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| Image: Laowa |
When Laowa released its 180mm F4.5 1.5X Ultra Macro APO lens last year, it offered autofocus, but not at macro distances. For those extra close subjects, manual focus was required. Now, Laowa is fixing that limitation with a firmware update.
Laowa’s 180mm macro lens supports a minimum focusing distance of 0.3m (11.8″), but its autofocus only engaged from 1.5m (4′ 11″) and beyond. That’s a pretty good gap between how close you can focus and how close autofocus works. Because of that, subjects at macro distance would require manual focus, which may not be ideal for some photographers and situations.
A small note on Laowa’s product page says that new firmware is available, “enabling autofocus for macro photography,” so that limitation is now gone, potentially making it easier for photographers to get in focus images. The firmware update also unlocks macro focus bracketing, which is a useful tool for macro photographers. Interestingly, the page still warns that “auto-focus is only available for subjects from 1.5m to infinity,” though we suspect this applies only to the old firmware version.
The firmware update is now available for download for Canon EF-, Nikon Z-, and Sony E-mount versions of the lens. The RF and L-mount versions of the lens are manual focus only, so this update does not affect them.
Thanks to DPReview reader Stig Nygaard for the tip.
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