Venus Optics LAOWA FFII 90 mm f/2.8 CA-Dreamer Macro 2X
11. Summary
Pros:
- solid casing, mostly made of metal,
- excellent image quality in the frame centre,
- good image quality on the edge of the APS-C/DX sensor,
- acceptable image quality on the edge of full frame,
- imperceptible longitudinal chromatic aberration,
- slight lateral chromatic aberration,
- lack of any noticeable problems with spherical aberration,
- low distortion,
- negligible astigmatism,
- moderate vignetting even on full frame,
- nice out-of-focus areas,
- reproduction ratio as big as 2:1.
Cons:
- image quality on the edge of the frame near the maximum relative aperture should have been better,
- a tad too high coma,
- very weak performance against bright light,
- huge focus breathing.
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Still three things should be taken into account. Firstly the price. The Laowa can be bought for about $500, so $200 less than the price of the Tamron, $290 lower than the price of Sigma. Also Nikkor Z 2.8/105 Macro and Sony 2.8/90 Macro are much more expensive ($350 and $500, respectively). The Laowa and the Tamron remain the cheapest models available on the market. Secondly, the parameters. Here you have to remember that the Laowa, as the only lens in this group, is able to offer you the 2:1 reproduction ratio and it is a serious asset. Thirdly, the advantages to disadvantages ratio. At such an affordable price you get a lot – the Laowa seems to be the sharpest in the frame centre and, at the same time, it corrects a lot of basic optical aberrations really well, faring especially well in case of vignetting where it is able to outclass its rivals. Taking it all into account you should be really glad such an instrument is available on the market as it complements exceedingly well the range of 90-105 mm macro models and makes the whole segment more competitive.
