Laowa 100mm T/2.9 Macro Cine Lens - the Review

At long last, the review of Laowa’s groundbreaking macro-cinema lens is finished and available on YouTube. In this short piece I will give you my recommendations and share with you links to all the equipment that I discussed in the video.

But before we dive in, an announcement… The topic for the March Macro Contest is “MACRO BOOK COVER” - to be interpreted any way you wish. There are only a couple of requirements - the picture should represent the whole front cover of your imaginary book and the picture must include the book title and the name of the author. You can submit two entries, as usual.

This review took a little longer than I had planned for but I hope the video was worth the wait. I know the footage wasn’t, but I have had no time at all to get out and shoot, and even if I had, it has been raining most of the time I have had the lens. But it has been long enough to use the lens a ton, indoors and out, for video  and stills, and I have even focus stacked with the thing. It is a beautiful lens, well made, rugged and sleek, clear, bright, and oh so fast. It is a macro lens wrapped in a fully functional cine body with everything you need to shoot macro cine footage like a pro. The details are all in the video so let me get straight to the gear and links. You can get the lens from Laowa direct using this link - https://www.venuslens.net/product/laowa-100mm-t2-9-2x-macro-apo-cine/ref/937/

You can also get one from B&H right here… https://bhpho.to/48Fn6Cs

Here are links to all the recommended equipment from the video.

This is the cage I have ordered and it comes highly recommended  for the Z-8… https://bhpho.to/49GprOV

Also from SmallRig are the nubbin clamp and the most excellent MR75 LED lamp…https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1795801-REG/smallrig_3601c_drop_in_hawklock_mini.html/BI/23366/KBID/28903/DFF/d10-v21-t1-x1337902/SID/DFF and https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=smallrig%20rm75&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ps&BI=23366&KBID=28903&SID=DFF&DFF=d50

A couple of the monitors I would recommend include one moderately priced model…this one form Feelworld - 5-.5” 4K - https://bhpho.to/3v3LxM1

And one, not so much… a top of the line Atomos - https://bhpho.to/3V9hr4C

I love the look of this tripod from Benro… brand new… https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1646145-REG/benro_biclt303_induro_classic_carbon_fiber.html/BI/23366/KBID/28903/DFF/d10-v21-t1-x1388211/SID/DFF

And this fluid head - https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1512646-REG/benro_s6pro_video_head.html/BI/23366/KBID/28903/DFF/d10-v21-t1-x995431/SID/DFF

I( have become a real fan of the Delkin CFE cards - https://bhpho.to/4a3osId

And love the extended life of the EN/EL15C batteries from Nikon https://bhpho.to/4a569CG

Hope you have a great weekend - and thanks to all my Patreon supporters for making all this possible!