Venus Optics LAOWA FFII 90 mm f/2.8 CA-Dreamer Macro 2X review - Image resolution

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Venus Optics LAOWA FFII 90 mm f/2.8 CA-Dreamer Macro 2X

17 February 2025

Maciej Latałło

4. Image resolution

Our tests of the Nikon Z system lenses are based on the Nikon Z7 body; the RAW files, produced by that camera are developped by neutral software such as dcraw. As we have already been able to check thoroughly optical properties of several fixed-focal instruments of this system, we think we can determine proper reference levels. Lenses reaching record values should be able to exceed 85 lpmm; maximum results of excellent system prime lenses might fit the range from 80 to 85 lpmm. The decency level we set at 41–43 lpmm.

Let's check how the Venus Optics LAOWA FFII 90 mm f/2.8 CA-Dreamer Macro 2X compares- its results in the frame centre, on the edge of the APS-C/DX sensor and on the edge of full frame presents a graph below.

Venus Optics LAOWA FFII 90 mm f/2.8 CA-Dreamer Macro 2X - Image resolution

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You can say at once that the results in the frame centre are excellent. At the maximum relative aperture the lens exceeds 75 lpmm and the maximum results we ot by f/4.0 raches over 86 lpmm. It is currently the highest result we noticed in all tests performed on the Nikon Z7 sensor. At the same time these results are a tad better than the results of the Tamron 90 mm f/2.8 Di III Macro VXD, tested by us not so long ago. You can notice it by glancing at a graph below that shows a comparison between the performance in frame centre of both models, mentioned before.

In case of the Tamron we indicated a huge difference between the results in the frame centre and its edges. Unfortunately, in case of the Laowa this problem gets even more acute. It's obvious the producers focused rather on excellent performance in the frame centre and they neglected the edges.

The edge of the APS-C/DX sensor doesn't give you any reasons to complain, because even at the maximum relative aperture you still deal with a good level of over 57 lpmm. Still the MTFs don't increase as fast as you wish they did so the lens is able to get to almost 65 lpmm at most and it means as many as 15 lpmm of difference between the edge and the frame centre.

You can have a tad more reservations when it comes to the performance on the edge of full frame. Both by f/2.8 and by f/4.0 you land below 50 lpmm – a still decent value but in our humble opinion a good quality macro lens should have performed a tad better.

To sum up you can't say that in the resolution category the Venus Optics LAOWA FFII 90 mm f/2.8 CA-Dreamer Macro 2X had any significant slip-up. Its performance in the frame centre is excellent and praise-worthy. Still, it cannot change the fact that excellent performance made us want more and, as a result, our expectations concerning the edge of the frame increased. We are sorry to say our appetites concerning that part of the test remained unquenched.

At the end of this chapter, traditionally, we presents crops taken from photos of our resolution testing chart; they were saved as JPEG files along with RAW files we used for the analysis above.

Nikon Z7, JPEG, 90 mm, f/2.8