Hi! I have Canon R50 and Laowa 90mm Macro lens, it doesn't have any contacts to connect to camera, but I have a question. Is something in camera what can help me to focus with this lens on the objects? i.e moving insects I read this https://community.usa.canon.com/t5/...us-Mode-quot-setting-not-displayed/m-p/471033 I enabled the Release shutter w/o lens settings but "Focus Mode" setting doesn't appeared. So maybe you can help me to use Canon R50 effectively with such a type of lense, maybe there is some guide) Thanks)
The shutter no lens allows you to trigger the shutter with the manual lens on, but no auto focus means no focus modes to help with tracking moving subjects. You still have focus confirmation with a manual lens. The options you have fall back to what you would do 30 years ago, use a fast shutter to freeze action then and trap focus, aka focus where you want to catch the insect and wait for them to move into position. ( in other words pre focus and wait)
The lens is not useless, good glass will give you a nice sharp image, and the modern cameras have the ability to capture high res images that out produce the 35mm film the original camera would have used. But to the point, yeah if your lens doesn't have auto focus you cant really add an auto focus motor inside it after the fact. So a manual less is a manual lens On the upside you may be able to find some good values on higher end sharp, fast manual glass. You just need to decide a budget and get the best lens in each case that fits your needs, maybe you sacrifice lens speed(widest aperture), maybe its a little bit of sharpness, or maybe you sacrifice the ability to focus automatically. Many static macro manual shots can lean to carefull manual focus dialed in by hand instead of trusting AF.
I apologize just realized you bought a modern lens, I for some reason had it in my head that you were using an old manual EF lens. Laowa like my Rokinon produces some very nice performing lenses for usually half the cost of their professional canon counterparts. You have to give up something to save money. In this case it is autofocus. The canon 2.8 L macro is at least twice the cost if you want auto-focus. I love my rokinon 14mm ultra wide, but I do have to plan around the manual focus limitation. It is great for astro-photography images.
most of the high end macro shots of insects are of dead ones, they keep them fresh and use them with high magnification and alot of lighting, this is where the use of the Laowa 2:1 or higher lenses work really well i have the efm 65mm and ef 100mm 2:1 macro lenses, they are excellent optics if you are wanting to capture moving insects and you are a beginner you will want a "lazy" macro lens, one with auto focus and image stabilization there are some canon EF ones that will be good to use, you want something around the 100mm range, this will allow you to be far enough away from the insect you wont scare it off, if you already have the EF to RF adapter the Sigma 105mm ƒ2.8 ex os might be a good choice, its still available new and can also be found at half the price second hand i have the canon M50, and i use that with the efm adapter, its a good lens to learn live insect macro on, i havent used any of the canon ef or rf macro lenses but the 100mm ef is a fav of alot of macro shooters if you get a macro lens under 60mm you are starting to get quite close to the subject which is not so great for live ones that will run or fly away with your manual lens you have faster shutter speed, around 1/500+ and an ƒ stop of 8.0 to 12.0 might be the best way for live insects as it will freeze the subject easier but its going to be very dark unless you have alot of sunlight, at macro distances lack of light and shallow depth of field are much more prominent so you will also want a speed light and diffuser the speed light will allow you to keep the ISO low which is pretty important at macro level imaging, cleaner the image the better detail (ISO 100 to 400 on the M50 / R50 the diffuser will soften the light so you dont get glare and bright highlights on the insect, this also applies to auto focusing modern lenses too,
