I reviewed Laowa’s 24mm f/14 Probe Lens which has been available on Kickstarter for the last few weeks – we reported about it here. Let’s see what it can really do! Viral Hit Two years ago at Photokina I shot an interview with Kevin from Chinese lens manufacturer Venus Optics about the prototype of this lens under their brand “Laowa”. The video got around 2.5 million views so far and for some reason it’s become the most popular video on our YouTube channel, unbelievable. Now after two years it finally arrived for testing, and I had to take it for a spin around some bees – and our friends from MXR Productions loaned me their Phantom Miro camera to get some amazing slow motion footage. Still from a clip shot on the Laowa 24mm f/14 Probe Lens Lens Design Advantages As you can see, the unusual lens design has a couple of advantages: You can get VERY close to your subject without disturbing it with a huge front element, and you don’t put yourself into much danger because you are still physically far away. And of course, the slim, long design allows you to go into narrow objects and get perspectives that would be otherwise impossible. Also, it’s 24mm wide, which is very unusual for a macro lens. This means you can see small animals as part of their environment rather than isolated when using a normal Macro lens which often has 100mm. Laowa 24mm Macro Probe Lens on a...
Published By: CineD - Thursday, 30 August, 2018