Laowa Argus 35mm f/0.95 FF:
Venus Optics
B&H Photo
Laowa has been releasing a lot of great lenses lately and according to Sony Alpha Blog the Laowa Argus 35mm f/0.95 FF should not disappoint Laowa fans. Below you can read the summary of excerpts from their review of you can read the full review here.
Unlike some cheap F0.95 lenses, it provide very good and totally usable images at F0.95. Sharpness is good wide open , color rendition if very good, background blur and bokeh balls are excellent. As of F1.2 you get very good sharpness and excellent as of F1.4
The main weaknesses are the long min focusing distance (50cm) , the resistance to flare, CA , the high vignetting and corners sharpness requiring to close to F5.6 to get consistency on the entire field
Pros
- Good Sharpness at f0.95 , Very Good at F1.2 , Excellent as of F1.4
- Very Smooth background blur giving unique portraits and atmosphere for objects details
- Excellent Bokeh Balls at all apertures
- Good contrast even at f0.95 (if not facing the sun), very good as of F1.2
- Excellent build quality
- Excellent color rendition
- Very good rendering in video
- Click or clickless aperture ring
- Smoothly dampened focusing ring and aperture ring
- Very low distortion
Average
- Weight and size : but linked to F0.95
- Corners weak up to F2.8 but become excellent at f5.6
- Resistance to flare at F0.95 is weak with halo effects and loss of contrast , average in general at standard apertures
- Price
- Focus breathing visible
- Long focus throw (270°) to go from 35cm to infinity, 180° would have been ideal for me
Cons
- Heavy Vignetting
- Level of CA
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