This lens reeks of quality!
I’m not exaggerating when I say it feels and looks like a Zeiss or Leica lens. The semi matte black finish is beautiful, add to this I love metal lenses especially when it’s machined to exacting tolerances. The result is silky smooth and precise focusing. A 0.95 can be a tad challenging to focus, but, surprisingly I had little difficulty. Focus is aided by a generously sized focus ring with about a 340 degree smooth clockwise rotation from infinity to 9”. While not quite a macro this sure gets you up real close and personal producing nice crisp images.
This LAOWA LENS takes 62mm filters and has a removable metal bayonet lens hood. It has the electric contacts for aperture control and preserving the EXIF data.
This is no plastic light weight pancake item, it’s substantial and it nicely fills your hand. For me this adds stability and helps connect me to making the shot. It’s my belief auto everything tends to make us lazy and for myself I most often shoot auto-focus lenses in manual mode. Not for everyone, but why not give it a try.
I have a personal appreciation for MFT. A bug with small sensor cameras is the inability to isolate the subject with shallow depth of focus, not so with a 0.95…it’s paper thin at this aperture. My experience shooting at 0.95 was a pleasant eye opener. The image is sharp but with a slightly pastel painterly rendering which I personally like very much! Want tack sharp? Stop down to 2.8. And at f4 check out my B&W selfie where it is punishingly sharp!
I’m very selective about what finds it’s way into my shoulder bag. I’ll be buying a copy of this ultra fine lens and look forward to further exploring its special qualities. Who knows, maybe a follow-up article comparing it to my Nikon 50 f1.4?
Good shooting my friends!!!
About the Author – Crombie McNeill
Crombie McNeill is a unique artist. He’s a world travelled photographer with numerous awards and has been recognized as one of the best editorial photographers in North America. His credits include Time, Newsweek, ELLE, Life, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, Chatelaine, Paris Match, McLean’s, En Route to name but a few.
His Odyssey lead him from the Arctic to high fashion magazine shoots to Olympic Games, World Cup events, the depths of the Great Barrier Reef to the altitude with the Snow Birds, interwoven with civil war in Africa, Royalty, presidents to paupers world wide. Not to mention frozen toes at the North Pole.
His photography has been exhibited in galleries across Canada, the United States and Europe and has three books to his credit.
Not one to leave behind the uniqueness of traditional film he’s evolved a blending of photography with both hand applied and computer processing to produce truly unique images.
“The art of photography for me” says Crombie “is to convey a timeless essence with a hint of mystery”.
The National Archives predicts he will be credited as one of Canada’s most significant photographers and is on the list for The Order of Canada. The National Art Gallery of Canada has some of his fine art b&w prints included in their permanent collection.
Crombie is now happily retired, in that he no longer accepts editorial or commercial assignments He now lives in Aylmer, with his wife Sue. “This retirement”, he’s delighted to says, “allows me the freedom to search for those magical b&w images, and to determine the ideal technique by which it should be captured and presented.
Crombie often returns to the peaceful amber glow of his wet darkroom as a respite from his extensive digital lab and art board.
Please enjoy!
