I’m not really experienced with macrophotography and macro lenses, so if you have something to point out, please feel free to comment below.
I always wanted a macro lens as I would often find myself limited with minimal focus distance and magnification, mostly for product shots. I’ve tried macro rings, but they are less convenient as you need to turn off the camera and physically add or remove them depending on the framing. Also, on some lenses they would introduce unwanted side effects like really soft corners, so a dedicated macro lens was always in my wish list, and finally I’ve got one! And not just any macro lens, but 2x magnification lens!
Lens Specs
Focal Length: 60mm (90mm FF equivalent, 120mm if used with MFT camera)
Build: Metal
Weight: 631g (with no caps)
Aperture ring: Clickless
Blade Number: 10
Lens Construction: 11 Elements in 8 Groups
Aperture Range: f2.8 – f16
Minimum Focus distance: ~19cm
Filter tread: 62mm
Height: 118mm
Diameter: 68mm
Mount: X-Mount (Sony, M4/3 and Nikon available)
Links
Pergear 60mm f2.8 Fujifilm – Amazon US / Amazon UK
Pergear 60mm f2.8 Sony – Amazon US / Amazon UK
Pergear 60mm f2.8 Nikon – Amazon US / Amazon UK
Pergear 60mm f2.8 M43 – Amazon US / Amazon UK
Pergear 60mm f2.8 – Aliexpress
Quick look
The lens has an interesting design, and from my point of view it is like by turning the focus ring, you actually move the whole lens inside this barrel to increase distance from the sensor to the lens, like you would do with macro rings but much more convenient. That is probably not entirely correct, but it is how it appears to me. Not sure if other macro lenses work on the same principle, but it is apparent on this lens. Which is not good or bad I guess, just an interesting note on design.
This lens is the biggest and heaviest from my collections, but it is not critical. Here is comparison to other macro lenses on the market
| Pergear 60mm f2.8 2:1 | Fujifilm XF80 f2.8 1:1 | Laowa 65mm f2.8 2:1 | |
| Weight | 631g | 750g | 335g |
| Dimensions | 68×118 | 80×130 | 57×100 |
Build quality
The lens made out of metal, including the mount. I have FX mount for Fujifilm, but it is also available for other camera systems. Quality is very good, feels solid and works well. All the markings printed out on the lens, but I’m sure they will last without any problems.
At first, focus and aperture rings were really stiff, but after some use they became acceptable, but still quite tight. They’re smooth though. Aperture is clickless, so having the aperture ring a bit tight is a good thing.
The front element is just a protective glass, as I can see, so it will protect the lens from elements as well as from dust.
Handling
Something to keep in mind is that this lens looses light with closer focusing distance/higher magnification. That is probably due to the increase in distance between the lens, which moves inside the barrel, and the camera sensor. I’ve looked it up and that is actually the same as Laowa 100mm 2:1 lens, not sure about other macro lenses with similar magnification.
Focus throw is about 170 degrees. And you need to keep in mind that most of it is in the range of macro. It is not the easiest lens to focus for anything other than macro. If your object is between 1 meter(or 3 feet) and infinity, then you need to make tiny adjustments and I mean minuscule – like a few millimeters(<1/8 inches). Also, taking into account the size and weight of the lens, I would say it is best to use it mostly for macro.
Another thing I’ve noticed – this lens can go way past infinity, probably due to unusual construction.
Shooting macro with it is fun! The 2:1 magnification lets you see what you usually don’t notice. As usual with macro your depth of field gets smaller, and you need to close an aperture to compensate it, which in turn requires a lot of light. Nothing we could do with laws of physics. Most of the images I took are between f4 and f11 for the best quality and depth of field.
Need to keep an eye on the front element as the smallest particle can appear on the final image. I mean when you close down an aperture and using minimal focus distance.
Sharpness
It is a bit soft and ghostly wide open. It gets much better at f4 and the sharpest range is f5.6-f8. At f11, you can start to see the result of the light diffraction, but it’s still sharp enough. On the f16, light diffraction is quite strong, and the image is soft. Here you can see example images. Personally, I wouldn’t worry about it because for the macro you would usually use aperture around f5.6-f8 to increase depth of field, just be aware of light diffraction and don’t close it down all the way to f16.
Chromatic Abberations
I haven’t noticed any CA even looking at the image taken wide open in the bright day. Closed down a bit, the lens performs even better. Actually, I would point out that quite often I would hear that the same lenses I test on my Fujifilm would perform differently, in terms of CA on other camera system.
Distortion
This lens is 60mm, so I’ve expected a good level of distortion control, and it does control it rather well. There could be some level of pincushion distortion, but I don’t see it on real images, so I wouldn’t bother about it then.
Vegnetting
Vegnetting is also well controlled. Even at f2.8 you can barely see it, and it is easy to correct.
Conclusion
Price for this lens is 199 USD/GBP you can’t really beat it for 2x macro magnification, at least I haven’t seen any alternatives. If you are interested in macrophotography and looking for a good affordable lens, this is a very good choice as it provides you 2x magnification and good image quality, therefore I can recommend it. If you are looking for an all-rounder lens which can be used in various scenarios, this is probably not the best lens for it, as f2.8 is a bit soft and focusing on anything further than 1 meter require much more precision than any other lens. Size and weight is also not in favor of an all-rounder lens.
I imagine it will shine as a product photography lens, especially if subjects are quite small.
Image Samples
Most of the images was taken with aperture between f4 and f8, handheld. All images exported from RAW without any editing.
Video Review
* Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself, and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post may contain affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.