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Lens review

Venus Optics LAOWA 100 mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro APO

9 September 2019
Arkadiusz Olech

8. Vignetting

First let's check how the Laowa 2.8/100 Macro deals with the smaller sensor of the Canon 50D – appropriate thumbnails can be found below.

Canon 50D, f/2.8 Canon 50D, f/4.0
Venus Optics LAOWA 100 mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro APO - Vignetting Venus Optics LAOWA 100 mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro APO - Vignetting


At this point you don't notice almost any problems. Even at the maximum relative aperture vignetting remains moderate, amounting to 20% (-0.65 EV). Additionally, it disappears practically completely on stopping down the aperture to f/4.0 where we got 8% (-0.24 EV).


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Let's check how the situation changes after passing to full frame.

Canon 5D MkIII, f/2.8 Canon 5D MkIII, f/4.0
Venus Optics LAOWA 100 mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro APO - Vignetting Venus Optics LAOWA 100 mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro APO - Vignetting
Canon 5D MkIII, f/5.6 Canon 5D MkIII, f/8.0
Venus Optics LAOWA 100 mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro APO - Vignetting Venus Optics LAOWA 100 mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro APO - Vignetting


The results are noticeably higher. By f/2.8 you have to take into account light fall-off of 46% (−1.78 EV), a high value but comparable with the results reached by the rivals. It's enough to remind here that the Canon EF 100 mm f/2.8 L Macro IS USM had a result of 43% in this category and vignetting of the Samyang 100 mm f/2.8 ED UMC MACRO was even a bit higher, getting to 49%.

Fortunately stopping down improves the situation pretty fast. By f/4.0 brightness loss in frame corners reaches 24% (−0.80 EV), and by f/5.6 it's just 15% (−0.47 EV). Vignetting becomes practically imperceptible by f/8 and f/11, amounting to, respectively, 10% (−0.29 EV) and 5% (−0.16 EV).

Canon 5D MkIII, JPEG, f/2.8
Venus Optics LAOWA 100 mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro APO - Vignetting