Astrhori 120mm f/2.8 Macro 2x lens reviews

Another 2x macro lens hits the market - this thing is fun, but at such a low price point, what compromises might Astrhori have made?

All pictures taken by me on a Sony a5100 and a7R III camera.

Equipment I use to make my videos (Amazon affiliate links):

Music:
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

[bunnatang]

to be fair, you should have made another test chart for Macro Lenses for shooting. the penny coin does not tell the full story

[JDubyafoto]

Most macro photographers will use manual focusing via a focusing rail rather than using the focus ring. Those who handhold when shooting macro tend to use manual focus but move the subject in relation to the lens...shooting burst mode and moving the subject...allowing for focus stacking the multiple images.

[PatrickWithCamera]

Those screws around lens are crazy good idea, just for those screws would want to test it, to check various light options with such clever design.

[winstonpx]

That is simply razor sharp. Macro lenses seem to be very well designed for sharpness but I guess the focus breathing is what is compensated for it!

[mnm]

I wonder why most manufacturers do not send their pre-production lenses to youtube testers/reviewers before final release. This can sometimes help to catch problems like the short focus rotation angle mentioned in the video, which makes it difficult to focus in non-macro mode, or other possible problems. I understand that this is probably difficult to redesign once it has been added, but it could still make the lens choice better or worse. But the optics looks impressive. I would consider buying one if not that short focus rotation.

[stephenbarlow]

It looks a very interesting lens, and would be a good tripod macro lens. The one thing missing, is a tripod ring. A macro lens of this type, really needs one.

[trulsdirio]

That is not focus breathing, that's a whole damn zoom ring lol

[domm]

Love to see new macro lens reviews! I'm holding out for the right one (and saving up), so the more options the better. Thank you!

[juanpsolf]

Thank you very much, Chris. A very great review, as usual.

[powerlurker]

pretty amazing sharpness， and the bokeh is really smooth

[BlueBomberTurbo]

Note that the aperture setting (F-stop) is based on the opening of the aperture iris, not the exposure. Transmission (T-stop) IS based on exposure, but photo lenses only use F-stop, so the change isn't matched to exposure, only the size of the opened iris.

[Username.RandomNumbers]

A lens hood only gets in the way, when using a lens like this.

[classic.cameras]

A fun review Rev. Frost would be doing a review on extention tubes. Bought some Neewer ones for cheap and they make all my lenses have a macro ability. It would be fun to see your review on your current kit.

[dima]

I don't know how to feel about Astrhori. On the one hand, they know how to make lenses, but on the other hand, they are too obvious imitators of Venus Optics.

[What_Other_Hobbies]

I hope you will get the Mitakon 200/4 macro to test soon.

[Duskbleu]

How good is it compared to Laowa's 100 macro?

[samk]

That acromatic thing would be really cool for astrophotography if the focus near infinity wasn't so fiddly

[antonhei]

Good video. When I shoot macro to a still object I use a tripod, at F7.1, a high shutter speed and a timer, in a lightbox. This lens could be interesting.

[DominikMarczuk]

I wonder what kind of field curvature this thing has. Would it be good at 35 mm negative scanning?

[mytube]

The low central contrast and the bad flaring are probably caused by the same defect/bad design. Some unfortunate combination of lens surfaces and perhaps shiny aperture blades that focus diffuse reflections to where they shouldn't be...