the out-of-focus area of the image. It also impresses in difficult lighting situations – the Biotar 58 II produces little to no color fringing even in strong backlighting and with an open aperture, and still achieves excellent results even in low light situations thanks to its speed. The targeted use of the effects, the many design options and the high sharpness make the Biotar 58 II the perfect choice for many different genres of photography and videography.

The fastest and sharpest Biotar 58 ever
In the course of redesigning the Biotar 58 and optimizing its optical system, the initial aperture of the lens has been increased from the original f2 to f1.5. There has never been a faster Biotar 58 and at the same time the Biotar 58 f1.5 II now represents the ‘fastest’ lens in Meyer Optik Görlitz’s portfolio. In addition to the higher speed, the Biotar 58 II, through various optimizations of the optical system, achieves a sharpness that its predecessors could not reach. This high sharpness or extreme resolution is a particularly noteworthy advantage for close-up and portrait photography.

Well-proven mechanical design and optimized aperture
For the Biotar 58 f1.5 II, the proven mechanics of the previous new editions were used and the individual optical elements were thus combined in a well-proven, highly precise and durable mechanical system. Compared to the original Biotar 58 lenses, 14 steel blades now form the stepless & silently adjustable aperture of the new edition. The circular aperture is particularly noticeable in the bokeh of the image and draws more harmonious points of light than its historical predecessors. All mechanics were, as with all Meyer Optik Görlitz lenses, sourced from renowned German precision mechanics manufacturers and were produced to the highest quality. The aluminum- / natural-colored anodizing used for the Biotars is intended to represent a connection to the historical origin and offers an excellent feel as well as a precious appearance at the same time.

The Biotar 58 f1.5 II, as well as all other Meyer lenses released to date, can be purchased at www.meyer-optik-goerlitz.com.

What follows?
Series production of the Biotar 75 f1.5 II has also begun and is expected to take until the end of the year. In addition, new lenses are in planning / development and will be released in the foreseeable future.

Meyer Optik Görlitz Announced The Primoplan 58 f1.9 II Lens

Primoplan 58 F1.9 II

Meyer Optik Görlitz is back on track after their troubles, and released a new lens available also for the Canon EF mount: the Primoplan 58 f1.9 II.

At a glance:

  • Full-Frame Format
  • Aperture Range: f/1.9 to f/22
  • Central Dispersion & Converging Elements
  • Schott Glass, O’Hara Anti Reflex Coating
  • Manual Focus Design
  • Minimum Focus Distance: 2′
  • Filter Thread: 52mm
  • 12 AR-Coated Aperture Blades

The Primoplan 58 f1.9 II can be preordered at $899 at B&H Photo. Below you see some sample photos shot with the lens.

Press release:

Meyer Optik Görlitz Primoplan 58 f1.9 II available!

  • Continuation of the Primoplan series
  • Primoplan imaging language paired with optimal performance
  • Lens mechanics in established design style
  • What are the next steps?

Bad Kreuznach – 12th March 2021 – Meyer Optik Görlitz is expanding its Primoplan portfolio with the Primoplan 58 f1.9 II. In addition to the very successful Primoplan 75 f1.9 II, the second lens in this series is now available in the usual Meyer Optik mount versions.

“With great pleasure we now present, after intensive and accurate work, the new Primoplan 58 II“, says Timo Heinze, Managing Director of OPC Optics. „About 85 years after the first Primoplan 58, we now offer a lens that has the characteristics and image-language of the historical original, while being manufactured using the most modern production processes and the best materials. Thus, photographers can get a perfect Primoplan 58 II with all the wonderful features that make and have made it so popular.”

Continuation of the Primoplan series
Following the very successful launch of the new Primoplan 75 II last quarter, the new Primoplan 58 II adds another legendary lens to Meyer Optik Görlitz’s current range. The Primoplan 58 II brings the popular features of Primoplan-photography to a more “normal” focal length, making it even more versatile than the 75mm version.

Primoplan imaging language paired with optimal performance
The new Primoplan 58 II offers, through the consistent orientation on the original from 1936, exactly the imaging characteristics that have always made it so desirable. With an even further improved optical design, the new Primoplan 58 II delivers the best possible contrast and high image sharpness. At the same time, many bokeh variations – from classic bubble bokeh, to swirly bokeh, to very soft / creamy bokeh – can be created with the Primoplan 58 II. By combining the effects, versatile options are available. Also, the Primoplan 58 II delivers very good results, even in difficult lighting conditions, due to its speed of 1:1.9.

Lens mechanics in established design style
The design of the Primoplan 58 II follows the previous new editions from OPC Optics. So once again the lens received a stepless, damped, aperture & focus mechanism and can be used silently. As with all current Meyer-Optik lenses, the lens mechanics are produced by renowned German manufacturers in order to meet the high quality standards. In this way, an optimal interaction of the mechanical individual parts, a perfect feel and the longevity of the lenses are guaranteed.

What are the next steps?
Trioplan 35 II will expand the portfolio of Meyer Optik Görlitz this year. In addition, new versions of the famous Biotars are currently being developed in various focal lengths. As well as versions of the existing lenses for the latest camera mounts (Canon R and Nikon Z). The exact dates of those releases are difficult to specify due to the current situation, but will definitely all be in the second half of this year.

Photos taken with the new lenses and further information are available at www.meyer-optik-goerlitz.com/en/.

Canon patent for 58mm f/1.4 full frame lens with adjustable soft focus

Canon Patent

Canon patent application 2018-97240 (in Japan) describes a 58mm f/1.4 lens for full frame cameras with adjustable soft focus.

  • Focal length: 57.58mm
  • F number: 1.43
  • Half angle of view: 20.60
  • Image height: 21.64mm
  • Lens length: 160.04mm
  • Back focus: 40.43mm

The patent describes:

[…] an optical system containing the 1st focus group and the 2nd focus group which move by each other different locus on the occasion of focusing,
An arrangement state of the aforementioned optical system,
An optical system comprising:
A first arrangement state by which said 1st focus group and said 2nd focus group are arranged so that it will be in a focusing state in the predetermined object distance and a first aberration amount may be generated.
A second arrangement state by which said 1st focus group and said 2nd focus group are arranged so that a second aberration amount which will be in a focusing state in the aforementioned predetermined object distance, and is different from said first aberration amount may be generated.

More Canon patent applications are listed here.

Some particularly interesting patent applications we think might get into production in the next few years are these:

[via HiLowsNote]