[Music] Greetings everyone and today I'm testing Something seriously cool for you all the Astra Hoy 18 millimeter f8 two times Probe macro lens a couple of similar Pro Blenders are out on the market already But this is the first one designed to Give you just an aps-c image Circle Here's what you'll see if you fit the Lens onto a full frame camera this is a Great idea in my opinion though plenty Of people out there shoot video on aps-c Cameras where the wider 18 millimeter Angle of this thing will be helpful and Even full frame Shooters can shoot in Crop mode and get some extra depth of Fields into the mix very useful for Video making of this kind the maximum Aperture can also be brighter at f8 Rather than f13 or F14 the lens can also Be a little less expensive than its Full-frame equivalent costing 720 US Dollars so there are a lot of advantages Here I'd like to thank Astra hori for Sending me a copy of this lens for Evaluation although as usual this is a Totally independent review it's a Totally manual lens and it'll be Available for Sony E vgx Nikon Z Canon RF Canon EF L Mount and micro Four Thirds mount cameras so it's pretty Universal the lens can focus to infinity And be used for Stills photography if You really need to but this thing is
Clearly focused on video production Primarily getting close-up images in Tight spaces it actually has an amazing Two to one macro capability although Realistically you'll never be getting That close to your subject it would have To be right up against the front element At the end of the lens as you can see Here The entire front end of the probe is Waterproof able to be submerged up to 25 Centimeters mind your camera when Shooting around water though and to top It all off there's a series of LED Lights at the end which can be adjusted To various strengths Unfortunately they're not powered by Your camera though you will need a Separate USB battery pack to power them Which plugs in at the rear any USB power Source will do such as a small portable Recharger it doesn't have to be power Delivery those lights are really helpful Although as you'd expect they have a Dramatic impact on your final image Sometimes for better sometimes For Worse The build quality of the lens is real Nice metallic tough and tightly Assembled it even comes with its own Carry case the rear of the lens is not Weather sealed but as I mentioned the Front probe is waterproof at the rear There's a metallic geared Focus ring Which turns very precisely and a little
Heavily in front of that comes the Aperture ring enabling you to adjust Between f8 and F28 for extra adapter Field although obviously because of Diffraction the lens is never going to Be especially sharp at those dark Apertures the lens as you can see is Easy to use you will want to have a Sturdy rig though with a decent macro Slider to take full advantage of it Though hand-held video work will not Look good okay well while this isn't a Typical camera lens by any means let's Run it through my normal test all the Same first let's take a look at Sharpness at normal distances although Admittedly that's not going to be the Top priority of its end users I'll be Testing the lens on a Sony a5100 camera With its aps-c 24 megapixel sensor in Camera Corrections are not available With this lens at f8 the lens is a bit Soft in the middle it'll be good enough For 4K video shooting but nothing much More sharpness remains like this down Into the corners although the very edges Are soft with some strong chromatic Aberration let's stop down to f11 There's a touch more sharpness in those Corners now and the middle of the image Looks a fair bit sharper too although Contrast is still low F16 looks about The same although at F 22 the image gets Much softer due to the effect of
Diffraction so on a 24 megapixel camera We're not getting a great still image Performance here but remember 4K video Only needs about 8 megapixels of Resolution so the lens is just about Good enough for video work although you Still want to add a little contrast and Maybe a little extra sharpening for that Effect let's take a look at vignette Again's Distortion now there's a touch Of barrel Distortion visible here and a Little vignetting 2 at f8 at f11 that Vignetting is basically gone though and Now close up image quality these Pictures were taken at almost two times Magnification as you can see the image Is noticeably soft at f8 but that's not Surprising as at such close distances Diffraction begins to affect image Quality worse than ever f11 looks about The same but F16 is very soft let's see How well the lens works against Bright Lights now although that's not often Going to be a major problem when Shooting up close the good news here is That flaring is mostly under control Although a little becomes visible people When bright lights are right there in The picture and finally boca no problems Here honestly whether she didn't close Up or at normal distances overall well I've done my normal photographic tests On this thing which was fun but at the End of the day this lens really is for
Video work where the unique shots it's Able to get you combined with its Relatively affordable price make it Highly recommendable to anyone Interested in this kind of specialist Macro movie making work it won't be Quite sharp enough for a very good still Photography though still it's great to See an aps-c version of one of these Pro Blenders hitting the market quite a good Idea from Astra hori I think [Music] God I love testing out unusual camera Lenses even if it takes me a while to Get my head around to them at first hope You enjoyed the review and I'd like to Say another big thank you to my patreon Supporters who help keep this channel Trucking on checking out in the Description below supporters get all Kinds of bonus exclusive content once a Month which I really enjoy putting Together ciao for now everyone [Music]
