But 12mm will be more beneficial for the wider angle. 10mm or 12mm Voigtlander, 12mm Laowa or 16-35 Sony? One thing Im curious about, is the transmission of this lens good or not? This Laowa 12mm f/2.8 lens is a fixed focal length and is what I would call a dedicated lens. Hi, I just purchased this lens used and it appears to be in good shape, but with quick initial testing I noticed that the lens appears to be darker than I expected. You can use screw in 77mm filters or 100mm holder system. The Laowa 12mm f/2.8 has fairly high levels of vignetting wide open, more than two stops at infinity focus. Lets see how it actually handles shooting the night sky. There are some lateral CA present which can easily be corrected in post. Before: Samyang 14mm 2.8 (Nikon) @f/8.0, After: Laowa 12mm 2.8 Zero-D @ f/8.0, Before: Laowa 12mm 2.8 Zero-D @ f/2.8 | After: Laowa 12mm 2.8 Zero-D @ f/8.0, Sony A7rII | Laowa 12mm 2.8 Zero-D | f/8.0 | CA 100% crop before/after extreme corner, excellent sharpness wide open at all distances in the center, good to very good sharpness stopped down even in the extreme corners. It was a joy to use this lens and I look forward to the final production version! The Coma correction isnt as perfect as many of us have hoped but it pretty much boils down to if you prefer a little less coma in the corners or a lesser field of view with tremendous distortion (when compared to the Samyang). Significantly slower and smaller, way more vignetting (especially stopped down), similar performance regarding distortion and better flare resistance (not available for DSLRs, just in case some DSLR user ended up here and got curious ), Canon 11-24mm 4.0L and Zeiss 15mm 2.8 Distagon: Personally, I would rather Venus Optics have improved other characteristics of the lens which, as youll see below, are often sub-par with a bit more distortion in exchange. I started writing for Photography Life almost ten years ago, and now I run the website in collaboration with Nasim. Thanks in advance and I would great appreciate any feedback or suggestions. Setting the aperture to f/2.8 lets in an awesome amount of light, combined with a high ISO you wont have any problems capturing the night stars! I'm Spencer Cox, a landscape photographer based in Colorado. For some photographers, 12mm is absolutely useful and valuable to their work and if that applies to you, the Laowas sharpness numbers probably wont deter you. document.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()); document.getElementById("ak_js_2").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()); Thank you for the lens comparisons. Overall, Id say the lens certainly feels built to last. Thank you! For architecture it might be a good idea to get the 12mm with Nikon or Canon bayonet and the Magic Shift Converter. Laowa 12mm f2.8 Zero-D - Actually zero distortion - Excellent image quality - Incredible build quality - Fun and accurate manual focusing Check Price Table of Contentsshow 1Build Quality Above is a stack of 8 images that I edited using Noise Reduction stacking via Starry Landscape Stacker. I am considering getting an Irix 15mm for my Nikon z6 for astro and after reading the post I was a little discouraged but then you pointed out that the Irix is (got?) Im fine with the trade off of more star trails for more light. Both Sigmas are great art lenses but astrophotography is so demanding and most lenses wont hold up well wide open. All rights reserved. The tested sample is a prototype and according to the manufacturer a few changes are going to be made in this regard. Your page is an inspiration. To generalize, in a typical photo with the sun in it, youll see a streak of colorful flare but not a big one, and not associated with contrast loss in the rest of the image. On the other hand you can turn the 12mm Laowa (Canon or Nikon version) into a 17mm 4.0 shift lens, Ive only tested in on Canon cameras (full frame) however havent had any issues. Speaking of the lens hood, there are, technically, two. , Some of the links on my website are affiliate links. as the only way I know how to summarize astigmatism is the difference between the horizontal and vertical MTF values. Hi! I really had to push this lens to produce some flares with the sun inside the frame. That means that the camera and RAW editors will not be able to automatically receive aperture data nor retrieve lens profiles automatically. You can take a look at the astroshots I took with the Laowa and the Samyang in comparison. Is there a particular Rokinon 14mm to avoid? You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. As this is a completely manual lens, you have to set the focus manually, it wont connect with your camera, all of the settings are on the outside of the lens. In this review, guest contributor and fellow astrophotographer. leica one look much smaller, hello sir bastian Its been an amazing experience for us to see a community develop around learning astrophotography and were so happy to be a small part of it. The following results were archieved using the Sigma MC-11 adapter which proved to offer the best quality especially at the edges of the frame. Site built by, Thoughts on Adobe Lightroom for Landscape Photographers, Using an iPad Pro for Travel Photography Management. Mars was almost at opposition (nearly fully illuminated when viewed from Earth) and is visible as the orange star reflecting so brightly on the water. The aperture ring is smooth but just clicky enough to provide tactile and accurate feedback by feel. I created this comparison in the first place because I had access to these five particular lenses at one time, but it doesnt mean they are the only good choices out there. I dont want to read too much into this as I havent shot the lenses side by side but I still think the corners of the Laowa look very good stopped down. This is a perfect lens for more than just astrophotography. But digitally, aside from slight composition changes and perhaps a bit of corner stretching, distortion is not that hard to correct in post-production. To start, well talk about the size of the lens. A few months prior, we reviewed the Laowa 9mm F2.8 which was a wide angle lens for APS-C that claimed to have zero distortion. Overall, yes, the lens pretty much has zero distortion. Its not flawless, sure, but given the ultra-wide angle, it cant be perfect. I've used nearly every digital camera system under the sun, but for my personal work, I love the slow-paced nature of large format film. Has this shot been taken after the above comment was posted? This is quite heavy, but I found that it still balanced well on my a7iii. And Ive some good experiences with a moon & skyglow filter mounted inside an adapter used with the 24mmF1.4 and a modified A7s (H-alpha). thanks for any reply. The first is very short and non detachable. If you want to shoot sharp photos of stars, it helps to have the right lens for the job. Not as wide. The throw is about 180 degrees, which may seem like a lot until you consider this is an ultra-wide angle lens, so almost everything is always in focus anyways. If thats the case, then I was lucky, my friend not so much. Again, its something I noticed while testing it against my Sony 85 f/1.8. Nevertheless, it is still very low for a lens this wide with a retrofocus design and it does not seem to be wavy as well (and therefore easy to correct in post if necessary). This means you can get extremely close to your subjects, essentially making this lens a pseudo-wide-angle macro. Matthew Duke Photography. Optics are the same. Actually, I would like to try this lens before making a purchase. With its 7 aperture blades the Laowa produces sunstars which are not so well defined in my opinion, on the other hand they are rather unobstrusive, which is something other people than me might even like. Example, photos.app.goo.gl/xhxLZCSUWeZp2rT18. I have been going back and forth on which of the four Rokinon 14mm to buy after reading loads of reviews. Some of the brighter light sources are a little more deteoriated with the Laowa in comparison to the Samyang. For other mounts, [it was] always 5 blades. Its notable that my copys infinity focus is perfectly centered with the infinity symbol, further proving that Venus Optics is serious about build and quality control. One lens you may be interested in testing, specially for astrophotography , is the Samyang 14mm f2.4 XP. The f/2.8 aperture of the Laowa is excellent for astrophotography as with an excellent sensor of most modern digital sensors, you can photograph the Milky Way clearly with exposures of less than 30 seconds. This is the best lens at the moment that I own to take night time photos that are pin sharp with a super wide-angle that is not distorted. This is enough to make photos at f/2.8 a headache to correct in post-processing, revealing additional noise in the corners as well. The lens has a 72mm filter thread, which is impressive considering most ultra wide angle lenses have a bulbous front element which prohibits the use of screw-in filters. The Samyang/Rokinon 12mm 2.8 is a fisheye lens and therefore hardly comparable to a rectilinear lens (as is the Laowa 12mm). Laowa 65mm F2.8 Review | 2:1 Magnification for Sony E-Mount. Dont know if you really need a TS on such a wide angle. Best regards, Roman. Ive been using a Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC for a couple years for nightscapes. With an equivalent focal length of 24mm, its wide maximum apertue is designed to make it particularly useful for astrophotography. Thought it would come with a fixed adapter This website uses cookies to improve your experience. The 12mm is equally compact weighs in at 165g. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. If you need to take a photo that is really ultra-wide, such as for real estate photography or even in a normal landscape setting, then you wont be disappointed. Assuming that Rokinon and Samyang do no QC screening, then any purchase, regardless of branding, is a random sample of 1 from the same population. Wide open the results are spoiled by field curvature and the contrast is somewhat dampened in the corners, stopped down to f/8.0 this is probably the best lens this wide I have used so far (see following chapter for a comparison with the Voigtlander 12mm 5.6 SWH M39 and the Voigtlander 10mm 5.6 HWH E). Laowa 12mm f/2.8 25 seconds, ISO 3200, f/2.8, Rokinon 14mm f/2.4 20 seconds, ISO 3200, f/2.4; and 20 seconds, ISO 3200, f/2.8, Samyang 14mm f/2.8 20 seconds, ISO 3200, f/2.8, Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 20 seconds, ISO 3200, f/2.8, 14mm, Irix 15mm f/2.4 20 seconds, ISO 3200, f/2.4; and 20 seconds, ISO 3200, f/2.8. Like a big bowl of Texas chili! These cookies do not store any personal information. The text engravings are a mixture of red and white which contrasts extremely well against the sleek black lens barrel. Differences aside the 15mm 2.0 is noticeably better in terms of optical performance. Heres a sample photo, followed by a 100% crop from the top-right corner to show coma and softness: Thats not to say it is impossible to take good Milky Way photos with this lens. For those who shoot Sony FE a new option is the Tokina Firin 20mm f2. Your house will become spacious and impactful in your photo even if you are shooting a small area. I wish to receive emails. The Voigtlander 15mm 4.5 is just a tiny bit better, with the Zeiss Batis 18mm 2.8 you get a crescent instead of a blob. Will use in Iceland in a few months on an A7iii. This helps me a lot. After all, a good lens during the day might be a dud for resolving pinpoint stars in a photos corners at night. You have tested both this lens (Laowa 12mm f/2.8 Zero-D) and the Laowa 15mm 2.0 Zero-D for E-Mount. DxO PhotoLab 4. Bastian. When photographing a house, for example, at the very edges of the frame you might see some extremely minimal bending of architectural elements. While this lens is great for astrophotography, I wouldnt only recommend it for that. These lenses have more optical problems than just coma, which is the classic issue with astrophotography. Laowa delivers a filter adapter for the 12mm, so you can use fairly normal 100mm filters. That can lead to some really funky effects (for better or worse), like in the image below: It takes a certain type of photographer to want a 12mm lens and all the special considerations surrounding one. Personally I think this is hardly field relevant within normal viewing distances and I wouldnt hesitate using this lens for astrophotography, but your mileage may vary here so I decided to upload the two photos in full resolution here so you can decide for yourself. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to amazon.com and affiliated sites. This brings us to the Laowa 15mm f/2 Zero-D. Its notable as one of the fastest ultra wide angle lenses available for modern mirrorless cameras. Have a Mirex T/S so thats ok as well. Wide open the performance isnt very good and even on stopping down to f/5.6 there are some traces of coma left. (I do not own any of both lenses). I havent tried it on astrophotography, but the overall work reducing noise with their DeepPrime technology is amazing.Give it a try! If youre interested in becoming a contributing writer for us, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window). If you intent to get the upcoming Tilt/Shift converter you should not buy that one, as you will need the Nikon or Canon version (not sure yet) for it. Great lens but again tons of coma. Before: Samyang 14mm 2.8 (Nikon) @f/2.8, After: Laowa 12mm 2.8 Zero-D @ f/2.8 | A7s | 100% crop extreme corner. The lens is not weather-sealed in any way, but thanks to the simple non-electronic and fully manual design, it shouldnt be as susceptible to damage from dust or moisture. Required fields are marked *. With film cameras, distortion was practically impossible to fix, and a zero-distortion 12mm lens would have been very highly sought after. In reality, you wont notice the minor corner softness unless youre shooting with a high megapixel body such as the a7RIV. First let me remind you this is a prototype and there also comes an adapter with additional tolerances into play here. The extreme corners suffer a bit, but its nothing that a quick click of remove chromatic aberrations in post processing cant fix.
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