If You Own This Lens, You Hit the Jackpot

10 years ago, I reviewed the Laowa 105mm f2 Smooth Trans focus lens. And today, it’s a lens that I still consider to be something extra special. Sure, you basically lose some light as a result of the STF lens elements. But you get with it much smoother bokeh and far more fascinating color output. Then there’s also sharpness and so much more.

This lens is special for several reasons. First off, it’s still available for a very good price. It also boasts an APD element, which adds smoother bokeh at the expense of a stop of light gathering abilities. With a metal exterior, it also feels good in the hands. But it lack weather resistance, so don’t think that it’s an unbreakable lens.

Like nearly every other Laowa lens, you focus with this lens manually. That’s part of what I love about it: it forces you to be slower and much more intentional. So you have to pay attention to every part of the frame that much more. This, in turn, forces you to make different decisions that you wouldn’t normally make. Also make sure that you don’t hit the T-Stop ring when you’re stopping the lens down.

For the best results, I recommend using it with a flash of some sort and blending that in with the natural light within the scene. You could, of course, also use it for natural light shoots. But you’ll need really bright light to make the most of it then.

This is one of those really, really special lenses that looking back on, I’m really glad it exists. There aren’t too many of these lenses around anymore as both Sony and Fujifilm don’t make them anymore. Yet at the same time, the image quality output from them was really something unique and magical. But the problem is that you lose out on light.

If you can’t handhold a lens all that well, you should use it with a tripod. Also note that when you’re focusing the lens, you have to go really slowly so that you don’t throw off the focus all that much. Ultimately, I also really recommend stopping the lens down. You’re not going to get a whole lot in focus at f2. It’s very difficult to do unless you’re patient, have a patient subject, and know what you’re doing. But when you get the shot in focus and combine that with a good idea, you’ll end up making images that are very unique to you.

Honestly, I wish that brands made more lenses like this but made the aperture super wide. If this lens were an f1.4 and had an APD element in it, I’d surely hunker down to work with it because it would deliver such an incredibly unique look. Further, it if had something like Petzval swirl to it, I’d be really happy with the results.

It reminds me of a simple premise: photographers have largely forgotten how to work for better photographs because they’re all letting the cameras do the work for them. Check out the review we did of this lens a decade ago.