Venus optics Laowa 12mm f/2.8 Zero-D Lens for Sony E

One of the widest lenses on the market today is the Laowa 12mm f/2.8 Zero-D, made by Venus Optics. Not only is this lens rectilinear (not a fisheye), but Venus Optics claims it has almost no distortion whatsoever. With so few 12mm lenses available today, anyone who needs an ultra-ultra…

A few weeks back we reviewed an exciting product from a newcomer company - the Laowa 105mm f/2 STF. The characteristics of this lens are truly exciting and, even better, the performance is also top notch.

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  solid, metal casing with sensible physical dimensions,, very good image quality in the frame centre,, negligible longitudinal chromatic aberration,, sensible correction of lateral chromatic aberration,, lack of problems with spherical aberration,, sensible distortion correction,, moderate...

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  weak image quality on the edge of the frame near the maximum relative aperture,, enormous vignetting,, too weak performance against bright light.

It is rare to be genuinely surprised when testing lenses, as we were with the Laowa 12mm F2.8 Zero-D from Venus Optics. This lens, manufactured by a newcomer on the market, goes above and beyond all the expectations we could have had.

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  Superb build quality and small form factor for a 12mm, Excellent resolution at all apertures, even across the frame, Class-leading control over distortion, Beautiful, crisp colors, Fast maximum aperture, Manual focus easy to achieve thanks to long throw and useful gradations, Low vignetting on...

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  Strong vignetting on full frame, Flare and ghosting poorly controlled, No weather sealing, Flimsy, difficult to use lens cap, Pricey

What can we say about the Laowa 12mm f/2.8 Zero-D lens? Well, we have to start with the image quality, because it is so good.Detail is pin sharp in virtually all of the frame and even at f/2.8 the fall off is controlled admirably.

It is small. It is light. It is extremely wide. It has a high quality construction and an overall impressive image quality. It has a reasonable price. And, who doesn't love a few world records?

I use this lens as an ultra wide in conjunction with the Laowa medium format converter for Fuji GFX. This turns it into a 17mm f/4 on the GFX 44x33mm sensor . The resultant field of view is approximately equal to 13mm on a 35mm camera.

Real ZD Zero Distortion from a solid construction with amazing quality lens. Fits perfect in my A7R II and III. Worth any dollar i invest in it.

Great ultra wide for the money. Lack of autofocus/auto aperture is no problem with a lens this wide!

With a heavy volume of real estate photography and video, I purchased this lens for my Canon 1DXMKII. A 12mm lens should never be used for real estate photography, however the 1DX crops the censor by a 1.3 factor when shooting 4K video, making this lens the equivalent of a 16mm lens, which is...

I primarily shoot real estate and purchased this lens to shoot 4K video with my Canon 1DXMKII. Although one should never use a 12mm lens for real estate with a full frame censor, shooting 4K video uses a 1.3 crop factor.

Compared to the 10-18mm APS-C Sony lens, this has virtually zero distortion. This is a real good lens for real estate photography.One issue / good thing about this is that this lens is so wide it makes the room look larger than it really might be! But for real estate it a good thing.

I just purchased this lens and had it on my camera for 10 days in the Canada Rockies! First I want to say the starburst is absolutely amazing, it is wide, which was perfect for my frozen bubble shots. I bought the Loawa 15mm first but was really drooling to get my hands on this one.

I am surprised by the rave reviews this lens is getting. I got 2 copies for my Sony A7R3 and I was shocked by the softness of the images even when stopped down to f11. Shooting on a tripod also yielded poor results.

I also own the Irix 11mm (Firefly). While I have only spent a small amount of time with this Laowa 12mm, I already like it much better. Much less optical distortion imho.

I do Cityscape Photography and I must say its a great lens to have. The 12mm was a great addition to my Canon16-35mm.I have tested the lens for sharpness and distortions, I can say its a sharp lens and has no distortions at all.