Venus Optics recently introduced their new super macro (2x) Laowa 100mm f/2.8 APO lens. We have already covered an early look at this lens not too long ago but Frost has covered many lenses in the past and it is certainly easier to understand how this lens performs compared to others.
The build quality of the lens is good but the interesting part is how it performs and as it seems from Frost’s test it doesn’t disappoint. The lens has excellent performance wide open in the center and corners on a high res FF sensor and even on an APS-C it performed very well wide open in the center and O.K. in the corners (although you will probably need to close it down somewhat to get maximmum resolution in the corners).
It is worth mentioning that like many other Chanise made lenses, this lens doesn’t work very well against bright light and has some issues with flare (apparently coatings is one area where the larger manufacturers are still ahead of the smaller one).
Here are some specs for the lens:
- Focal length and aperture – 100mm, f/2.8 (FF coverage).
- Optical structure – 12 elements with 10 groups.
- Min focus distance – 24.7cm.
- Max magnification: 2:1.
- Filter thread: 67mm.
- Size: 72 x 125 mm (Sony version: Ф72 x 155 mm).
- Weight: 638g
- Price: $450.
You can find many more previews and reviews on our Photography review section here on LensVid and you can find more of Frost’s videos here on LensVid.
Iddo Genuth 
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