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Good to know they have addressed the lens creep. I have been super impressed with it too.

A quick comment on the apparent similarity between the Laowa and the AstrHori. Any 25mm f/2.8 2x-5x or 2.5x-5x unit focusing (no floating elements) lens with a minimalist design is going to look similar. Double helicoids puts the magnification ring in the center. Wanting to transmit aperture across the inner (smaller) helicoid puts the aperture ring up front. Being f/2.8 and a double helicoid determines the diameter of the front. Being 25mm and going to 5x determines the length. The increased magnification range is a result of AH's decision to drop support of SLR mounts like Nikon F and Canon EF and just focus on EVIL mounts like Nikon Z, Canon R, and Sony E. This means that AH has more freedom to move the elements farther back and thus they can get their version to 2x. L's older design has the optical capsule protrude through the mount 4-5mm when it's set to 2.5x. They'd have to back it up another 12.5mm to get down to 2x, and they simply can't do that without smashing into an SLR mirror. So the similar appearances are the result of similar specs, and the increased magnification range is the result of dropping the legacy SLR mounts, but... It's how you put a bunch of lens elements together into an "optical capsule" to put inside that helicoid that makes the two lenses radically different. And I do mean "radically". Have a look at the optical designs (both companies have them on their sites). They are night and day different. I'm not just talking the group and element counts (7/10 for AH, 6/8 for L), I'm talking about the design philosophies of the two lenses. Laowa is four similar repeating positive doublets, AH is more like a double Gauss with a massive, but not very strong compensator in back. There's no copying evident. AstrHori also got fancier with the glass: Two ED elements and two HIR (high index of refraction) elements (like the old thorium and lanthanum glass we saw in the Voigtlander Lanthars and the Pentax 50mm f/1.4 Super Takumar), while Laowa has a very conservative one ED and no HIR. Theoretically, the AH has the potential to be a better design (it has 34 degrees of freedom that the designer can use to correct aberrations, vs 28 for the L) but the L makes up for it by allowing for thicker elements (less degrees of freedom but more range) and less tolerancing problems that affect assembling the lens (it's much easier to properly center 6 long groups than 7 short ones). Again, who did a better job designing their lenses and who does a better job building them remains to be seen. It's quite likely that neither is substantially "better" and they're just "different". Very, very different. So, while the similar specs sort of force a similar appearance, there.'s not even a trace of copying of the innards.

Great recommendation. Thank you

Having both the Laowa 90mm 2x APO & a Sigma 105mm 1x, I thought my macro kit was complete. But this lens at this price is almost a no-brainer. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. I’ll definitely check it out.

will save up some monies and buy using your link :) looks like a fun little lens to play around with

good thing I held back on buying the laowa lens now I can by it cheaper and support the channel

Looks good!

It looked like it was in a lovely box. 😊

Alltid bra med nya competitors!

I was like oh wow I will buy this lens immediately! But that flaw... It's pretty huge considering I like to take shots microscope style pointing down on my table. It means I'll have to ductape the lens in order to use it properly. Sucks Edit: Just watched your "breaking news" part, great to hear, it means I'll buy this lens, but return it if it's not fixed. Great review!

Already have the Venus optics one but this looks like and amazingly priced bit of kit, if the optics are the same.

I know it's goofy, but immediately I was thinking "do I want to walk around with a lens that has that horrible logo on it". I design logos for a living, so it especially hurts my eyes lol. Great video as always, and truthfully I would still buy the lens. Maybe they'll redesign the logo before I buy one !😂

Agreed!

Ive just bought one delivered today lens creep seems to be fixed. Lens is sharp excellent value for the price

Well done astrhori for making this lens for fujifilm, because laowa completely forgot that such a company as fujifilm exists!

When you make your updated video please also comment on what I consider the 'baby elephant' in the room you, and other reviewers, ignored. The Laowa has a bayonette style fitting on the front that allows attachment of their accessory lighting device. In all honesty, I can't say I would want this because it extends just a bit in front of the lens which would reduce the already short working distance and rings are not the best macro lighting option. The AstrHori appears to have some similar ridges on the front? Why? Will it hold some accessory? Rather than a ring, I might prefer a way to attach something like a mini diffuser. I could even see advantage if the black front of the lens were white to reflect light onto the subject. That leads to the 'mama elephant' question of how the working distances of the two lenses compare at 2.5x and 5x. Some reviewers said the Laowa was slightly sharper. You disagreed but said that you did not do a full test. I contend that the sharpness difference either way would be greatly dependent on the accuracy of the manual focusing by the user since their is less than zero depth of field in this game. My main use for this lens, were I to buy it, would be on the WeMacro rail for focus stacking where lens creep, if any, would be terrible. Rails tend to lessen some problems like field curvature and focus errors but creep would be a serious problem especially if shooting vertically. You would have to tape the lens in place. I will not be buying this or any other lens until you post the promised update. Will Astrhori be recalling and fixing old stock? Will we need to know how to tell the good from the bad before buying? Both you and I pronounce the company name as if it had a vowel between the 't' and the 'r'. Do you know how that name came to be or have you heard a native speaker say it? I thought Laowa was hard. You need to arrange a better deal with more kickback from AstrHori. Now that your discount for us for Laowa lenses has expired, it is time for a deal! I never used it because Laowa seems to have stopped caring about 'normal' macro and gone over the top with expensive Cine and Aurigon. Thanks for another good video.

Hi ... which LAOWA lens would you recommend for my Nikon D850 (45 MP) - I don't mind cropping a bit, with that resolution, even at higher ISO. Thanks ! Great info on your channel.

Hello, good video, a question, is it possible to use it with a Canon EOS Rebel T6 camera?

How can I adapt this lens or the Laowa to the Olympus system ? Meanly Sony user so would like to adapt the Sony version. Very good review

Nice video Micael, I had to take my video down because of the issues with this lens which they say is faulty. Did you find any internal reflections on your copy? They are sending me a new one to test out and hopefully the issues will be fixed.

Watched this video 5 days days ago, placed an order immediately Lens in hand can confirm the lens creep is not there, however its a little tight now..

Happen to have your side by side photos published anywhere? I wasn't totally seeing the "sharper" aspect of the AstrHori

Great lens for the price after they fix the creep. It's a bummer they don't offer micro 4/3 mount. I'm trying to avoid adapting lenses.

So, we have a clone of the Laowa, even replicating its shortcomings (lack of filter thread), but at a lower price and with poorer quality control or testing. Be careful macro photographers not to stifle genuine innovation in the macro lens segment by rewarding a company that beats price by blatantly copying the hard work of others. I'd be more generous to Astrhori if I could see any original differentiation that benefitted photographers, aside from price beating. (I will add that my copy of the Laowa has exhibited in the past the same magnification mechanism creep albeit much more slowly, when the lens was completely vertical. I put an elastic band on the lens to prevent that drift, which seems to have eventually resolved itself over time.)

Hi ! Amazing video! 👏🏻 I’m really interested to buy this macro lens and I’d like to know if it’s compatible with Canon EOS R100 ? I emailed them but haven’t heard anything yet. Thank you!🙏🏻

I'm guessing they fixed it by using stiffer grease, which would also make it stiffer to use. That said, at the price and with the optical performance, you can't expect to get mechanical perfection too. Just keep some gaffer tape on the barrel.

You do get what you pay for, but do you think it is still worth what they are aking for? Plus it is a unique lens and would be very hard to use in the field, outside of a workbench setup.

what about the working distance compared to the Laowa?

This may be kind of a stupid question, but could I use this lens (or one like it) for recording videos of insects? I keep several ant colonies and I am looking for a lens for my Sony Mirrorless Camera.

I just got this lens and after a few shots I'm gonna return it. It's not what I expected. On my Nikon Z6II I get horrible blur circular area in the center of the frame for magnification greater than 3x. One more thing drives me crazy - to mount/unmount it on camera I must use so much power as when I try to unscrew the jar with pickles - I feel how hard it scrubs bayonet in my camera :/ I will stay with my Laowa 90.

No Pentax K mount, what a pity, as I would have bought it. So it'll be Laowa for me.

I don't think you can get an adapter for μ4/3. Its registration distance is 19.25mm, which locks out Z, X, and E in the 16-18mm range. R and L are 20mm, but their mount diameters are considerably larger than μ4/3 so there's no place for the spigot to enter the camera. It might be possible to refit the E version with a μ4/3 mount, though.

I am always wondering the relationship between AstrHori and Laowa, to me personally, it is almost illegally similar. I am even a bit worry that this is a malicious competition, which gives us cheaper and some are not as good quality lens, but will lead to the lack of innovation and cheap poor quality optics eventually.

I was already making plans to buy this lens when I realized that there was no mount for my Olympus.

I can confirm that my copy does NOT have that creeping issue.

dang...I was watching this in hopes that it would be easier to adjust magnification than the super stiff Laowa...instead, I learned why the Laowa HAS to be so stiff 😕 so with that in mind, off to buy a lab scissor table so that I can just set the Laowa to 5x and use the table to bring the subject into focus. Of course, one could simply use a focus shifting rail, hwoever they are a much more expensive solution because in order to get one that can handle the weight in a vertical position, you have to buy a very high quality rail. Granted, the rail would be more feasible for field use. With focus shifting built into the camera now, you just need that initial focal point locked in.

to 2:56 MFT Mount: I don't think there is an MFT adapter for any of the mounts. That is the disadvantage of lenses with a mirrorless mount. No more room for adapters.

Leider gibt es keinen Adapter um von Nikon Z auf MFT zu benutzen! leider

Yes, I want it... Oh, no I don't, then "Breaking News" and I want it again.😆

you can't adapt any mirrorless lens for micro 4/3 due to flange focal distance.

Unfortunately, there are two very big additional flaws in they don't accept refund requests past 7 days. And the warranty is only 12 months. Because of these I won't be buying it, deal breakers. But thank you for the review.

A lens I can afford!😅

They really are trying to be a lidl laowa at this point haha. Edit: Fuji X mount :eyes:

Astrhori lenses

Looks like you may need to sharpen your colour pencils ✏️ 😮

Lol....that is very very slow lens creep when held down

Still in the dSLR world. Oh well.

At 5x macro anything above f5.6 causes massive defraction and makes the images unusable. Definitely wouldn't recommend this