It bothers me how often Chinese lens manufacturers seem to completely omit testing their product themselves. They just send it out to reviewers to do the quality assurance testing. Then when reviewers discover faults, the company panics and ask reviewers to take down their reviews, and say "oh that has been fixed, will work well in the final version". I am betting that they did NOT know about these flaws beforehand, they just use us reviewers as a QA function. And this bothers me. I refused to take my video down, and adviced AstrHori to test their own product before sending it out to reviewers next time.
@@StewartWoodArt My guess is they scrambled to find a way to adjust the production process quickly so that this doesn't happen. Either that or they are working on fixing it right now, but telling everyone it is already fixed.
It's great to see lens companies still making macro lenses!!! It would be nice to see more autofocus lenses. I know you can get great pictures with manual, but I like using it. I would also like to see more options for a 200mm macro so we can get a little further away. As you know, those jumping spiders are easily spooked!
Is this an original design or a Laowa clone at a lower price (and possibly poorer quality control)? I'm not seeing any difference, including the lack of filter threads or hood attachment point, recognized shortcomings in the Laowa. If the optical formula is the same, I think Laowa might have something to say.
The Laowa is listed as 8 elements in 6 groups. The Astrhori is 10 elements in 8 groups. Proper reviews point out that the AstrHori was designed for mirrorless bodies with short back focus while the Laowa was made for DSLR's and had tube added for mirrorless. I do not know about quality but I do not trust reports that either is sharper than the other. I do not own the Laowa and only got my AstrHori about 40 hours ago. I am only part way through my testing and this one thing I can tell you: There is no margin for focus error so any difference in sharpness. If you are not using all available magnified focus assists, you will not hit anywhere close to 'in' focus. So far, I have only used my AstrHori for focus stacks including one with all my 93mm worth of RF extension tubes pushing the lens to about 9x. So far I have only used f/4 in fear of diffraction but those tests will come later when I find proper subjects. I did have a failure where half way through a 200 image stack my African Violet pistil subject started to wilt and dropped below the frame. This will not happen to shooters of dead bugs with rigid exoskeletons but soft plants do not like being cut and plopped into a tiny vase. Rant: In this game, subject preparation is everything. So far I am amazed at the results but I am not a paid professional reviewer who gets free prototypes. I bought my lens from AstrHori partly because it was put on sale ($219 after a $5 coupon). Should it not be up to Laowa to demonstrate that their lens is worth $399? I love my two other Laowa lenses (85 and 105) but they are only cheap when on sale or when compared to major camera brands with autofocus etc. No one will address my question on why they have bayonet looking ridges on the front but no accessory that fits them. Sounds like a job for a 3D printer. I did modify mine by painting a fine line on the barrel to make it easier to find the tiny dot that guides mounting the lens. To me, that is more important than the gripe that the logo is ugly. Otherwise, I'm happy so far. We all know that diffraction rules and ruins our efforts whenever we push too far. Will I be happy with the lens when I try using it in the field? Will I ever use it handheld? Will any of the professional RUclipsrs go through with their more extensive tests as promised? Time will tell. One thing is certain. They will not be deleting or amending their negative comments like the barrel creep problem seen on the pre-production samples sent out for review but corrected on the ones offered for sale. Junk reviews live forever online. Reviewers who object to being USED to test lenses in return for being the first to see them should just refuse to participate and just wait for reports from those of us who have to pay for the stuff.
@@dougsmit1 Thanks for your excellent information. I have the Laowa and concur with your observation that subject preparation is everything. Like you, I also don't know whether I will ever make much use of this lens in the field, although I see one photographer on RUclips making successful handheld focus stacks with the Laowa using a focus stack shooting camera and flash. My camera disables flash when shooting automated stacks. I can say that every short cut that one might be tempted to try with the Laowa (and I assume the AstrHori) leads to failure . . . these lenses are not forgiving.
@@StewartWoodArt Audacity reports clipping on your audio also. I checked your audio from the video "Macro Photography RAW - Episode 1 Tackeroo Pools" and there's no clipping (audibly or according to Audacity).
@@StewartWoodArt hehe or an ear even. We all perceive sound differently and I'm no audiophile. Maybe next time just bring the mic gain down a bit. Again, I'm no expert.
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It bothers me how often Chinese lens manufacturers seem to completely omit testing their product themselves. They just send it out to reviewers to do the quality assurance testing. Then when reviewers discover faults, the company panics and ask reviewers to take down their reviews, and say "oh that has been fixed, will work well in the final version". I am betting that they did NOT know about these flaws beforehand, they just use us reviewers as a QA function. And this bothers me. I refused to take my video down, and adviced AstrHori to test their own product before sending it out to reviewers next time.
Here’s a question for you…. How can they have fixed it if they only just found out about it? We’ll see when I get the “fixed” lens.
Agreed, It makes them look like they don't even test their own products.
I’ll test it lmao
@@StewartWoodArt My guess is they scrambled to find a way to adjust the production process quickly so that this doesn't happen. Either that or they are working on fixing it right now, but telling everyone it is already fixed.
@MicaelWidell probably.
It's great to see lens companies still making macro lenses!!! It would be nice to see more autofocus lenses. I know you can get great pictures with manual, but I like using it. I would also like to see more options for a 200mm macro so we can get a little further away. As you know, those jumping spiders are easily spooked!
Can’t say much but watch this space!
Is this an original design or a Laowa clone at a lower price (and possibly poorer quality control)? I'm not seeing any difference, including the lack of filter threads or hood attachment point, recognized shortcomings in the Laowa.
If the optical formula is the same, I think Laowa might have something to say.
Not quite as sharp as the Laowa 25mm and also starts at 2x.
The Laowa is listed as 8 elements in 6 groups. The Astrhori is 10 elements in 8 groups. Proper reviews point out that the AstrHori was designed for mirrorless bodies with short back focus while the Laowa was made for DSLR's and had tube added for mirrorless.
I do not know about quality but I do not trust reports that either is sharper than the other. I do not own the Laowa and only got my AstrHori about 40 hours ago. I am only part way through my testing and this one thing I can tell you: There is no margin for focus error so any difference in sharpness. If you are not using all available magnified focus assists, you will not hit anywhere close to 'in' focus. So far, I have only used my AstrHori for focus stacks including one with all my 93mm worth of RF extension tubes pushing the lens to about 9x. So far I have only used f/4 in fear of diffraction but those tests will come later when I find proper subjects. I did have a failure where half way through a 200 image stack my African Violet pistil subject started to wilt and dropped below the frame. This will not happen to shooters of dead bugs with rigid exoskeletons but soft plants do not like being cut and plopped into a tiny vase.
Rant: In this game, subject preparation is everything. So far I am amazed at the results but I am not a paid professional reviewer who gets free prototypes. I bought my lens from AstrHori partly because it was put on sale ($219 after a $5 coupon). Should it not be up to Laowa to demonstrate that their lens is worth $399? I love my two other Laowa lenses (85 and 105) but they are only cheap when on sale or when compared to major camera brands with autofocus etc. No one will address my question on why they have bayonet looking ridges on the front but no accessory that fits them. Sounds like a job for a 3D printer. I did modify mine by painting a fine line on the barrel to make it easier to find the tiny dot that guides mounting the lens. To me, that is more important than the gripe that the logo is ugly. Otherwise, I'm happy so far. We all know that diffraction rules and ruins our efforts whenever we push too far. Will I be happy with the lens when I try using it in the field? Will I ever use it handheld? Will any of the professional RUclipsrs go through with their more extensive tests as promised? Time will tell. One thing is certain. They will not be deleting or amending their negative comments like the barrel creep problem seen on the pre-production samples sent out for review but corrected on the ones offered for sale. Junk reviews live forever online. Reviewers who object to being USED to test lenses in return for being the first to see them should just refuse to participate and just wait for reports from those of us who have to pay for the stuff.
@@dougsmit1 Thanks for your excellent information. I have the Laowa and concur with your observation that subject preparation is everything. Like you, I also don't know whether I will ever make much use of this lens in the field, although I see one photographer on RUclips making successful handheld focus stacks with the Laowa using a focus stack shooting camera and flash. My camera disables flash when shooting automated stacks.
I can say that every short cut that one might be tempted to try with the Laowa (and I assume the AstrHori) leads to failure . . . these lenses are not forgiving.
Just buy the Laowa 25mm and use it at f4/f5.6 and you get sharp results - or if you want more quality stack with mitutoyo lenses which are awesome 👍🏻
Agree…that said, I would welcome a proper comparison review.
All so the Laowa make a ring light for this lens that runs off a usb
Since other video was removed, would be waiting for long review and comparison between this lens and Laowa 25mm plus MP-E 65mm.
Have you thought of comparing this Lens to the Laowo 25mm 2.5-5x? Which do you think produces better photos?
I would love to but I don’t have the Laowa 25mm.
Small issue... your mic or recording software seems to be clipping audio something terrible... is it just me?
The audio sounds fine to me on my end.
@@StewartWoodArt Audacity reports clipping on your audio also. I checked your audio from the video "Macro Photography RAW - Episode 1 Tackeroo Pools" and there's no clipping (audibly or according to Audacity).
I’ll keep an eye on it in the next video.
@@StewartWoodArt hehe or an ear even. We all perceive sound differently and I'm no audiophile. Maybe next time just bring the mic gain down a bit. Again, I'm no expert.