Wide Open with the LAOWA Argus 45mm f0.95 FF

Hyperfast lenses have always been a fascination since the Leica mount offerings such as the Noctilux and the Canon “Dream” (recently brought back into notoriety as the lens choice for Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead). Within the past decade, there have been a few attempts to revive this speed in both full-frame and crop sensor coverages; the LAOWA Argus is the most recent f0.95 lens to pique my interest… so how does it perform?

A BRIEF BUILD AND SPECS TOUR

Certainly a comparatively substantial lens than the competition offered by Zhonyi, Mitakon, 7Artisan and TT Artisans… but not in a bad way, I find this lens to be perfectly sized to be practically handheld for support and accurate focusing.

Available for mirrorless cameras in Sony E, Canon RF, Nikon Z, and Leica L mounts, with a front filter size of 72mm and a weight of 835 g, the Argus can certainly be mounted onto most consumer gimbals.

Alas, I’ll leave the videography side of things to someone more specialised in that field and focus on the stills capability for this review.

HYPER-FIXATING ON HYPERFOCALS

If you buy an f/0.95 lens and don’t shoot it wide open, are you really using an f/0.95 lens?

Old Japanese Proverb (citation needed)

For this review, I’ll leave the aperture ring unused and set to f/0.95 only… let’s see what that means and how it looks.

More real-life examples now… focusing on the golden snoot and recomposing as you naturally would:

Another example, in case you have any friends that lurk in the background of your photos… this time keeping the focus locked on the eye and recomposing:

IN BRIGHTEST DAY, IN DARKEST NIGHT…

Initially, I thought I would run into some technical troubles shooting this lens wide open in extreme lighting conditions, such as requiring an ND filter for bright sunlight, or a tripod for low light. Turns out… neither was necessary.

The Sony A7 IV’s dynamic range is capable enough, where in brightest day and in darkest night, all I had to meter was for the highlight… and push the exposure in post-production. Granted, a videographer would require the aforementioned ND filters if they were to shoot in Log and maintain the sacred 180 degree shutter angle rule with the aperture wide open.

The below images are examples where the highlights were preserved whilst shooting and the images brightened in post-production.

ON THE SUBJECT OF PEOPLE

With the pandemic finally over, almost over, restrictions lifted, it’s time to shoot people again!

As demonstrated in the previous examples, the mid-frame performance of this lens is no slouch wide open, compared to the lacklustre results of other cheaper Chinese manufactured hyperfast manual lenses where the sweet spot is only in the centre.

Here’s a creamy (both in bokeh and in concept) look at how it performs at a cake smash shoot.

Fair warning, NSFW. You can see the results here.

EXTRA EXAMPLES FOR YOUR BOKEH VIEWING PLEASURE

FINAL MUSINGS

It’s hard to express how I feel about this lens as a tool. Some people base their entire visual signatures around buttery bokeh (Leica shooters and their coveted Noctiluxes). Certainly, in terms of image quality, the Laowa puts out some of the most impressive IQ for an f/0.95 at this price point. The build quality and tactile feeling of the focusing ring was a pleasure to use, and as buttery as the bokeh it produced (unironically I can’t comment on the aperture ring which was left untouched).

Upon having to return the lens back to Laowa Australia, I felt hesitant, contemplating whether or not to A. assume a new identity and never return the lens, (or more realistically) B. cough up the cash on the spot and make it a part of my exotic glass collection.

Alas, the lens was returned a month ago, and I still find myself fantasizing about owning one… Finally! A quality AND affordable f/0.95! I may end up opening my wallet in the near future, just to have this magic in my kit and within reach for when I’m feeling inspired… or uninspired. Do you find yourself also tempted by the Laowa Argus 45?