Venus optics Laowa 15mm f/2 FE Zero-D Lens for Nikon Z

The Laowa 15mm f/2 Zero-D is a fantastic optic, offering an ultra wide-angle lens with a fast f/2 aperture and an affordable price – making it a bit of a unicorn lens for architectural and landscape photographers.

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  Fast f/2 aperture, Aperture de-click switch, Remarkable distortion control

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  No electronic contacts, Not weather sealed

Laowa is one of the many small manufacturers that emerged over the recent years. By today, they've established themselves as China's most significant player albeit they still got some distance to go until they reach the global mainstream.

Laowa continues to release new, exciting lens designs, this time offering an ultra-wide 15mm lens for Sony full frame mirrorless cameras, but with the added bonus of a staggeringly fast f/2 aperture.

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  solid, metal casing, small for the parameters of the lens,, possibility of using classic filters,, good image quality in frame centre,, negligible longitudinal chromatic aberration,, slight lateral chromatic aberration,, distortion lower than in the case of rivals.

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  weak image quality on the edge of the frame,, noticeable spherical aberration,, huge vignetting, visible even on significant stopping down of aperture,, very distinct coma,, too narrow working range of the manual focus ring.

I purchased this lens to replace my Sony 12-24 f/4 because that lens was just not quite fast enough for my needs which generally includes a lot of night photography. The lens has acceptable levels of coma, which is really important to me. It is also very easy to use and handle.

I wasn't crazy about the price, but once I put it on my a7s, I was very happy. Sharp. Minimal distortion. And though I keep seeing people say it doesn't matter on a wide angle lens, the bokeh is gorgeous. Oh and a UWA with a 72mm filter thread...awesome!

I always rip open the box on new glass and run out to try it. Contrary to most, I bought this for close up work. It was the closest focusing wide I could find so I though it was worth a shot. Overall, it's exactly what I wanted.

The build quality is excellent and the boxing was Zeiss-ish. I purchased the Laowa 15mm to use with the Sony a7Rii, mainly for architecture, landscape, and my 1st foray into astrophotography.

Debated a long time between this the Zeiss batis 18mm to round out my other batis primes. The trade offs in price, wider aperture, low distortion and closer minimum focus distance won me over.

My earlier review was titled Iceland Lens of Choice. Now that's it's springtime and wildflower season I'm having fun with the close focus capability of this lens. Can compose photos showing both detail of a small flower and its habitat and background.

Upgraded my kit from Sony Nex-7 and a6500 to the marvelous a7iii. For UW had been shooting the aps-c format Sony 10-18 f4 and Samyang 12mm f2. For the a7iii first I tried a Tokina Firin MF. It was decentered. Replacement Firin was better, yet corners were unacceptably blurred at all apertures.