Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

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clarnibass
Posts: 130
Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2016 11:33 pm

Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

Post by clarnibass »

Hi

I bought this lens a few days ago and there's a small problem of "focus creep". Basically the same as some zoom lenses with the zoom ("zoom creep"). When focusing to min focus distance and with the lens pointing up, it is slowly moving down (towards farther focus distance). The higher the angle is and the more I move the lens, the more it is happening. I've only seen "zoom creep" and never "focus creep", but thought this might be normal (a slight annoyance since I would rarely point it up), but someone else with the lens said his doesn't do that.

It kind of feels like it is swimming in a sea of grease, and although there is a physical stop to the rotation, there is no "static friction" and there is no beginning to the movement. I don't know if it actually has grease or just the way it is made and the materials, but it has the feel of sticky grease (like adding sticky grease to a bearing).

Does anyone else have this lens and can you check if it does this or not?
I'm trying to find from as many people as possible before I make the long and annoying drive back to the store.

Thanks

lothman
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Re: Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

Post by lothman »

clarnibass wrote:
Thu Nov 19, 2020 2:15 am
Does anyone else have this lens and can you check if it does this or not?
I'm trying to find from as many people as possible before I make the long and annoying drive back to the store.
Funny same with my copy, but since I work top down there is no such problem. May be I will cut off a rubber ring from bicycle tube in order to increase friction with this rubberband by an overlap between the rotating and the stationary ring.
But your are right this is a flaw :-(

naturepics43
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Location: Hocking County, Ohio , USA

Re: Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

Post by naturepics43 »

I purchased the Laowa 100mm 2x macro lens from Adorama about 2 months ago, I do not have focus creep with my copy. I just now set my lens to ∞ and looked in the front lens or more correctly the UV filter. It looks pretty "dry" inside lens tube. Just a light film of lubricant. Is it possible that they applied too much lubricant in your lens. Mine is also fairly stiff which for me is good. I use mine on a vertical stacking rig. Hope this helps.

Allen

clarnibass
Posts: 130
Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2016 11:33 pm

Re: Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

Post by clarnibass »

Thanks. Not enough to have real statistics, but from the 5 I found, 2 have creep, 3 don't.

I see a film of grease on the "internal hood" (for lack of a better way of calling it... maybe barrel support?), but I'm not even sure the lens is touching there. There are three "channels" that it seems to ride on.

It kind of feels like the tolerance is a fraction loose, but with sticky grease which adds resistance. I mean the way the focusing ring feels and the creep. I can't feel any actual wobble (though it's pretty tricky to try to feel wobble so hard to say for sure). That grease film didn't feel particularly sticky... but I imagine there is grease in other (invisible) places too.

The focusing is much more resistant than my previous macro lenses, the Nikon 105mm D and manual Nikon 55mm, both without any trace of "creep".

I'll check if the store has others in stock and try to see if they have one without this issue.

clarnibass
Posts: 130
Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2016 11:33 pm

Re: Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

Post by clarnibass »

So far I found eight of these, three have the issue, five don't. Not enough for very meaningful statistics... but a bad sign...

The problematic ones include lothmans', mine and another new one that the person at the store checked to see if mine was a one off.

I can't remember now if it moved in the other direction, but it could be a problem if I want e.g. x1.8 magnification pointing downward.

Waiting for the lens to go through the bureaucracy and the lab to find a solution.

bralex
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Re: Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

Post by bralex »

I was just looking at these for m4/3. By chance were any of the ones checked m4/3 format? Curious if that makes a difference. ETA: on m4/3 it's a 50mm lens, but it appears at least superficially to have the same specs.

Lou Jost
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Re: Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

Post by Lou Jost »

on m4/3 it's a 50mm lens
Not sure what you mean by this. It is still a 100mm lens on any format, but the field of view on MFT is equivalent to that of a 200mm lens on FF.

clarnibass
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Re: Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

Post by clarnibass »

bralex wrote:
Fri Nov 20, 2020 10:27 am
I was just looking at these for m4/3. By chance were any of the ones checked m4/3 format? Curious if that makes a difference.
The mounts available for this lens are listed on the Venus website and they all seem to be full frame. It would fit as long as the 4/3 camera has one of those mounts, or maybe with an adapter.

I considered the mount has something to do with. At first I thought it shouldn't and the lens is made the same, with just the different mount parts attached to it. This is probably the case and it has no effect, but, maybe there is an overlapping part, that has something to do with the focus and/or fit, but is slightly different for different mounts. It could be that the accuracy of that part varies depending on the mount (e.g. some mounts have more stick-out in the grip of the machine). It's just a random possibility and probably not likely at all, but who knows.
Only those who know exactly how it's designed and made can detect where the problem is coming from.

Macro_Cosmos
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Re: Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

Post by Macro_Cosmos »

Laowa does offer a 50mm for M43 that goes to 2:1.

clarnibass
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Re: Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

Post by clarnibass »

Oh I guess bralex meant if any 4/3 lenses were checked for this issue in general? I've only tried the Laowa 100mm x2 lens and all "statistics" mentioned here are referring only to that specific model lens. I guess it might have sounded like it was gathered from various Laowa lenses. Thanks, important to clarify.

bralex
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Re: Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

Post by bralex »

clarnibass wrote:
Fri Nov 20, 2020 10:30 pm
Oh I guess bralex meant if any 4/3 lenses were checked for this issue in general? I've only tried the Laowa 100mm x2 lens and all "statistics" mentioned here are referring only to that specific model lens. I guess it might have sounded like it was gathered from various Laowa lenses. Thanks, important to clarify.
Yes, that's what I meant. Sorry for the poor wording.

clarnibass
Posts: 130
Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2016 11:33 pm

Re: Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

Post by clarnibass »

Late update but everything's slow with the lock downs, etc.

The store replaced the lens and the new one doesn't creep. The focus ring doesn't seem to be more resistant than on the previous one.

tryphon4
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Re: Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

Post by tryphon4 »

I bought this lens one month ago and received it three weeks ago.
My lens, in Pentax KA mount, does not show focus creep.
It is going to be my prefered macro lens because it is versatile and razor sharp. 8)

clarnibass
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Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2016 11:33 pm

Re: Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

Post by clarnibass »

In that case, out of ten I could find or checked myself, seven didn't have the problem, three did. To me that's enough to conclude that it's not supposed to happen and it's a QC issue, but not enough to be sure of how significant it is (checking just ten isn't much, but 30% of that is very significant... so hard to say).

lothman
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Joined: Sat Feb 14, 2009 7:00 am
Location: Stuttgart/Germany

Re: Does anyone have the Laowa 100mm x2 macro lens?

Post by lothman »

I sent my Laowa 100 to the dealer because of the focus creep when holding upwards and got a replacement lens. I found a lot of grease at the wall of the inner tubus, is this normal with your copy?
They offered to exchange it again, I'm afraid the next lens will be the same.
regards
Lothar
grease.jpg

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