Venus Optics Laowa 65mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro APO Lens for FUJIFILM X

he Laowa 65mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro is an incredible lens for macro work on Fujifilm X. The sharpness is outstanding—details come through with crisp precision, even when shooting at 2:1 magnification. Colors and contrast are excellent too, and the APO design really does help minimize chromatic aberration. It’s important to know this is a manual focus–only lens. If you’re comfortable focusing by hand, it’s a joy to use and gives you full control over your shots. For macro especially, I actually prefer manual focus since it lets me nail the exact point I want sharp. Build quality is solid, with a reassuring weight that makes it feel professional without being bulky. For anyone serious about macro photography on Fuji X, this lens is a gem. The image quality alone makes it worth it.

Laowa Venus Optics CA 65mm F2.8 Macro 2X Lens. This lens is amazing. However, it will take a bit of time to get used to it. First, it is totally manual. The lens does not communicate with the camera, so in the menu set: “Shoot without a lens: ON”, otherwise the camera will not take photos. Second, in macro mode the depth of field is so small, it is difficult to focus. (That is also true of all macro lenses.) I took some photos at 2X (2:1) and at 1X (1:1) magnifications and some at no magnification at all. I will include photos. (all hand held - no tripod) I love this lens. This will also take landscapes, portrait and many other genres of photos. I hope this is helpful.

I'm not a pro, but I'll tell you... this lens flat-out fun to shoot with. It's really capable as portrait or walk around lens, besides being a fine 2 to 1 Macro. I find manual focusing to be fairly easy, although hand held Macro outdoors can be a challenge. The lens is quite sharp especially so after f5.6 and renders well. It's ability to close focus, then it allows you to jump out to portrait or even landscape distance. IMO that's what is keeping this well- built, Medium/light weight lens glued to my XT-5. I'm happy with this purchase.

Very sharp lense, with the ability to focus from ×2 to infinity, aperture ranges from 2.8 to 22. Please note that this lense is completely manual and does not allow autofocus, with this lense being almost exclusively for macro photography this is not an issue at all. Lense is made entirely from metal and feels premium. Would recommend to anyone looking for a great macro lens.

Feels solid, operates smoothly. Macro magnification up to 2X, focus distance, and aperture out to f/2.8 are clearly marked and easy to set, manually. You need to be comfortable using viewfinder histogram and blinking or zebras for exposure, and edge-detection highlighting for focus, because this non-electronic lens has no communication with the camera at all. In practice I find this actually works better for controlling exposure, focus distance, and depth of field, for stationary or slow-moving subjects, but you have to pay attention. When I want a record of f-stop and magnification, I take a photo of the lens with my phone to get a time stamp. Excellent for macros, with plenty of working distance in front of the sturdy metal lens hood. Really perfect for its tasks. The only reason for 4 stars instead of 5 is that I can’t get the lens hood to stay on when it’s reversed for storage. Minor inconvenience really. It’s always secure when mounted forward in normal use.

Good solution at a reasonable price. Solid and well built.

This lens is well regarded and is a great 2x macro option for Fuji x-mount. It is manual focus only and does not have any electrical contacts but magnification and peaking can be enabled for focusing. I have enjoyed the image quality of the lens thus far but it is also quite challenging to get to 2x reproduction as you need to be very close to the subject. At that distance, lighting becomes very important.

I love this lens- a whole new world to be found when using in macro applications. Also very nice as a portrait lens for my Fuji X system camera- good bokeh. I like the shallow depth of field when wide open. Downside is the complete manual use with any camera, although this brought me back to the old film days and a little more care in composition and lighting. This manual lens is fairly easy to adapt and use however, and it can't be beat for the price.