This week Laowa, (Venus Optics) released a new lens roadmap which includes the already released AF FF 12mm F/2.8 and the Laowa AF FF 180mm F/4.5 CA-Dreamer Macro 1.5X lens. The list also includes two video lenses and two TS lenses.

A 180mm AF macro that goes to 1.5:1 would be a welcome addition to the Laowa line and will likely first be released in Nikon Z and Sony FE lens mounts. This is a lens that should have great potential for those of use that are addicted to super macro. In the attached photo the lens appears to have internal focus which is a good thing and top aperture of F/22. Laowa has an excellent reputation when it comes to exotic manual focus macro lenses and the Laowa AF 10mm and AF 12mm lenses (Laowa's firsts entries into AF) have been excellent both in speed and tracking ability. Looking forward to trying the new 180 macro.

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For land based macro this fills a hole created by Canikon deleting their 180mm and 200m macro lenses, I used the Canon 180mm f3.5 a lot in the past there's a lot to be said for long macro lenses. Be interesting to see if it gets taken up UW and if the MFO3 plays well with it!

On 9/14/2025 at 8:02 AM, Marcfoto said:

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Manual focus at distances < 1.5m means that AF stops where UW photography (almost) starts and not even close to macro ...

(maybe with diopters and/or extensions the AF could be brought to a useful range, but very questionable whether such a setup will have AF at satisfaction?)

I really hope this rumor turns out to be wrong, otherwise this lens will not be very useful for UW...☹️

it's not wrong, the lens has already had a short video where the reviewer points out the AF stops at 1.5 meter. I have a 150 macro that's goes to 1:1 with a focus gear. Excellent lens but I mostly set it at 1:1 and use it with +5 to +15 C/U lenses, keepers are about 50% of what I get with AF 90 & 105 with the same C/U lenses. Not thinking I want to go down that road again.

The results from the 180 in close macro look excellent in the short review video.

The Laowa’s AF focusing is a dream killer. It had great reach, internal focusing. Bummer. On the other hand this may be cool for Sony shooters, but no specs yet:

https://www.sonyalpharumors.com/is-the-sony-100mm-f-2-8-gm-macro-coming-on-september-30/ #sony #macro #underwater

11 hours ago, humu9679 said:

The Laowa’s AF focusing is a dream killer. It had great reach, internal focusing. Bummer. On the other hand this may be cool for Sony shooters, but no specs yet:

https://www.sonyalpharumors.com/is-the-sony-100mm-f-2-8-gm-macro-coming-on-september-30/ #sony #macro #underwater

GM sounds very expensive addition to our already expensive hobby ☹️

Plus new ports of course.

Edited September 20Sep 20 by Sokrates

9 hours ago, Sokrates said:

GM sounds very expensive addition to our already expensive hobby ☹️

Plus new ports of course.

We haven’t seen any specs on the Sony lens yet. Laowa almost had it exactly. We can always hope the Sony works with existing ports.

In several longer video and print reviews, the reviewers have expressed that the macro end of this lens seems quite good while the AF end, 1.5 meters and beyond has only average auto focus. Like all terrestrial macro reviews F/5.6 to F/8 is the suggested top F/number before diffraction begins to set in. I think this is where U/W photographers and terrestrial shooters differ. Above water many are shooting from very stable tripods and using focus stacking to increase depth of field. These methods are less useful underwater where many use F/16 to F/32 frequently for increased DOF.

The Laowa 180 macro is a lens that I think will appeal to a few obsessed macro shooters simply because it is unique for its focal length, 1.5:1 magnification and it ability to put more distance between the lens and subject. The lens is 1.2mm shorter than the Sigma 105mm F/2.8 art macro according to B&H specs so existing ports should work well I would think. I'm guessing someone will come up with a 3D printed focus gear for popular housing brands if the lens catches on. For hard core macro shooters this lens may turnout to be a bargain for creating unique new perspectives.