Venus Optics Laowa 15mm f2 Zero D: Final Review + IQ | 4K
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- Опубликовано: 4 мар 2018
- Venus Optics Laowa 15mm f/2 Zero D | Final Review | Join Photographer Dustin Abbott as he delivers a final review along with image quality breakdown based on the Sony a7R3 and a6500. Is the zero distortion Laowa 15mm f/2 the new lens for you? Full written review: bit.ly/laowa215 Image Gallery: bit.ly/15zeroDig
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Keywords: Laowa 15mm, Laowa 15mm f/2, Laowa 15mm f/2, f2, Laowa 15 f2, Zero D, Zero D, Venus Optics, 15mm, Full Frame, Sony a7R III, Sony a7riii, Sony a7r3, Sony a7RIII, Sony A7r III Review, E Mount, FE, Laowa 15mm Zero-D, Zero Distortion, Distortion, Review, Dustin Abbott, Video Test, Comparison, Lens Review, Sharpness, Resolution, Vignette, Laowa 15mm Review, Laowa 15mm f/2 Review, Tamron 15-30 VC, Canon 16-35L III, Sony a6500, Manual Focus, Coma, Astrophotography, 
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I really cannot thank you enough for these reviews. They are so utterly comprehensive and objective and (as far as I can tell) accurate, that it warms my heart. Please keep it up!
You're welcome.
What a fantastic review - really appreciate all the effort gone into making this!
You're welcome.
Was thinking about the Sony 14mm but at £1400 it's expensive. I'm coming over from a Panny GH5 and Fuji XH1 where I use the superb Laowa wide angle Zero D lenses, so it's all new with Sony and this review has probably tipped me in the direction of Laowa again. Manual isn't a problem for wide angle really and most things are generally in focus from a meter away at ƒ5.6. It was when listening to your comments about straight lines I remember how useful these lenses are and being that I photograph and film lots of buildings and interiors this is invaluable and I reckon you've save me a few quid here. Really enjoy your reviews, easy to follow and listen too plus very fair, cheers.
Glad to help out!
Thank you so much for this review!
You're welcome
Great review as always Dustin 😊
Thank you!
Thanks for comparing to the Tamron 15-30. It’s a great lens but the 150x150 filters are a huge hassle. Having a f2 lens with 72mm threads and zero distortion is a pretty big deal. So glad this Laowa is doing such a good job.
For sure. There are definitely some significant tradeoffs for using the Tamron.
Just picked this up for my FX3 for some real estate video/photo and have been having a lot of fun with! Thanks for the detailed review as always.
Enjoy!
Great review as usual Dustin, thank you!
I thought about this lens for a while, as it is very wide, bright and not expensive.
But i still prefer the versatility of zoom lenses, so i will just save up to get 16-35mm F2.8
Different lenses work for different needs.
Hey Dustin, great reviews as always. Thank you. I understand Laowa released a wild angle marco, the 15mm F4. That is such an unique lens. Would love to see you do a review on that.
Anyway, thank you for all your great reviews.
Greeting from Beijing.
The 15mm f/4 Macro was actually one of their early lenses, but I haven't used.
Superb review...Thank you. Liked and subbed. :-)
Thanks
Best lens I've ever had, sharp as hell, never see any distortion, can focus so close, is light and small, it crushes every other wide lens I see my friends using
I'm glad you're happy with it!
It has a close focus of .15cm, you can get so creative with this thing
That's true.
Hello Dustin! Great review as always. I'm really glad that you compared this lens to the Tamron 15-30. The coma / astigmatism gets any better on the Laowa at f2.8?
Somewhat, though it doesn't completely disappear.
Thanks Dustin, I enjoyed these videos! Very thorough, subscribed now. Would you consider this lens to be a significant upgrade in terms of shaprness and IQ from the much cheaper Rockinon 14mm f/2.8 Manual focus lens for Sony A7rIII?
I haven't used the Sony mount of that lens, though I did review the Canon mounts of the 14mm f/2.8 and 14mm f/2.4. The Laowa is a bit sharper, but that's mostly in the edges of the frame. Where it definitely wins, though, and will be the biggest upgrade, is in the incredible distortion control, which is rather terrible on the Samyang. I think the vignette is better too.
He's always so serious! But nice.
Thank you Dustin for this and the other invaluable reviews! Would you place the Laowa 15mm on top of the E-mount list for landscape astrophotography?
It's a good one. Also the the Sigma 14-24 is a great pick for astro, and the Tamron 17-28 is good also.
Awesome detailed review! One question. Would there be any quality issues if I were to use it with an adapter? I own a Sony a73 but I am planning to buy the Canon EF Mount version so I can use it on some video cameras as well.
To my knowledge Laowa only makes this lens in FE mount (it is a Sony-only lens).
You're right! I got mixed-up with this and the Laowa 15mm F4. So beside the first question, which of these Laowas do you prefer? (The faster or the macro/tilt shift ability)
I'm personally not crazy about 15mm as a macro focal length - though the shift functionality is useful.
Thank you for such a detailed review. I'm this close to picking one up for my a7ii for architecture.
The vignetting looked pretty heavy though.
If I may ask, did it clear up by f8?
Just curious, because that looks like its biggest problem.
Thank you!
The vignette is essentially gone by f8, but yes, that is the primary flaw here.
Dustin Abbott
Thank you!
I may still have to check it out. It seems to be like 98% there!
I shoot Real estate often and i will try this lens out. I had the Canon 11-24 L but it was just to much weight, IQ was great but smh. it was like carring a brick around. Purchased the Sony G 12-24 what a change. Good IQ and super light in weight it's not as good IQ wise as the Canon I think but it still has very good IQ from what I see :) It would be great if you review it one day. I've been looking at the Laowa for a bit, I'll Order it soon it looks promising. Thanks again Dustin have a great day.
Sounds interesting. I will have to take a look at it.
Michael Mystro Pierce Just join GYM. 🤓
Hello Mr. Abbott....great review. I have got this lens for the Canon RF mount. It uses 5 straight blades to produce sharp 10 point sunstars. I believe that they improved the lens from the E mount version. If you have time, you may review it. It is a great alternative to the 15-35 RF lens for now.
That’s interesting. At the moment I don’t have an R body, so I don’t have a platform to test them on.
Good overall review. Thank you. I would take issue with this lens letting in twice the amount of light as you say. Because of the huge amount of vignetting it only lets in twice the amount of light at the very centre of the frame.
Hi Geoffrey - your point is valid...to some degree, though it assumes that competing lenses wouldn't suffer from heavy vignette. That's not the case, however, and, while the Laowa may vignette heavier (that depends on the lens), all wide angle lenses at this focal length have vignette issues.
Would you guys suggest this for Interior Decoration type pictures? My wife always has me shoot her decoration jobs and since I am a photographer, I do it. But I am not an interiors photographer and have been using my Canon 24-70 but 24mm is just to tight sometimes. This seems like it would be a good FL with out going almost fisheye. Thanks for any opinions..
PS. I wrote this before watching the video to the end!!! hahaha
This is a great option for that, to be sure.
I bought this Lens a few days ago. It is sharper and brighter than the older Samyang 14mm manual focus lens at f/2.8. I did a night sky comparison shoot with my G-Master 16-35 and the G-Master performed better with coma and vignetting which was surprising. Sharpness was the same. The Loawa lens profile from their website annoyingly leaves bright vignetted corners, but this can be corrected further with the vignetting slider in the Lens Correction tab.
Yes, the profile from Laowa isn't really fantastic. I would personally build my own import presets if I owned this lens.
Having owned the 16-35, do you prefer it for landscape, hiking and astro?
Why was it surprising that gmaster would perform better? I’d expect it from that price class
Dustin, you have become my gold standard within lens reviews. Thank you so much. Once again, this is off the charts excellent. Two comments. Firstly, can you please post an affiliate link so i can give you something when I buy. Second, please can you review some of the new Voigtlander lenses 65/2 and 40/1.2 for Sony. I'd be fascinated to hear what you think.
Robert, there should be an affiliate link in the description (for B&H, Amazon, etc....) I actually have those two Voigtlander lenses scheduled (along with the new 35mm f/1.4). I love classic styled lenses for some reason, and currently own two Voigtlanders already (3.5/20 and 2/40)
I really look forward to your thoughts on the new Voigtlanders. I will but the 40/1.2 the moment that retailers have more in stock.
Great review. Do I need an adapter to mount it on a Sony A7-3?
No. It is a native E-mount lens
is the distortion that much worse on the 18mm ziess? looking to get one or the other
Yes it is, though the Zeiss is superior in a lot of other ways.
Just commented on your first review of this lens…and just wondering if maybe you assumed something many reviewers do-that the field is flat-plane when focussing? That is, on your brick wall in version one of the review, did you try refocussing for the corners specifically (on either lens)? Only because I've had really superb luck in shooting and testing with my own 15mm f/2 and can't quite verify the sharpness loss in the corners. Again, might be variation from one to the next (not a good sign, compared to Zeiss). Thanks for the good work, and the obvious extra work reviewing the same lens twice.
That's definitely a possibility. I actually have the lens now, and I can verify in real world shooting that there is a minor drop in corner sharpness under normal circumstances - though it isn't significant.
Thanks for the informative and great videos, Dustin! I can't decide between this Laowa 15mm 2.8 or the Sigma 14-24mm 2.8. I'm attracted to the very low distortion of the Laowa. But there are some obvious pros to the Sigma - versatility of a zoom range, electronics etc. I'd be shooting video as well, so barrel distortion is fairly important to me. Which would you go with for that kind of work? Thanks!!
If I'm not mistaken, the in camera corrections would apply to the video of the Sigma, so it should correct for the distortion. I personally would go for the Sigma.
This was my dilemma too I recently purchased the Loawa because on landscapes I tend to use manual focus more and Sigma Lenses tend to have a terribly twitchy manual focus. the Laowa can also use circular polarizers and light pollution filters, not to mention the super close minimum focus distance of .15cm. Letting you take some really nice stylized shots. I own a Sigma 24-70 and a Sigma 100-400 love the both. I probably will buy the 14-24 later but this Laowa is amazing
Edit just saw that you’re shooting for video so most of what I said probably doesn’t apply😂. The Sigma would probably be more useful for you
What did you go with ?
In view of its lack of electronic contacts, can magnification for ease of precise focusing be effective while the lens is working Sony a7 bodies?
Nailing focus is pretty easy on Sony mirrorless. Magnifying the image eliminates much of the guesswork.
Hey Dustin, was cool to see you shooting just off the bridge on Pembroke St. Being originally from Sudbury, having lived in Ottawa for many years and now about 100kms north of Sydney Australia - it's rather fun coming across unexpected familiar scenes. - Now onto the business... how would you compare this to the Tokina 116-pro dx 2? (that's the older crop sensor one) which I'm still using on a 70D for commercial interiors and the odd video. I'd be using this thing on a 6D though. Thanks for all your reviews by the way! You helped me not only decide on the Tamron 70-200 G2 but also getting the tap in console.... still not perfect focus but better than out of the box
That's interesting! You definitely got it right
I'd hope.... :) I'm a Google Trusted virtual tour photographer. It's supposed to be my 'ninja' :)
Thanks dustin. Laowa 15mm F2 or Irix 15mm f2.4 Blackstone?
If you are a Sony shooter (I'm assuming you are), I'd go Laowa because it is natively designed for the mount.
If you use CPL with this lens, is there any noticeable dark spot?
I've used a CPL with it. The darkening effect will only happen in extreme situations.
Is the Laowa your recommended astro lens? If not, what is?
It’s not bad, though the new Tamron 17-28 is also good. The Loxia 21 or Batis 25 are also good
Sony 28mm f2 ....??? Any videos on that lens?
I'm afraid I'm fairly new to doing Sony reviews, so my catalog of reviews on existing Sony lenses is pretty small.
Hi Dustin, Thank you for your review. Because you tested both Laowa Zero-D : 12 and 15 mm, What do you think is the best option for real estate photography ? Laowa 12 EF mount with magic shift converter (becoming a 17 mm f/4) or Laowa 15 mm f/2 FE lens ? For me the 12 with msc gives you more versatility by shooting at 12 mm or 17 mm.
I prefer the 12mm and MSC - it's what I use.
@@DustinAbbottTWI even for an A7iii? would you still go with the 12 over the 15 for real estate photography?
Thanks for this review Dustin. I am an amateur and a fellow Canadian. Where are you located? I have a Fuji XT2 which is a great camera but thinking of switching over to Sony and getting a new A7iii. I have been trying to find content on this lens and your review is the best so far. Do you have the Sony 16-35 F4? I am hoping to travel and do landscapes so I am looking at a ND filter system and I figure the sony lens would be easier for a Lee ND filter system than the Laowa lens. Cheers from the NWT.
I'm in Ontario, and I haven't yet looked at the 16-35. I'm new to Sony myself.
Thanks Dustin for the quick reply. I'm on the fence with Sony. But I really want to try the 24-105mm f4, the 85mm f1.8, and maybe the 70-200mm f4. Have you any experience with these lenses? I have a fast moving toddler and was hoping the A7iii will be fast.
Just the 24-105, and you won't have any problem with focus speed on the new Sony bodies. Very fast AF
Loud wa??
According to my contacts at the company, that is the correct pronunciation.
Mr Abbott probably overemphasized the proper pronunciation - that lao wa is 2 separate words, and so he places a consonant to demarcate the separation. a valiant effort nonetheless don't ya think?
They make it for RF now
Nice - it's a good addition there.
For photography, it is, of course, very good. But for video, I prefer a lens with electrical contacts.
Fair enough!
Why is that?
As a real estate photographer, I set my Rokinon 12mm to infinity, my Fstop to 8, tape it down and shoot all day. Everything from 1 foot to infinity is in focus. Can I do the same with this lens? Thanks
Pretty close to that, yes.
@@DustinAbbottTWI Thank you Dustin.
That lens have everything beyond 1-2 meters in focus at F2. 0. How is this lens performing wide open?
I've recently bought this lens, albeit partially used from MPB photo and is in very very near new condition. But after my own tests either i have a very poor copy or this lens is NOT the honest review as made out. Just your images look really good and sharp...mine are no where near.
I also also found that setting the infinity point to the scale that your meant to also does not match up at all. For example and as those who know old 'skool' you set the chosen F/stop then turn the focus ring infinity point to for example in my case to F/11....the DOF focus was flippin terrible....soooo on a next test and set the infinity point to F/5.6 then it was kind of in focus, even setting the F/stop to 16 the infinity was still having to be set to F/5.6 to gain focus!
As for the corner and edge sharpness as you were showing in test images were the worst i have ever seen on a wide lens. the only point of sharpness was the centre and very soon after that point the detail fell away very quickly.
I do follow your reviews a great deal and they're honest and thorough but from my own experience with this lens it is very very disappointing indeed.
I have sent a direct email Laowa pointing these issues out with the markings not matching.....again as mentioned, i may have a seriously poor copy.
No doubt that the lens will be going back!
It does sound like you got a bad copy, as the copy I tested was consistent with what the MTF charts suggested performance to be.
I really wanted to like this lens but there are too many short comings.
I can understand that.
Everybody is talking how good is this lanes for astrophotography but coma is crazy i don't understand.
I'm not sure who everybody is. I knocked it for some coma, for sure, and for fairly heavy vignette at wide apertures. It's better stopped down, but I think there are better options.
It’s Louwa not “LouDwa”, correct?
I'm pronouncing it how I was told from Laowa. There's seems to be a lot of disagreement out there on the proper pronunciation, though. I'll stick with what I know :)
Laowa came out with the 9MM Zero D F/2.8 already for APS-C a bit before this 15mm for Full Frame Sony. It's my favorite lens on the a6600 and I was using it on my a6300 before it as well. I think Laowa has become my favorite lens company due to their cool lenses and the fact that this and the 9mm are both almost in Macro territory gives you really dope shots.
They have some great features.
does this have wifi? and can i download some ram for it?
????
Am I first 😜😲
“Laoudwa”
That's actually the way that the company told me the name is pronounced.
Is this video laowd or wa? 😂😂
:)