Got this lens for $650 brand new with Iaowa's black Friday deal and I am blown away at how amazing it is! Anyone looking to buy it, the deal is still ongoing on laowa's website and on B&H!
Just ordered mine last night. It will be here tomorrow. I love B&H return policy. So if I'm kinda like ehh.... I can just send it back. I got the Z mount version. I think $650 was a very good deal. I can't wait to try it out.
Some of my favourite shots of the past half year were shot on my testunit of this lens. It’s quite deficient on it’s technical performance, but man oh man does it have a soul.
The sigma 35mm 1.4 still looks shaper, less vignette, no color fringing, no coma, autofocus. Quite a trade off for more out of focus background, but worth it for some people.
Yeah you need to compare them side by side to realize the actual trade off. Laowa is nealry 2x less in size especially if we compare it with the hood on.
I love your channel Mr. Frost! Can you review the Samyang / Ronkinon 135mm f1.8 autofocus lens for full frame. It seems like a serious contender in the 135mm space and I want to see how it compares to the 135mm f2 manual lens you reviewed.
Even though the Sigma 35mm f/1.2 DG DN 'Art' is slightly slower, the lack of AF, sharpness, and CA control makes me wonder if it is really worth the trouble of choosing this lens over the Sigma.
They could actually make a next generation of this lens a bit bigger since it's actually fairly compact as it is and include larger optics that improve the current limitations at full apertures. Add AF to it and they'll a lens like no other. For me as it stands not yet.. I'd easily compromise for a bigger unit and even just a plastic body ti keep the weight in check, but the IQ as it is, is just not there yet.
Hi Christopher, I have over time watched many of your review videos and found them both engaging and informative, and they have helped me to choose lenses. As I have recently moved back to west Wales (Newcastle Emlyn) I would love to have the chance to buy you a beer or coffee as I make my way over to the coast quite frequently. But I quite understand if you are simply too busy. I'd show a link to some of my photos but think that is not acceptable in a public space as I wouldn't wish to be promoting my images on someone else's UA-cam channel. But in any case thank you for the incredibly hard work you put into the channel! Best wishes, Philip Wilson
Thanks a lot for the great work. My experience tells me that it is impossible to make decent quality 35mm f 0.95 optics so that with such a compact glass and such a price, it could cover the 24x36 format. But in this case, it is an achievement.
I ordered this lens as soon as it was released. It's literally the only time that I have ever ordered a new product right off the start line. My model has an RF mount and I use it with the Canon EOS R. Overall, I rather like the image character that this lens seems to offer. It's not unsharp, at least in the centre one to two-thirds of the frame, and it offers a sort of vintage aesthetic, which can be rather nice. Another strength is colour transmission. This lens does seem to render colours quite strongly producing deeply saturated images. All of that said, at least on the RF Mount, the corner vignetting is the worst I have ever seen from any lens ever, and its made even less pleasant because (at least with my copy), it is a-symmetrical. The bottom edge of the frame, and the two bottom corners of every image are visibly darker than the top corners, and the top edge. It's not a terrible problem when I'm shooting in landscape orientation because knowing this, I am able to plan the shot accordingly. Unfortunately, this weird characteristic makes almost any attempt to shoot at large apertures in portrait orientation a virtual non-starter, and why would you buy a fast lens just to shoot at f/5.6? Honestly, your test results look bright in the corners compared to what I'm seeing. At this point, I wonder if Laowa's implementation of the Canon mount exacerbates the problem? It would be interesting to hear from other RF mount owners about their experiences in this regard. Given all I've learned about this lens, would I buy it again? The honest answer is probably not. Still, given Canon's very expensive alternatives, and the lack of any real native mount options from the likes of Sigma, Tamron, etc., I am willing to put up with its idiosyncrasies for the advantages that such a wide aperture allows. Of course, if that Sigma Art lens was available for the Canon, I'd be much happier to use it instead.
Hi- I had the problem with the bottom part of the image being darker than the rest when using certain fast vintage lenses (which, like this Laowa, have no electronics) and after some digging online I found out that it was the camera, not the lens, that was causing it. By default, many mirrorless cameras shoot with an electronic front shutter curtain and a mechanical rear curtain, and under bright conditions with short exposure times, this can cause uneven exposure. When that occurs depends on the camera, but on my EOS RP it gets noticeable by 1/500s and it's pretty bad by 1/1000s. I gather that Sony cameras can have this problem too, but I'm not sure about others. Under sunny conditions, even some of my vintage Pentax or Industar lenses with f/2.8 apertures can produce this effect on my RP, to say nothing of f/1.8 or f/1.4 lenses. Among my non-electronic lenses, it's been consistent across different lenses and adapters- I've even gotten the effect in a test with no lens attached at all. That said, with an EF 50mm f/1.8 it's been much harder to reproduce; I'm not sure what the story is, there. There are three ways you can fix the problem... you can set the camera to use mechanical shutter for both curtains (not an option on my RP, but I think your R has the ability), you can use electronic shutter for both curtains (my RP will do this but not in the creative modes- again your R will probably do better here) or you can use filters (polarizer, ND, etc.) to block some of the light when shooting at wide apertures, to make the exposure times longer- and given my camera's limitations, this is my usual method. Failing that, I suppose you could take test shots against a white background at different shutter speeds and try to make an editing profile to correct the problem in post-production; this would allow you to correct shots already taken, of course, but I haven't tried this. In any event, this issue drove me crazy for a while until I stumbled across the cause and a solution, and I hope you can put one of these methods to good use.
@@matthewneleigh567 Thank you for this. I'm going to perform some experiments with that lens, and compare it to a similar fast lens that I use on my Olympus E-M1 to see what happens. I'll post my thoughts when I've looked into it. Cheers again.
Hi, Christopher. What do you think about Sirui anomorphic lenses? 24, 35, 50 and full frame 50 T2.9. Is it possible to test? I'm sure a lot of people will be interested...
At 6:33, is Christopher puling our leg? Aren't those sunstars coming off the light for example on the bottom right corner? Haha! I am confused and may very well not know what a proper sunstar is!
I thought exactly that when it was about the Brightin Star 50/0.95 - double the money and get an RF 50 1.2 seems like a nice alternative all of a sudden :D
Hey Chris! You've never sounded so biased, never. Not sure what is the reason but only you know why. I've had way too high hopes for this lens but it looks soooooo bad (the image quality, not the physical appearance). Amazingly bad and too overpriced for manual lens. I'm glad I didn't buy it but I was close as I like it softy and /0.95 is a dream but 7Artisans 50mm f/1.05 is still the best lens in that range and most probably the cheapest. This Laowa could work great in monochromatic photography but still it doesn't justify the price point. Should've been the half of that price or even less, ugh. That colour fringing is more than terrible and I've never been so picky. My disappointment is off the charts so I better shut up already. Anyway, thank you for the review!
As far as I understood, isn't there a physical limit on the brightest aperture any lens can go on a Sony E mount? - that limit being lower than Canon's and Nikon's NEW mount. Wasn't that the whole point on making new mounts for their mirrorless line up, while Sony chose to stay behind? I remember reading that Sony can't go wider than 1.2 (T stop wise) on the 50s MM vicinity, for example.
that was a myth falsely created by Leica and debunked long time ago by Sony ( and other testers ): the theoretical physical limit for FE mount is actually f/ 0,63.
I was always looking forward to this review but months ago I decided to go with the APSC version 33mm for my XT4. Really enjoy that lens for low light. I considered this full frame version for my RF cameras but the performance seemed not as good of a bargain and my shooting style has gone from maximum bokeh closer to the f.64 club. I do wonder what kind of night time automotive images could be made with this lens.
So, it never gets sharp in the corners and has a lot of CA. I'm not impressed. What's the point to chase an ultrafast aperture, if useful things like sharpness, close focusing or resistance to flare and glare are not present? It's closer to the $100 Chinese generic lenses than to the good glass.
Okay I admit I've had a few pints at other pub, but hearing "Excited as a mosuito at a nudist beach" just cracked me all the way up!!!
I took a chance and got this one the moment it was available for preorder. Zero regrets so far.
Got this lens for $650 brand new with Iaowa's black Friday deal and I am blown away at how amazing it is! Anyone looking to buy it, the deal is still ongoing on laowa's website and on B&H!
Just ordered mine last night. It will be here tomorrow. I love B&H return policy. So if I'm kinda like ehh.... I can just send it back. I got the Z mount version. I think $650 was a very good deal. I can't wait to try it out.
Some of my favourite shots of the past half year were shot on my testunit of this lens. It’s quite deficient on it’s technical performance, but man oh man does it have a soul.
this lens looks very interesting. thank you very much for this test report.
The sigma 35mm 1.4 still looks shaper, less vignette, no color fringing, no coma, autofocus. Quite a trade off for more out of focus background, but worth it for some people.
Yeah or the Sigma 35mm 1.2 which is even sharper even at f1.2 and has autofocus. Heavier and a bit more expensive though.
Yeah but manual fast lenses are also fun to use. Manual lenses sorta reinvigorated my enjoyment of photography.
@@StymyParsley It's fun but not so fun if the image quality is poor at the biggest aperture.
Yeah you need to compare them side by side to realize the actual trade off. Laowa is nealry 2x less in size especially if we compare it with the hood on.
Ooh, I'm gonna have to keep this one in mind for my Nikon Z5!
Man, that lens is tempting.
"excited as a mosquito at a nudist beach" xD
I love your channel Mr. Frost! Can you review the Samyang / Ronkinon 135mm f1.8 autofocus lens for full frame. It seems like a serious contender in the 135mm space and I want to see how it compares to the 135mm f2 manual lens you reviewed.
I will be soon
"As excited as a osquito at a nudist beach" LMAO i legit lol'd
Even though the Sigma 35mm f/1.2 DG DN 'Art' is slightly slower, the lack of AF, sharpness, and CA control makes me wonder if it is really worth the trouble of choosing this lens over the Sigma.
Thank you for doing a review of my dream lens. The decision to splurge a big sum of money depending on your review.
5:40 the background looks hella pretty tho
They could actually make a next generation of this lens a bit bigger since it's actually fairly compact as it is and include larger optics that improve the current limitations at full apertures. Add AF to it and they'll a lens like no other. For me as it stands not yet.. I'd easily compromise for a bigger unit and even just a plastic body ti keep the weight in check, but the IQ as it is, is just not there yet.
Patiently waiting for future RF 800mm f5. 6 review
Hi Christopher, I have over time watched many of your review videos and found them both engaging and informative, and they have helped me to choose lenses. As I have recently moved back to west Wales (Newcastle Emlyn) I would love to have the chance to buy you a beer or coffee as I make my way over to the coast quite frequently. But I quite understand if you are simply too busy. I'd show a link to some of my photos but think that is not acceptable in a public space as I wouldn't wish to be promoting my images on someone else's UA-cam channel. But in any case thank you for the incredibly hard work you put into the channel! Best wishes, Philip Wilson
Thanks a lot for the great work. My experience tells me that it is impossible to make decent quality 35mm f 0.95 optics so that with such a compact glass and such a price, it could cover the 24x36 format. But in this case, it is an achievement.
Im waiting for the Argus 45mm 0.95 lens review ✨
I ordered this lens as soon as it was released. It's literally the only time that I have ever ordered a new product right off the start line. My model has an RF mount and I use it with the Canon EOS R. Overall, I rather like the image character that this lens seems to offer. It's not unsharp, at least in the centre one to two-thirds of the frame, and it offers a sort of vintage aesthetic, which can be rather nice. Another strength is colour transmission. This lens does seem to render colours quite strongly producing deeply saturated images.
All of that said, at least on the RF Mount, the corner vignetting is the worst I have ever seen from any lens ever, and its made even less pleasant because (at least with my copy), it is a-symmetrical. The bottom edge of the frame, and the two bottom corners of every image are visibly darker than the top corners, and the top edge. It's not a terrible problem when I'm shooting in landscape orientation because knowing this, I am able to plan the shot accordingly. Unfortunately, this weird characteristic makes almost any attempt to shoot at large apertures in portrait orientation a virtual non-starter, and why would you buy a fast lens just to shoot at f/5.6? Honestly, your test results look bright in the corners compared to what I'm seeing. At this point, I wonder if Laowa's implementation of the Canon mount exacerbates the problem? It would be interesting to hear from other RF mount owners about their experiences in this regard.
Given all I've learned about this lens, would I buy it again? The honest answer is probably not. Still, given Canon's very expensive alternatives, and the lack of any real native mount options from the likes of Sigma, Tamron, etc., I am willing to put up with its idiosyncrasies for the advantages that such a wide aperture allows. Of course, if that Sigma Art lens was available for the Canon, I'd be much happier to use it instead.
Hi- I had the problem with the bottom part of the image being darker than the rest when using certain fast vintage lenses (which, like this Laowa, have no electronics) and after some digging online I found out that it was the camera, not the lens, that was causing it. By default, many mirrorless cameras shoot with an electronic front shutter curtain and a mechanical rear curtain, and under bright conditions with short exposure times, this can cause uneven exposure. When that occurs depends on the camera, but on my EOS RP it gets noticeable by 1/500s and it's pretty bad by 1/1000s. I gather that Sony cameras can have this problem too, but I'm not sure about others.
Under sunny conditions, even some of my vintage Pentax or Industar lenses with f/2.8 apertures can produce this effect on my RP, to say nothing of f/1.8 or f/1.4 lenses. Among my non-electronic lenses, it's been consistent across different lenses and adapters- I've even gotten the effect in a test with no lens attached at all. That said, with an EF 50mm f/1.8 it's been much harder to reproduce; I'm not sure what the story is, there.
There are three ways you can fix the problem... you can set the camera to use mechanical shutter for both curtains (not an option on my RP, but I think your R has the ability), you can use electronic shutter for both curtains (my RP will do this but not in the creative modes- again your R will probably do better here) or you can use filters (polarizer, ND, etc.) to block some of the light when shooting at wide apertures, to make the exposure times longer- and given my camera's limitations, this is my usual method. Failing that, I suppose you could take test shots against a white background at different shutter speeds and try to make an editing profile to correct the problem in post-production; this would allow you to correct shots already taken, of course, but I haven't tried this.
In any event, this issue drove me crazy for a while until I stumbled across the cause and a solution, and I hope you can put one of these methods to good use.
@@matthewneleigh567 Thank you for this. I'm going to perform some experiments with that lens, and compare it to a similar fast lens that I use on my Olympus E-M1 to see what happens. I'll post my thoughts when I've looked into it. Cheers again.
@@yukonchris I look forward to hearing how it goes.
Can you make a video with all the Laowa lenses and compare/contrast it? Can you do a low light and a good lighting scenario?
Hi, Christopher. What do you think about Sirui anomorphic lenses? 24, 35, 50 and full frame 50 T2.9. Is it possible to test? I'm sure a lot of people will be interested...
This lens looks fun but the price is not negligible. I'm divided whether to get it or wait for the Canon L version at 35mm.
great for you to compare the T-stop of 0.95 lens
At 6:33, is Christopher puling our leg? Aren't those sunstars coming off the light for example on the bottom right corner? Haha! I am confused and may very well not know what a proper sunstar is!
Thank you
Mosquito at a nudist beach :LOL:
At $900 this makes the $2000, pro-tier, f1.2 lenses with perfect image quality appear reasonably priced.
I thought exactly that when it was about the Brightin Star 50/0.95 - double the money and get an RF 50 1.2 seems like a nice alternative all of a sudden :D
@@mihugong3153 Yeah, and even more so if you take into resell value.
Not far from the Brighting Star in term of image quality, I was expecting better (not great) performance. No doubt 35mm and f0,95 is a great combo
i lvoe the flare testing but to be honest i often love flaring and to play with flares in my pictures
I love Laowa lensus :P
“A little remaining purple fringing “ Lol 😂
Ohh my god that lens looks like a Christmas tree on Christmas Day on Main Street New York
That's it! I ran out of patience! Where is the NIKON Z 24 -200 review!! Just kidding Chris....😎
Oh yes. I need to contact Nikon about that one. Things are a little busy for me at the moment but it IS on my list of lenses to test :-)
I had to pause for a minute to stop laughing about the mosquito on a nudist beach comment...
Heya Christopher! I wonder if you know the viltrox 13mm f1.4 for x mount, could you review that for us too😁?
Hey Chris! You've never sounded so biased, never. Not sure what is the reason but only you know why. I've had way too high hopes for this lens but it looks soooooo bad (the image quality, not the physical appearance). Amazingly bad and too overpriced for manual lens. I'm glad I didn't buy it but I was close as I like it softy and /0.95 is a dream but 7Artisans 50mm f/1.05 is still the best lens in that range and most probably the cheapest. This Laowa could work great in monochromatic photography but still it doesn't justify the price point. Should've been the half of that price or even less, ugh. That colour fringing is more than terrible and I've never been so picky. My disappointment is off the charts so I better shut up already. Anyway, thank you for the review!
Seconded.
My eyes and ears are battling eachother in this video. I do like laowa especially their rectilinear wide angle lens, but not this one.
@@Durio_zibethinus And it's more expensive than the Z 35mm ONLY because it's f/0.95... 🥴
❤❤❤
As far as I understood, isn't there a physical limit on the brightest aperture any lens can go on a Sony E mount? - that limit being lower than Canon's and Nikon's NEW mount. Wasn't that the whole point on making new mounts for their mirrorless line up, while Sony chose to stay behind? I remember reading that Sony can't go wider than 1.2 (T stop wise) on the 50s MM vicinity, for example.
that was a myth falsely created by Leica and debunked long time ago by Sony ( and other testers ): the theoretical physical limit for FE mount is actually f/ 0,63.
Finally!
The nearest competitor is not f1.2
There exists a Zenitar f1 which IMO is better than Laowa, albeit expensive
Would it be ok on an A6600? I may upgrade to A7C II in a year or so and thinking of getting this to go on my A6600 in the meantime.
How do you compare the 35mm and the 45mm? I am torn between the two.
If you need to stop down to f2 for decent results, and manually focus, then get the sigma instead 🤷♂
🎉
I am trying to pick between this and voightlander 35 mm lanthar f/2 , any advice?
They need to make an L mount version!
How does this compare quality-wise to the 45mm Laowa lens?
does it have weather sealing ?
hi, please review the YONGNUO Macro Lens YN60mm F2 MF.
to get the next better level at f/1 or below, you will have to pay at least 3 to 8 times the price of this lens for nikkor noct or canon L ;)
A very nice f/1.4 lens, but at $900 ill be sticking to my Sigma 30mm! ;-)
mosquito at a nudist beach lol! Brilliant.
how does this compare to the tamron 35mm f1.4 @ 1.4 in terms of sharpness?
Can you review Viltrox AF 13mm for fuji X mount or E mount? Please!!
Mosquito-approved 👌🏻
Can you please do a review on the XF 33mm f/1.4?
You don't have long to wait
Mosquito at a nudists beach 🤣 😂 😆
I was always looking forward to this review but months ago I decided to go with the APSC version 33mm for my XT4. Really enjoy that lens for low light. I considered this full frame version for my RF cameras but the performance seemed not as good of a bargain and my shooting style has gone from maximum bokeh closer to the f.64 club. I do wonder what kind of night time automotive images could be made with this lens.
Diolch!
Good Mosquito joke.
I have a 35mm f/2 from the 80's that has less fringing and flares than this lens. Not particularly impressive.
The day they come with a 20mm f0. 95 I be as happy as a pregnant female mosquito in a blood bank
So, it never gets sharp in the corners and has a lot of CA. I'm not impressed. What's the point to chase an ultrafast aperture, if useful things like sharpness, close focusing or resistance to flare and glare are not present? It's closer to the $100 Chinese generic lenses than to the good glass.
Don’t waste your $$ for this lens.
coating is such a pain in chinese lenses' ass
Another disappointing superlative f0.95 lens for Laowa.
Join us at triangular earth, we have a point