Venus optics Laowa 9mm T2.9 Zero-D Cine Lens (MFT Mount, Feet)

Priced at $499, the Venus Laowa 7.5mm f/2 lens is not a trivial purchase. But putting cost aside, it's a fun lens and I found myself liking it more and more as I used it. I was truly amazed by how well it performed under a wide variety of situations.

The primary value proposition of the Laowa 7.5mm f/2 MFT is certainly its extremely small size and low weight combined with a very large max. aperture. Upon unboxing, we experienced one of the few WOW effects during recent years.

Laowa have been steadily building an excellent reputation for unusual and high quality lenses. Now we have the brightest ultra-wide angle lens for MFT cameras, with an impressive 110 degree angle of view, equivalent to 15mm on a 35mm format camera.

The Laowa 7.5mm f/2 is a manual focus prime lens with an equivalent field of view of 15mm in 35mm format, making it the widest rectilinear prime for the Micro Four Thirds system.

Laowa 7.5mm f/2 MFT, Verdict:

• +

  Compact and lightweight, Extremely sharp, particularly in the centre of the image, Good for low-light shooting

• -

  Corners quite soft at large apertures, Strong vignetting, No exposure data passed to camera

Without doubt the Venus Optics LAOWA 7.5 mm f/2 MFT is a very well-done lens which fits the Micro 4/3 format cameras perfectly; small, shapely and handy, it will be a perfect travelling companion. The possibility of using classic filters with a small diameter might be its additional advantage.

• +

  Small, solid, metal casing,, Sensational image quality in the frame centre,, Negligible longitudinal chromatic aberration,, Slight lateral chromatic aberration,, Lack of problems with spherical aberration,, Moderate astigmatism.

• -

  Weak image quality on the edge of the frame by f/2.0 - 4.0 apertures,, Huge vignetting, Noticeable coma,, Too weak performance against bright light.

If you shoot subjects such as landscape or architecture, like to use filters and are happy to post-process raw files, the Laowa 7.5mm f/2 MFT is a great little lens.

• +

  Compact and lightweight, Extremely sharp, particularly in the centre of the image, Good for low-light shooting

• -

  Corners quite soft at large apertures, Strong vignetting, No exposure data passed to camera

The Laowa 7.5mm f/2 lens is a compact and well built lens that delivers where it counts most, in its excellent image quality.Pictures are sharp, while the lens demonstrates impressive control over distortions that are so common in ultra-wide angle lenses, especially chromatic aberrations.

For ultrawides for my Oly EM1.2, I had an old-but-good Oly 7-14 Four Thirds lens, a modern PanaLeica 8-18, and this very small Laowa 7.5. This summer I decided to complete my comparisons and choose one keeper. I immediately rejected the Oly 7-14 as being too heavy and hard to use filters on.

• +

  Small Light Affordable High image quality

• -

  Maybe too small

I use this lens for real estate videos on my BMPCC4k. After using a Rokinon 14mm and fighting the constant barrel distortion I love this Laowa lens with no distortion. Wall lines are sharp and straight! This lens is tiny, feels like a toy but is built solid. I love how small and lightweight it is.

+ Pretty sharp + So light, so nice to be a travel lens + It accepts filter + Not too bad price - Some time it a bit too small for my hand - Manual focus only

Wow. What a lens! Like most people, a zoom lens lives on my camera. My everyday lens is a 12-60mm MFT. I can carry this small 7.5mm lens in my pocket. (It only weighs 5 ounces.) It is great for shooting architecture and artistic shots that have a significant object in the foreground and a full...

Amazing lens! No distortion, amazing sharpness. I use this lens on a gh5 and on my dji inspire 2. Perfect balance without a balance ring. Love this thing!

I really, really wanted to like this lens. But there's far more distortion than I expected from a rectilinear lens. I also found the photos to be kind of flat. Sharp enough, colorful enough, but lacking some kind of life and sparkle I look for in lens.

The first thing about the lens that strikes you is how lightweight it is. You can fly this thing on a gimbal with ease for a long time without tiring your arm out. It's ideal for anyone shooting video on a GH4, it does roughly provide the same field of view as a regular 12mm lens.

I am a pilot and since the beginning, it has been next to impossible to take a really nice picture of the WHOLE cockpit during flight, and when it's really important, at night under the Northern Lights.

A sharp lens for the money, nice and compact. A little bit of light fall-off in the corners but that can be easily corrected in Lightroom. I have used it on an Olympus E-M1 mkII and an E-M5 mkII. Really for the price this is a really excellent lens.

Phenomenal lens for the Inspire 2. Be sure to start your drone with an approved lens, and then swap the Laowa 7.5mm on. That will ensure you have full features of the gimbal and drone with this manual lens. Very sharp and great focus. Slight lens distortion when panning straight up or down.