If you’ve ever watched a product video, wildlife macro sequence or tabletop commercial and wondered “How did they get the camera in there?”, chances are you’ve seen the Laowa 24mm f/14 Probe Lens in action. This unusual, long-barrelled macro lens has become a favourite across film, TV, commercials and online content creation — and for good reason. It delivers shots that simply aren’t possible with conventional lenses.

At Media Dog Hire, we supply the Laowa 24mm Probe Lens in both EF and PL mount, making it compatible with a wide range of cinema and DSLR cameras. It’s also easily adapted to Sony E-mount, Canon RF and many other systems, giving productions maximum flexibility.

What Makes the Laowa Probe Lens So Unique?

The Laowa 24mm Probe Lens is unlike anything else in the world of optics. Its design opens up creative possibilities that almost no other lens can match.

Extreme Macro with a Wide-Angle Look

Most macro lenses give you a tight, shallow field of view — but the Probe lens combines macro magnification with a 24mm wide-angle perspective. This means you can place the lens extremely close to your subject while still capturing environment and context around it.

This distinctive look is perfect for:

Stop-motion and motion-control shots
Food and drink commercials
Product cinematography
Wildlife macro
Miniature sets

A Lens That Can Go Where Others Can’t

The long, slender barrel allows the lens to physically enter spaces that are impossible for standard optics:

• Inside glasses, bottles or packaging
• Through gaps in machinery
• Into tight corners of sets
• Between objects on a tabletop
• Through foliage, grass or miniature environments

It feels almost like a camera-mounted endoscope — letting filmmakers “travel through” a scene in a way that immediately elevates production value.

Built-In LED Ring Light

The lens tip features a small built-in LED ring, giving you a touch of fill light exactly where you need it. It’s not designed to be the primary key but it can help shape reflections or illuminate very small subjects and help you get around the f/14 aputure (we’ll get to that in a minute..).

However it has limitations… What You Need to Know Before Hiring
The Probe is a speciality lens — incredible when used correctly, but not a general-purpose tool. Here are its main challenges:

f/14 Aperture Requires A Lot of Light

At f/14, this lens is hungry for illumination. You will need:

• Bright key lighting
• Controlled studio lighting
• High-output LEDs like Aputure or Godox, or powerful Tungsten or HMI lights if you’re shooting oldschool
• A camera with good low-light performance

This is the most important factor to plan for. The lens creates a stunning look, but only when properly lit.

Manual Focus & Narrow Depth of Field

Even at f/14, macro distances naturally create extremely shallow focus.
You will need:

• To be careful when manual pulling focus
• To expect multiple takes
• Ideally a focus assist monitor whenever possible, something like a SmallHD 702

Not Ideal for Fast-Paced Shooting

Due to the lighting needs and precise framing, this lens works best in:

• Controlled studio sets
• Product and tabletop work
• Creative sequences where time is allocated

It’s not typically used for run-and-gun or documentary shooting unless for a very specific shot.

The PeriProbe: A 90-Degree Perspective for Even More Creative Angles

For productions that need even greater flexibility, we also offer the Laowa PeriProbe version — a 90-degree, right-angle variant of the classic Probe Lens. This allows the camera to look sideways while the lens barrel moves forward, making it perfect for gliding past objects, tracking along surfaces, or capturing low-angle macro shots that would be impossible with a straight-through design. The PeriProbe opens up unique movement possibilities such as sliding through tight spaces while maintaining a fixed perpendicular viewpoint, giving filmmakers an entirely new way to build dynamic, eye-catching sequences. It’s the ideal tool when you want the Probe’s immersive macro look but with even more freedom in how you approach your subject.

It can even be controlled on the lens barrel in the same way aputure and focus are, allowing you to control a full 360 ‘roll’ using a follow focus, either standard or wireless.

Why Hire the Laowa 24mm Probe or Periprobe Lens?

When you need a shot that makes people stop and stare, the Probe lens is one of the best tools available. It brings a sense of immersion and discovery to any scene and allows filmmakers to achieve angles that are simply impossible with standard lenses.

With EF and PL mounts available, you can pair it with:

• Canon cinema cameras
• RED, ARRI, Blackmagic
• DSLR and mirrorless bodies
• Sony E-mount and Canon RF via adapters

No matter what your camera package looks like, chances are the Probe lens can integrate with it easily.