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Hands-on REVIEW Venus Optics Laowa 12mm f/2.8 Zero-D Lens

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I have spent a month with the widest, fastest rectilinear lens that claims zero distortion and costs FAR less than other lenses this fast and this wide. I am now ready to share some thoughts on this super wide angle lens. Is it the perfect lens for wide angle interior and architecture work?
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The Laowa is a compact little lens weighing just over a 1lb and offering a removeable hood but it does have a bulbous front element and requires specialized filter holders. It is fully manual lens with a smooth focus ring and clickable aperture ring from f/2.8 to f/22 in full stops - it is available in Canon, Nikon, Pentax and Sony mounts and offers close focusing at 2” inches from the front of the lens. There are extremely few lenses this wide and even fewer this fast - Sigma makes an 12-24 f4 at $1600, Canon makes a 14mm f/2.8 for $2000 and Nikon makes a 14-24 f/2.8 for $1800. I haven’t made comparisons against those lenses but I have had this in my bag for two trips to Alaska and can tell you it is an exceptionally sharp lens that really has very little distortion. Typically you get barrel distortion in wide angle lenses - take a look at this brick wall shot with the ROkinon 14mm f/2.8 and now the Venus! For interior work this is going to keep your lines nice and straight and require far less post processing. In fact I feel like shooting stars with this is not the best use as all that lack of distortion isn’t an issue for night skies but having 12mm gives you some awesome flexibility for capturing giant swaths of the sky and I used it with great success for star trails and aurora timelapse videos.
I will remind you that it is manual focus and while the focus ring is loaded with distance marks if you are using a traditional dslr that doesn’t provide focus peaking you may find it tough to focus - everything is so far away and little. And also as mentioned you will need a specialized filter holder AND it’s not cheap but again - nothing else is this wide, this fast with so little distortion - so for those looking for wide distortion free - it’s an excellent option.
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Photography
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