Quick look: AstrHori 25mm F2.8 2x-5x macro lens for full frame mirrorless. Lens testing AMA request

[@michaelvandahl3766]

Hi Keith, thank you for pointing out this interesting macro lens! It looks similar to the 25mm macro lens from Laowa. I'm not sure how these Chinese companies work, but could it be that it comes from the same factory? Anyway, I'm currently considering buying a lens like this for my work. So I am looking forward to your written review. If the quality is good, one advantage seems to be the price. This is generally around 300 Euros in Germany. The Laowa costs around 500! Thanks again for taking the trouble to write a review! Michael

[@KeithCooper]

Thanks - the similarities are there, but if you look at the optical formula, it's somewhat more complex. I reviewed the Laowa one in 2018 and it was better than my MP-E65 in some areas. That said, I've not asked anyone at Laowa ;-) Where you really see the quality from Venus Lens [Laowa] is with that microscope style lens I've got attached to the GFX100S - 100MP at 20x is superb - apart from the sheer number of frames needed for stacking

[@josephwisniewski3673]

@@KeithCooper Somewhat? I think it's way more complex. The Laowa is very straightforward, four positive doublets. Very thick doublets. The AstrHori just tosses elements around willy-nilly, the designer took advantage of every degree of freedom the ten-element design gave them. Thin meniscus lenses. Definitely not an "industrial" style lens. To be honest, it reminds me a lot of the design of the MP-E 65, if you took the Canon design and froze its floating element system at about the 1.5x setting, and just had a field flattener rear, instead of a field flattening teleconverter. And every kind of optical glass. The Laowa has one ED element. The AstrHori has two ED and two HIR (high index of refraction. Remember the good old days when lens designers weren't afraid to stick radioactive glass in consumer products, like the thorium glass elements in the Pentax Super Takumars or the Lanthanum glass elements in the Voigtlander Lantars? Except the modern HIR glass isn't radioactive).

[@KeithCooper]

Yes, that's my natural understatement ;-) Quite distinctive and thanks for expanding this with detail.

[@yuriyfedorenko2861]

Tell me, please, does such a short focal length of 25 mm create any unnatural distortions of the object compared to longer focal length lenses?

[@KeithCooper]

Ah - focal lengths for macro lenses like this are not like focal lengths for 'normal' lenses, so no. Now I've finished a lot of the [big] printer testing I'll be doing some more macro stuff and I'll be sure to address this issue

[@robinjones6999]

How bizarre - Ive just been shooting some orchids in the kitchen with my macro setup, came back to the office for a cuppa and your video pops up - how timely

[@KeithCooper]

Yes - the little flowers of the Jade plant were shot whilst I came down to make a coffee before doing this video ;-)

[@oneeyedphotographer]

Pease please compare it with Canon's MO-E 65. It sounds pretty similar.

[@KeithCooper]

Yes, much smaller, but if you're curious I'd suggest comparing it with this, which I tested in 2018 - which bested the MP-E from 2.5-5x www.northlight-images.co.uk/laowa-25mm-f2-8-macro-review/ The new one starts at 2x which may mot sound much but is useful. The optical design of the one I've got here is a bit more complex with more exotic glasses. I suspect it will make the MP-E show its age in some areas

[@josephwisniewski3673]

@@KeithCooper That's an advantage AstrHori got from making the lens EVIL (aka "mirrorless") only. The rear element of the Laowa comes as close as possible to the swinging SLR mirror. My Nikon F mount copy extends about 4mm through the lens mount into the camera interior when at 2.5x. You'd have to bring it back another 12.5mm to get it to 2x, and that would smash the mirror. I would not put it past Laowa to release a new EVIL-only version that went down to 2x, and possibly to one-up AstrHori by taking it up to 6 or 7x with a longer helicoid.

[@KeithCooper]

Yes - the Laowa I reviewed was several years ago and an EF mount version. I've chatted with some of their designers in the past and they love a challenge ;-)