augieg27 Loc: Central California

Hopefully you all are OK, away from this insane situation.

Well, I'm curious about above lens, does anyone have any experience with it?

Currently I use a Sigma 105mm macro lens but would like to know more about this one.

Thank you for your input.

Augie

danbir1 Loc: North Potomac, MD

I bought a small tele converter from Opteka about 3 years ago, it was horrible, I send it back but untill this day I haven't received my refund, be careful.

augieg27 Loc: Central California

Thank you danbird for your advice.

Augie

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I'm not aware of an Opteka 15mm macro...

Is it possible you mean the Venus Optics Laowa 15mm f/4 Macro?

With such a short focal length, you can end up right on top of a subject at high magnifications... but it has greater depth of field than you'd normally see with a macro lens. The image below is a close-up I did with a non-macro 20mm lens and a macro extension tube. Normally, with a longer focal length macro lens, the flowers in the background would be unrecognizable blurs of color. But the greater natural depth of field natural to a wide angle focal length rendered them as you see here... HOWEVER, the closest petal of the main flower subject was touching the front element of the lens!



In addition, the Laowa 15mm f/4 lens has a shift function, which can be useful if shooting architecture at non-macro distances or for perspective corrections with smaller subjects.

Search for "15mm Laowa review"... I found several online, including some illustrated with a number of sample images made with the lens and showing what it's capable of doing.

Regarding Opteka... I don't think they actually make anything. Like Kodak, Vivitar, Polaroid and some other "brands", they simply outsource items such as lenses. Sometime rebranded products are poor quality. Other times they are good or even excellent (Vivitar Series 1 lenses and others outsourced from Kiron, for example).

I recently bought a Meike 12mm f/2.8 lens (not a macro)... Yet another "brand" that likely doesn't actually make anything. The exact same lens sells under the Opteka brand. I have no idea who actually makes it... I didn't have very high expectations. But, for $125 (demo unit) I was very pleasantly surprised at the lens' all-metal build quality and excellent feel, good fitting and effective lens hood and even with it's quite good image quality. (I posted a recent test shot done with it here https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-649134-1.html#11268103. Perfect... no. Very good and usable.... heck yeah!)

My point being, don't be too quick to dismiss weird third party brands. Sometimes there are hidden gems! I'd never heard of Venus Optics Laowa brand until a few years ago... but they offer some interesting and unusual items... things you won't find from any other manufacturers. (That makes me pretty sure Venus Optics is making their own stuff.)

augieg27 Loc: Central California

Thank you for your comments.
The Opteka 15mm wide/macro lens is the same as the Laowa less the shift function, and is available for much less at Amazon : https://www.amazon.com/Opteka-15mm-LD-UNC-AL/dp/B01MRELMGB

rodox

Hello Augie,

When I saw this lens I was also very curious about it. It is not exactly the same as the laowa, since it doesn’t have the tilt shift option.

The lens is well built, feels solid and good quality, but it’s completely manual, you can put the lens right next to the object you want to photograph and still focus.

I like this lens, it can make some good macro photos. You can find some examples on my Flickr account such as this one

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rechegoyen/33607020838/

The old cars photos were also taken with this lens. Hope you find this info useful.

Stay safe out there.

NJphotodoc Loc: Now in the First State

I bought a different Opteka lens (600,, telephoto) a while back. Used it 2-3 times, then put it back into its' carrying bag and into the closet it went.
Optics are decent but far from name brand level of quality. As it was a fixed f8 lens nothing I could really do to change that but I did find the focus was somewhat sloppy. Also it was a very heavy lens and had to use a front brace to keep the camera/lens setup stable. I had to do a lot of post work to clean up my photos due to aberrations, etc.
Like I said, it is in my closet now. I might take it out to do some wildlife shots but alos just might keep to my 150-600 Tamron which is IMHO a far better lens.

fetzler Loc: North West PA

For about a $100 I might give this lens a try. I understand that the Laowa lens is is rather good.

You should be aware that at 1:1 you will be nearly touching the front element but none-the-less you will be able to take interesting photos. See the Laowa web site.

Taking wide angle macros can be interesting. I have pressed moderately wide angle lenses (with extension tubes) into macro use with interesting results.

If you buy this be sure to post some photos.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

I shoot macro and micro nearly every day. I have a Laowa 60mm f/2.8 2X Super Macro. It starts at 0.5:1 and goes up to 2:1 magnification and it is a very, very well made lens that is razor sharp. It also focuses to infinity so it can be used for other photography. I would not hesitate to buy another Laowa lens.

The 15mm macro is also very nice...however you will be right on top of the subject. I mean within 1/2-inch of touching it with the lens. This will cause the lens to cast a shadow on the subject and lighting will be extremely difficult for even a lens mounted flash. Even a ring flash will shoot past the subject when it is that close.

The 15mm lens is best used in natural light when you can position yourself away from the cast shadow. It is truly a specialty lens more than a walkabout macro lens.

Badgertale Loc: Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

I have both and used them just last Monday, was it? The Optika is an excellent lens at its price range and almost on par with others in the thousands of dollars. I recommend it.

Here is a link to the photos I took. I think you can also look at the lens exif. Note, the f-stop will not display correctly in the exif because it is a manual lens:

Everything except the house and the cu of the flower was taken with the Optika 15mm.
https://scott-duran.smugmug.com/NorthNM-14/

Or look at these ones...(This is my first time attaching...please be kind...:0) )

Golden, New Mexico vvv


Madrid, New Mexico vvv


Just outside of Madrid, New Mexico vv

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

At $109 compared to $499 for the Laowa I wouldn’t go so far to say it’s the same lens as except for the shift function. I’ve been pretty impressed in my experience with Venus Optics and they do make some interesting stuff. I guess for the Opteka it’s a matter of being with taking a risk on. It’s inexpensive on the one hand, but on the other that’s $109 I could apply to a sure thing.

augieg27 Loc: Central California

Thank you Rodox. Your image is excellent.

augieg27 Loc: Central California

Thank you NJphotodoc for your input.

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

After saying all that I took the risk. 😜🤪

augieg27 Loc: Central California

Thank you fetzler, I currently gave a Sigma 105mm, plus use other lenses with tubes, but I kind of curious about this lens.