Laowa 25mm f/2.8 2.5-5x lens review

Does a regular macro lens not get you close enough? This one from Laowa might

A black Laowa 25mm 2.5-5x lens

Digital Camera World Verdict

This lens will get you a lot closer than even a regular 1:1 macro lens, but with restrictions that regular macro lenses don’t have. With no focus mechanism, it can’t be used for regular (non-macro) subjects, and a focus rail is all but essential. That said, it offers amazing magnification at a very appealing price.

Pros

  • +

    Impressive magnification

  • +

    Comparatively inexpensive

Cons

  • -

    No focus mechanism

  • -

    Contrast suffers at higher magnification

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A regular macro lens will give you a 1:1 reproduction ratio, which is actually the technical definition of ‘macro’ photography, and will focus close-enough for some stunning blow-ups. 

But that’s nothing compared to the Laowa 25mm f/2.8 2.5-5x Ultra Macro. As the name suggests, this can capture tiny subjects at anywhere from 2.5 to five times their actual size. 

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Rod Lawton
Contributor

Rod is an independent photography journalist and editor, and a long-standing Digital Camera World contributor, having previously worked as DCW's Group Reviews editor. Before that he has been technique editor on N-Photo, Head of Testing for the photography division and Camera Channel editor on TechRadar, as well as contributing to many other publications. He has been writing about photography technique, photo editing and digital cameras since they first appeared, and before that began his career writing about film photography. He has used and reviewed practically every interchangeable lens camera launched in the past 20 years, from entry-level DSLRs to medium format cameras, together with lenses, tripods, gimbals, light meters, camera bags and more. Rod has his own camera gear blog at fotovolo.com but also writes about photo-editing applications and techniques at lifeafterphotoshop.com