Laowa Argus 33mm f/0.95 CF APO Reviewed

• 3 years ago

Laowa Argus 33mm f/0.95 CF APO:

Venus Optic / B&H Photo / Adorama

Laowa has been on a roll releasing great value lens after great value lens and it should come as no surprise that some are placing the Laowa Argus 33mm f/0.95 CF APO above all other 0.95 Chinese glass on the market at this time. Sonyalpha.blog just posted its full lengthy review that you can read here, or you can read the Pro/Con below:

Pros

• Good Sharpness at f0.95, Very Good at F1.1, Excellent as of F2.8
• Very Smooth background blur giving unique portraits and atmosphere for objects details
• Very Good Bokeh Balls between F0.95 and F1.4
• good contrast even at f0.95, very good as of F1.1
• Excellent build quality
• Excellent color rendition
• Very good rendering in video
• Smoothly dampened focusing ring and clickless aperture ring (ideal for video
• Moderate vignetting mostly gone at F1.4
• Good resistance to flare at F11
• Nice rectangular lens hood
• Lower lever of color fringing than competitors at F0.95

Average

• Corners weaker than center but not so bad for a F0.95 (much better than competitors)
• Moderate Distortion
• Resistance to flare at F0.95 is weak with halo effects but better than competitors
• Moderate CA ,
• Bokeh Balls start to show 9 shaped polygon as of F1.4 instead of circle
• Price on the high side for a manual APSC lens

Cons

• Heavy weight
• Clickless aperture ring for photography does not allow to know where you stand with the aperture
• Focus breathing
• Too long focus throw (270 °) to go from 35cm to infinity

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