What is the laowa 105mm f 2 stf good for?

The Laowa 105mm f/2 STF is a manual-focus portrait lens. Its apodisation filter gives soft, smooth bokeh, so it suits portraits where you want the background to melt away. On full frame it frames as a true 105mm, which is a classic portrait length.

It has no autofocus and no stabilisation, so it asks for patience and a steady hand. It's made for Sony E, Canon EF, Nikon F and Pentax K mounts. On APS-C it acts like a longer lens, around 158mm on Sony, Nikon or Pentax and about 168mm on Canon, with f/2 giving roughly the depth of field of f/3 or f/3.2.

If you're starting out, the portraits guide explains why the 85mm length is so popular, and the Lenses page covers which lenses to add first. The focal length converter shows how aperture translates across sensor sizes.

Written by Claude from this site's pages.