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Laowa 7.5mm f/2 lens
5785 27 2017-4-25
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Bando Works
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Pre-Ordered the Laowa 7.5mm f/2 rectilinear lens today!  There are 2 versions: the standard version and a "lightweight" version meant for drones.  The lightweight version is 150g according to their website specs... Will DJI be releasing any balance rings for this lens in the future?  Unfortunately, it is not expected to ship until July.
2017-4-25
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Cobra44Magnum
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I don't see that lens on the supported list. I have tried some lenses that should have worked that were not on the list and had issues. Supported.PNG
2017-4-26
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DJI-Jamie
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That lens series in general hasn't been tested, so compatibility wouldn't be guaranteed. If the lens seems to connect fine but requires a balancing ring, you might need to look into alternative ways to balance like adding a ND filter or something to that effect.
2017-4-26
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Bando Works
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DJI-Jamie Posted at 2017-4-26 14:55
That lens series in general hasn't been tested, so compatibility wouldn't be guaranteed. If the lens seems to connect fine but requires a balancing ring, you might need to look into alternative ways to balance like adding a ND filter or something to that effect.

Thanks Jamie!  We will look into using filters if we need to since the front element is 46mm, which is the same as the DJI lens.

Let us know if you plan on releasing anything for this lens in the future!
2017-4-26
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Gybo102
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Bando Works Posted at 2017-4-26 18:04
Thanks Jamie!  We will look into using filters if we need to since the front element is 46mm, which is the same as the DJI lens.

Let us know if you plan on releasing anything for this lens in the future!

Please keep in mind, this lens is 100% manual.. so the only "compatibility" factor is balance. Other than an ND for Video, you can use a set of step up rings for photo (start at 46 and add till its balanced properly)
2017-4-26
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flighttime1
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Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe one benefit of a lens being on the 'approved' list is the lens correction info is auto generated into the exif info. Not a absolute requirement but it is nice to not have to worry about it when you're processing files.
2017-4-26
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DJI-Jamie
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flighttime1 Posted at 2017-4-26 21:34
Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe one benefit of a lens being on the 'approved' list is the lens correction info is auto generated into the exif info. Not a absolute requirement but it is nice to not have to worry about it when you're processing files.

That can be something that would need to be considered.
2017-4-26
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Skyclip
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DJI-Jamie Posted at 2017-4-26 22:04
That can be something that would need to be considered.

Jamie, what really would be helpful is the maximum weight of the lens the gimbal can handle.
X5, X5R, X5S all have a different design and weight distribution. So, it may be you get a lens balanced but its to heavy for the Gimbal Motors to lift and stabilize.
Could you ask the DJI technicians about that ?

X5=max weight of lens incl balancing rings & filters?
X5R=max weight of lens incl balancing rings & filters?
X5S=max weight of lens incl balancing rings & filters?

Thanks in advance.
2017-4-27
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DJI-Jamie
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Skyclip Posted at 2017-4-27 01:06
Jamie, what really would be helpful is the maximum weight of the lens the gimbal can handle.
X5, X5R, X5S all have a different design and weight distribution. So, it may be you get a lens balanced but its to heavy for the Gimbal Motors to lift and stabilize.
Could you ask the DJI technicians about that ?

I can look into it.
2017-4-27
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fansa84fe8a4
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Thanks Jamie!  This could be useful information.

I see this lens will weigh in at 150 grams for the lightweight version which sells for $519 come late July.  Might be a good complement to the 15mm stock to double the field of view.
2017-4-27
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Bando Works
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Skyclip Posted at 2017-4-27 01:06
Jamie, what really would be helpful is the maximum weight of the lens the gimbal can handle.
X5, X5R, X5S all have a different design and weight distribution. So, it may be you get a lens balanced but its to heavy for the Gimbal Motors to lift and stabilize.
Could you ask the DJI technicians about that ?

This would be great info to have.  Thank you!
2017-4-27
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Skyclip
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Hey Jamie,

any news on that?
2017-5-14
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DJI-Jamie
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Skyclip Posted at 2017-5-14 22:26
Hey Jamie,

any news on that?

I wasn't able to acquire a max weight that the gimbal can support. The main concern from what I've gathered would be the lens' center of gravity. If the lens can be properly balanced, then it may fair ok but it's still something you would have to try out on your own when it comes to lenses that are outside of the supported list.
2017-5-15
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skypal
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DJI-Jamie Posted at 2017-5-15 15:17
I wasn't able to acquire a max weight that the gimbal can support. The main concern from what I've gathered would be the lens' center of gravity. If the lens can be properly balanced, then it may fair ok but it's still something you would have to try out on your own when it comes to lenses that are outside of the supported list.

Then make sure it goes on the list.
2017-5-24
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Skyclip
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My Laowa 7.5mm arrived today. Not the 150g Version, its the 170g Version, without Hood 163g.
As expected, its a complete manual lens and doesnt get recognized
by the X5s. Manual Mode doesnt work, but you can help yourself in "S" Mode.
Without the Lenshood it balances quite well, needed a little coin on the side of the Gimbal to balance it out perfectly.
With PolarPro ND Filter it gets Noseheavy, didnt balance that out for now.
Will do a testflight tomorrow and see how it wotks out and report back.
IMG_5372.jpg
2017-6-19
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ValentinF
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I received my 7.5mm a few days ago too and was happy to finally take it out this evening. Everything went great during the flights, pictures looked awesome but I got a bad surprise as I came back and tired to open my DNG files... Here is the result: It seems to me that as the lens is not detected, wrong lens profile corrections are embedded and sadly I am unable to disable them :-( Any ideas? I have to mention that the preview looks fine and almost certainly JPG from the X5s too but my use of the is 100% raw.
2017-6-21
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Skyclip
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ValentinF Posted at 2017-6-21 12:37
I received my 7.5mm a few days ago too and was happy to finally take it out this evening. Everything went great during the flights, pictures looked awesome but I got a bad surprise as I came back and tired to open my DNG files... Here is the result: [view_image] It seems to me that as the lens is not detected, wrong lens profile corrections are embedded and sadly I am unable to disable them :-( Any ideas? I have to mention that the preview looks fine and almost certainly JPG from the X5s too but my use of the is 100% raw.

Hi Valentin,

looks like the old OpCode Problem.
Its a shame, since the X5/X5R this Problem is existing, a wrong/corrupt Lens Profile gets written in the .dng as the X5s doesnt recognize the Laowa.
Solution : DNG Cleaner
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dng-cleaner/id1205138449?mt=12

I hope you are on Mac?

2017-6-22
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ValentinF
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Hi Skyclip, after some reading on my side it seems that this is the issue indeed. I use both mac and PC so I will try DNG cleaner just to confirm the issue but really need to find a windows based solution too... It really is ridiculous that we cannot disable such profiles in the Go app!
2017-6-22
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ValentinF
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Small update, using an old freeware (opcode remover) allowed me to process my DNGs properly. This solution only works on mac - which is not my main work platform - but this is already better than nothing and most importantly: it confirms the issue.
2017-6-27
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Mike9129
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any more updates on this?

im quite interested in picking up the lens!

did you get it working? did it take a lot of fixing? are the results good or passable?

thanks!
2017-7-11
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fansa84fe8a4
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I'm interested in this 7.5mm lens too for the X5S.

Seems like the opcode may be an issue, but maybe some solutions may be here  http://forum.dji.com/thread-7648-1-1.html

Shoot with this lens in manual mode.  Use DJI Cleaner v1.1 (Windows and/or Mac versions.  Although it's made for the i1 and maybe it'll work with the I2 files?) followed by Adobe's RAW or DNG Converter?

On1 Photo RAW 2017 maybe, or if DxO Optics Pro ever enters DJI cameras and lenses into their data base which might be the ideal.
2017-7-11
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flighttime1
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Received my lightweight (150gm) 7.5 the other day and I'm happy to say my 8mm SLR Magic lens is now back in it's box on a shelf. The sharpness of the 7.5 is noticeably better and that was my main concern with the 8mm and had forced me to consign the 8mm to video only. Please don't misunderstand, the 8mm is a great lens, for the price and I've used it many times since purchase. The Laowa is simple better, at a reasonably higher price. The balance was almost perfect and you can use either a ND filter or the lens shade with no other additions. As stated by ValentinF previously, Opcode Remover works just fine to deal with the 'corrupt' dng files. It's worth noting, jpg's and video don't have any related issues. Below is a single jpg shot from a hyperlapse I shot that will need to be reshot (couldn't hand fly it slow enough to get the effect I was seeking). The only corrections are for color so you can see the various distortion issues.

2017-9-25
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fansa84fe8a4
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I bought one but it would not focus to infinity.  It was just short of hitting the optimum focus stop and needed to go a little further on my X5S.  The red infinity mark was way off too.  Some barrel distorion too given it is so wide, but that seems to be a general issue with the lens in reviews too.  Unfortunately, since mine would not reach infinity before hitting the stop I sent it back.  There was one reviewer who took the rear element section out and inserted paper in it as a spacer to shift the focus more towards infinity with his copy.

There is the issue with it not being chipped for the X5S camera to recognize.  I don't have a Mac so I don't have the Optcode Remover for Windows to address some of the image issues.  If DJI had a manual setting for unknown lenses like Olympus does deep in their menu, it might not be an issue.

I also had issues in the still photo mode where the image on the iPad looked good, but what was recorded on the SD card was 2-3 stops over-exposed.  Video was generally okay as seen on the iPad screen, but still images were very hit or miss when flipping between still and video mode.  I had to check stills in flight to see if it recorded them well or not.  Pretty heavy 2+ stops worth of vignetting in the corners too if shot wide open, but gets better although not entirely gone when stopped down to f/5.6 or smaller.  Some is visible in the above corners as well, but is really apparent with lighter backgrounds.

Pretty pricey in my opinion for an unchipped lens, and given the strong vignetting and poor quality control of the focus portion.
2017-9-25
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flighttime1
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fansa84fe8a4 Posted at 2017-9-25 17:19
I bought one but it would not focus to infinity.  It was just short of hitting the optimum focus stop and needed to go a little further on my X5S.  The red infinity mark was way off too.  Some barrel distorion too given it is so wide, but that seems to be a general issue with the lens in reviews too.  Unfortunately, since mine would not reach infinity before hitting the stop I sent it back.  There was one reviewer who took the rear element section out and inserted paper in it as a spacer to shift the focus more towards infinity with his copy.

There is the issue with it not being chipped for the X5S camera to recognize.  I don't have a Mac so I don't have the Optcode Remover for Windows to address some of the image issues.  If DJI had a manual setting for unknown lenses like Olympus does deep in their menu, it might not be an issue.

I have to say that the lens itself would have nothing to do with how you describe your images being recorded. It's a manual lens. The f-stop and focus are not going to change after you set them. There are no data connections from the lens to the camera. I've read a few people having problems with the Go 4 app and manual lenses and would suggest, that is where the problem lies. As with virtually everything in life, lenses are a compromise in multiple ways. Getting one down to 150g with the glass required for an f2 wide angle means you have to sacrifice elsewhere and obviously the electronics are the only area that doesn't effect the final quality of the images. A minor inconvenience when you consider the option is to not have anything with that FOV available at all.
2017-9-25
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fansa84fe8a4
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flighttime1 Posted at 2017-9-25 17:29
I have to say that the lens itself would have nothing to do with how you describe your images being recorded. It's a manual lens. The f-stop and focus are not going to change after you set them. There are no data connections from the lens to the camera. I've read a few people having problems with the Go 4 app and manual lenses and would suggest, that is where the problem lies. As with virtually everything in life, lenses are a compromise in multiple ways. Getting one down to 150g with the glass required for an f2 wide angle means you have to sacrifice elsewhere and obviously the electronics are the only area that doesn't effect the final quality of the images. A minor inconvenience when you consider the option is to not have anything with that FOV available at all.

I'm well aware this is a manual lens.  However, it should focus to infinity shouldn't you agree?

Mine suffered from poor quality control and even the infinity mark was a quarter inch off to the right giving me some room to 'maybe focus to infinity,' but it failed there too.  I even took the Venus Optics support person to task on it as well when I was asking about "It's issues, and their 3 year warranty matter."

Another interesting find I discovered with this lens was if you watch the GO 4 histogram while you change the camera settings, and being that it is a manual unchipped lens, it might take 20-30 seconds for the histogram and exposure to settle out.  Seems the X5S camera of mine hunts for proper exposure not knowing what lens is mounted and if I hit the shutter too soon or late, the exposure is way off on stills which I primarily do.

Congratulations if you got a good one and it focuses correctly, but I tend to be very picky on this stuff and mine went back.  Maybe if they improve on it I'll try it again as the focal length does show promise, but if it will not focus right on distance (infinity) or it stops before it gets there, it's junk to me.
2017-9-25
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flighttime1
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fansa84fe8a4 Posted at 2017-9-25 18:27
I'm well aware this is a manual lens.  However, it should focus to infinity shouldn't you agree?

Mine suffered from poor quality control and even the infinity mark was a quarter inch off to the right giving me some room to 'maybe focus to infinity,' but it failed there too.  I even took the Venus Optics support person to task on it as well when I was asking about "It's issues, and their 3 year warranty matter."

fans... I didn't mention the focus issue in my response, only that the other problems are not related to the lens, which includes the slow histogram. Thought I was specific enough on that. Sorry if you misunderstood.
2017-9-25
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amorrison
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The lightweight version is back in stock at B&H. As mentioned previously it balances perfectly on the X5S with the lens hood attached, or without it and an ND filter.  I am using CC 2017 Photoshop and the latest Adobe RAW converter. Not sure what has changed but the DNG files created with the Laowa open fine for me. No issues. I ended up turning off the focus peaking to get a better view of the image. I determined best focus just making tiny adjustments at the Infinity symbol and the marker line and shooting a picture at each position. Best focus for me was lining up the lens mark with the far edge of the infinity symbol.   I can't see ever needing to move this for aerial work.  Everything past 4-5 feet is in focus. If you set the X5s in manual mode with the DJI 15 and power off, put the Laowa 7.5 on and power up, it will operate in manual mode. If you switch out of manual with the lens attached it will not go back. (Just something to remember). I just shoot video to the SD card so can't comment on prores or RAW video. I created a lens profile for the 7.5 but only for geometric distortion. It works if you go to photoshop  and select Lens correction from the menu and apply it. I am not convinced it's that accurate though. I had to create it at a distance of 2 feet due to the extreme wide angle of the lens and size of the chart I could print (13"x19"). I really like being able to shoot at the higher frame rate in video and still get a nice wide angle. This lens provides a great wide angle option for the X5s.
2017-11-1
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The Introvert Speaks
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amorrison Posted at 2017-11-1 05:17
The lightweight version is back in stock at B&H. As mentioned previously it balances perfectly on the X5S with the lens hood attached, or without it and an ND filter.  I am using CC 2017 Photoshop and the latest Adobe RAW converter. Not sure what has changed but the DNG files created with the Laowa open fine for me. No issues. I ended up turning off the focus peaking to get a better view of the image. I determined best focus just making tiny adjustments at the Infinity symbol and the marker line and shooting a picture at each position. Best focus for me was lining up the lens mark with the far edge of the infinity symbol.   I can't see ever needing to move this for aerial work.  Everything past 4-5 feet is in focus. If you set the X5s in manual mode with the DJI 15 and power off, put the Laowa 7.5 on and power up, it will operate in manual mode. If you switch out of manual with the lens attached it will not go back. (Just something to remember). I just shoot video to the SD card so can't comment on prores or RAW video. I created a lens profile for the 7.5 but only for geometric distortion. It works if you go to photoshop  and select Lens correction from the menu and apply it. I am not convinced it's that accurate though. I had to create it at a distance of 2 feet due to the extreme wide angle of the lens and size of the chart I could print (13"x19"). I really like being able to shoot at the higher frame rate in video and still get a nice wide angle. This lens provides a great wide angle option for the X5s.

I agree and confirm with you 100%. I found the exact same to work for me prior to finding your post. Great work!
2018-7-27
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