# Wide Angle Macros



## LeBlobe (Jan 16, 2021)

Hi, im wondering what is closest to Laowa 15mm f/4 Wide Angle Macro in terms of Wide angle(15mm) and magnification ratio(1X). This lens seems really cool but alot of drawbacks. Minimum working distance and lighting are the ones im most afraid. Whats a good way to generate lights you use, only saw some DIY articulated arms with flashes/lights.
Soft corners , distortion , vignette, aberrations, exif, aperture, dont have choices that i know so far if i want that effect, stopping down seems to reduce some of it.

It would be for RF mount to shoot plants/mushrooms , not mostly insects.

I saw Canon roadmap have a RF 24mm f/1.8 macro planned, we dont know magnification yet. If it has all electronic functions with Canon body and less drawbacks, gonna be hard to choose the Laowa 15mm f/4 unless we really master it already. Would 24mm has same issue of lighting as the Laowa? or Canon release something to help this.

Im interested in other lenses with 0.5X to 1X and 30mm or less, i cant find super list of all macro lenses that fit EF/RF. Thanks


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## stevelee (Jan 16, 2021)

I’m curious: what would be the advantage of wide angle macros?


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## LeBlobe (Jan 16, 2021)

stevelee said:


> I’m curious: what would be the advantage of wide angle macros?



just a style of macro i like , to show environment/habitat of life i shoot. I like to identify wild species so its nice to see the type of forest/field/coast/ etc . And what it grows next to.


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## Del Paso (Jan 16, 2021)

I'd rather see Canon introducing an RF 180mm macro, than all these WA macro lenses...
I just can't imagine an "extreme" WA to be good at macro and at landscapes. Yet, if the RF 24 macro is excellent at landscapes, and OK at macro, why not?


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## Nemorino (Jan 16, 2021)

LeBlobe said:


> Hi, im wondering what is closest to Laowa 15mm f/4 Wide Angle Macro in terms of Wide angle(15mm) and magnification ratio(1X).


There is maybe no similar lens and perhaps the RF35 is closest.
But don't be afraid of the Laowa 15mm. It is challenging but fun to use. 
I made a lot shots of marshrooms last year including focus stacking. I used this lens with an Eos R and the 80D. With a APS-C camera the angle of view is similar to a FF 24mm lens and it is a big difference!

Here are three pictures of the Laowa 15mm I posted :
bee
flowers


Yesterday I coincidentally posted this picture 







If you ask, I can post the picture of the marschroom I made this way.


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## LeBlobe (Jan 16, 2021)

Del Paso said:


> I'd rather see Canon introducing an RF 180mm macro, than all these WA macro lenses...
> I just can't imagine an "extreme" WA to be good at macro and at landscapes. Yet, if the RF 24 macro is excellent at landscapes, and OK at macro, why not?



yes a new 180mm would be good too, im hoping more third party lenses will speed up offering for RF at funky designs like UW macro.


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## LeBlobe (Jan 16, 2021)

Nemorino said:


> There is maybe no similar lens and perhaps the RF35 is closest.
> But don't be afraid of the Laowa 15mm. It is challenging but fun to use.
> I made a lot shots of marshrooms last year including focus stacking. I used this lens with an Eos R and the 80D. With a APS-C camera the angle of view is similar to a FF 24mm lens and it is a big difference!
> 
> ...



very nice shots, i just need to find good setup for lighting because im not too good with DIY and i may buy it soon if Canon doesnt annonce the 24mm before. It seems really niche haha, i see only one used for sale in Canada on 2-3 sites i looked.

You can post the mushroom pic yes. I had some on my lawn really similar as these, didnt find what it was exactly.


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## Nemorino (Jan 16, 2021)

I never know the name of a mushroom, I just take the pictures.
With other lenses I use a MT24 but with the 15mm Makro almost no lightning.
Exceptionally I lighted this with a smartphone:
Mushroom thread


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## LeBlobe (Jan 16, 2021)

very cool , the ones i found might not be same thing. Mines have big thick stipes and yours have striate margins. The caps on your first photo looked alike.

I wish there was a way to know when an image is focus stacked or not when im looking at a gallery. Some shots im not sure with this lens haha.

this old snapshot was with a Canon Rebel XSI and EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS


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## Nemorino (Jan 16, 2021)

LeBlobe said:


> I wish there was a way to know when an image is focus stacked or not when im looking at a gallery.


If the subjekt has more DOF than the background, is a hint.
If there are some glitches of the rendering you could be shure. Look at the edges of the cap in my picture! I should have done more editing.
Sometimes you can also see a halo caused by the software.


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## highdesertmesa (Jan 16, 2021)

LeBlobe said:


> Hi, im wondering what is closest to Laowa 15mm f/4 Wide Angle Macro in terms of Wide angle(15mm) and magnification ratio(1X)...



You might consider using a high-power close-up filter on the wide angle of your choosing – should be good enough for a centrally-placed subject.


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## stevelee (Jan 16, 2021)

When I rented the 24mm TS-E lens, I had some extension tubes delivered. So I tried it with them. The short focal length and the tilt made it possible to get a good area in focus. I put a ruler on the counter and photographed at an angle. The tilt could get about 5 cm of the ruler in focus around 1:1. Then it was time to send the lens back, so I never did anything interesting with it at macro distance, just tests.


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## LeBlobe (Jan 17, 2021)

highdesertmesa said:


> You might consider using a high-power close-up filter on the wide angle of your choosing – should be good enough for a centrally-placed subject.





stevelee said:


> When I rented the 24mm TS-E lens, I had some extension tubes delivered. So I tried it with them. The short focal length and the tilt made it possible to get a good area in focus. I put a ruler on the counter and photographed at an angle. The tilt could get about 5 cm of the ruler in focus around 1:1. Then it was time to send the lens back, so I never did anything interesting with it at macro distance, just tests.



Ok i did some research and looked at close-up filters and extensions tubes.

Using this diopter and extension tubes calculator from cambridgeincolor site and EF full frame lenses list from lightandmatter site :

Under 23mm i would need around 10 to 50 diopters to get 0.5X to 1X
i didnt look over 24mm , wanted wider. So question is how many diopters is too much for good photos, most kits seems to be around 10/15 diopters combined , im guessing +10 is alot?

Extensions tubes seem better but closest focus from sensor with 14 to 23mm lenses is around 56 to 95mm so probably inside lens+tube+adapter if any. I need to check all lenses size to see if some would be more than the 5mm of the Laowa. I cant find magnification ratio of Funleader lenscap 18mm f/8, its all hyperfocal cant use tube? 

Looked at teleconverters also. It increases magnification but also lens length for tubes. It helps reduce number of diopters needed but im not sure if it increases the real lens focal length we use in the calculator. The wiki says its apparent focal length?


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## stevelee (Jan 17, 2021)

I think this is with a 12mm tube. That is probably documented somewhere if I looked hard enough. This is the 24mm TS-E lens shifted to get as much in focus as possible. It was a horizontal shot, so I have cropped off the sides of the picture showing just countertop and reduced to a half-size JPEG for posting here. This shot was made at f/22. Diffraction doesn't seem to make a big difference. The shot I took at f/16 looks very similar, just with a little less distance in focus. Magnification obviously decreases down the length of the ruler. It is about 50% at the near point.


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## LeBlobe (Jan 17, 2021)

stevelee said:


> I think this is with a 12mm tube. That is probably documented somewhere if I looked hard enough. This is the 24mm TS-E lens shifted to get as much in focus as possible. It was a horizontal shot, so I have cropped off the sides of the picture showing just countertop and reduced to a half-size JPEG for posting here. This shot was made at f/22. Diffraction doesn't seem to make a big difference. The shot I took at f/16 looks very similar, just with a little less distance in focus. Magnification obviously decreases down the length of the ruler. It is about 50% at the near point.



The Canon 24mm TS-E II has 0.35X max magnification and with 12mm tube should be 0.85X(good) and new closest focusing distance from sensor of 96.6mm. There is something i'm missing , spec says lens length is 107mm + 12mm tube so its more than 96.6mm? 

I read on stackExchange now formula might not be all accurate for MFD with tubes , alot of factors are hard to calculate without knowing insides of each lens. So im little lost to see wich lens has some room for working distance (20+mm to be little better than the Laowa).

If i had tubes i would test the calculators new MFD result but dont have any right now


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## stevelee (Jan 17, 2021)

I think I focused wide open on the 1" mark, so the nearest point in the picture is not at the closest focusing distance. When you get in that range, the focusing ring changes magnification more than anything else. That's the reason you want to use a rail for focus stacking rather than changing the focus ring.


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