Venus Optics is a well-known name in the photography community for its distinctive lenses. Many of them fall under either macro or ultra-wide categories. The Laowa 15mm F/2 Zero-D (849) has the latter, which features a large aperture and optical design that virtually eliminates barrel distortion. This is an advantage for photographers but it's especially useful for videographers. Silent aperture control and front filter support are also great features. This lens is unique, and may make more sense for some than an alternative to autofocus.
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For Full Frame Mirrorless
Mirrorless mirrorless is possible with the Laowa 15mm F/2 Zero-D. Venus can make wide-angle lenses noticeably lighter and smaller than comparable designs for SLRs due to the short distance between rear glass and image sensor.
The dimensions of the unit are 3.2x2.6 inches (HD), 1.1 pound and support 72mm filters. The exterior is finished in black metal with a Venus blue accent ring. The build quality is good, although the lens hood can be a bit disappointing. The hood fits loosely and does not have any lock that will keep it in place. It is 2.5 times heavier than the Sigma 14mm DG F1.8 SM Art at 5.0 by 3.8 inches. The bulbous front element prevents you from using filters. Sigma's lens is available for both SLRs and mirrorless.
Front filters are a great option. To increase neutral density and make long exposures with bright lighting, photographers can use more inexpensive screw-in filters. This is useful for maintaining a reasonable shutter speed for video.
The front glass is protected with Venus' Frog Eye coating—its branding for fluorine protection. The glass is easily cleaned by water drops and any smudges are quickly wiped away. This is an important feature if you need to take shots in areas where there may be some water spray. But there's no other weather protection—I would have liked to have seen a gasket around the lens mount at the very least.
Venus has the Venus lens available for Canon RF and Nikon Z cameras. At press time, there are not comparable first-party options. Rokinon offers the 14mm F2.8 AF with front filter support and autofocus for Sony Systems. However, it does not control barrel distortion or captures as much light.
This is a manual lens. It does not have an autofocus feature and the camera won't record or display aperture or focal length information. It means that you will need to set a hotkey to activate frame magnification. You won't be able to see what f stop you took a photograph at unless you make notes.
It's much easier to adjust the focus manually on wide-angle lenses. The cameras that the lens is compatible with offer zooming in and confirmation of focus. It is made of knurled steel and can be adjusted finely with sufficient resistance. The distance scale is also included, which can be used as an aid to focus your lens. You can use it to work at f/5.6 or f/11 and f/22.
The on-lens aperture control allows you to adjust the focus. Control ring made of bare metal and with the same knurled texture as the focus ring. The Click switch can engage it to adjust the f/2-f/22 setting in increments of full stop. The click stops can be disengaged by dragging the toggle silver switch down. Videography requires smooth aperture adjustments.
Video has stabilization as an advantage. It is not available for the purely manual lens. In-body stabilization is available if the lens is used with either a Nikon Z camera or an E-camera. Canon is yet to use in-body stability, but the rest of industry has adopted the technology so it will likely be a matter of time.
A strong point is close focus. A minimum focal distance of 5.9 inches allows the lens to support macro magnifications up to 1:14. This distance is measured at the sensor and the lens' front element. Venus' 15mm F/4 1:1 Macro lens is a great option if you love wide-angle macro.
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Sharp When Stopped Down
I also tested the Z-mount 15mm ZeroD with Nikon's 45.6MP Z7 camera and Imatest Software. The center-weighted resolution evaluation showed 2,314 lines at F/2. This result is not sharp but it isn't consistent across the frame. The center of the frame is best—it's good, but not tack sharp—and gives way to softness toward the edges.
At f/2.8 the average score rises slightly to 2,480 lines. The center is more detailed, while the edges are less sharp. There's an uptick in resolution across the frame at f/4, where the lens manages 2,778 lines on average—a just-okay result on a high-resolution camera system.
You'll get noticeably more detail at f/5.6—the lens manages 3,350 lines there, a good result, and resolution is even from center to edge. Sharpest results are at f/8 (3.847 lines) or f/11 (3.897 lines), which we think is excellent when using a high resolution camera such as the Z 7.
At f/16, we start to notice a loss in resolution (3333 lines), however it is still quite usable. Diffraction reduces the resolution to 2,598 lines at f/22. It's an issue that's not unique to this lens—light waves scatter as they pass through the small aperture, there's no getting around physics.
The lab resolution test results can be affected by field curvature. The test chart must be taken at close range as it is not flat. Although I cannot provide any quantitative data on this, I can tell you that shots taken in the field at distance show softening toward the edges of the frame at both f/2 (and f/2.8). These images are sharper starting at f/5.6 and improve at f/4. These results are similar to what was observed in our lab.
Barrel distortion is a problem with the lens. In lab testing, it showed a small amount of distortion, around 1%. It is clearly different from the Sigma 14mm F1.8 which has 4.3 percent. For all technical purposes, we consider one percent barrel distortion irrelevant.
However, the vignette is an issue. Although the lens is a f/2 it does not cast light evenly. The corners are 0.5 f-stops behind the center at f/2. This gradual falloff isn’t abrupt or quick. This results in an image that has a bright central area and darkens as you get closer to the edges.
As you reduce the aperture, your effect decreases. At f/2.8 it is still clearly visible, but at f/4 the effect disappears. It's easy to adjust the lighting with software tools if you are a photographer. Raw is preferred as it allows you to brighten shadows more easily without affecting the image's quality.
While videographers might have trouble correcting the Vignette, they won't need to worry about corners. Although the 16:9 frame takes up less of an image circle's area, you will still see darker edges at f/2 or f/2.8.
When you focus up close, it will be possible to achieve a shallow depth-of-field. You'll see nice out-of-focus highlights at f/2. However, stopping down will introduce the aperture blades.
The 15mm has been used by Venus for some strange purposes. A seven-blade aperture is available if you purchase the lens for a Sony digital camera. The lens that is compatible with Nikon Z and Canon RF cameras uses a five-blade aperture.
I was told by a representative of Venus that the goal is to increase sunstar quality. A five-blade design gives you 10-point stars with narrow apertures. This is around f/11. The seven-blade version gives you 14-point stars. Dan Bracaglia, a photographer, created a gallery with the seven-blade version. You can also see the sunstars this version creates. The effect—I substituted my iPhone flashlight for the sun to show it off—as captured with the five-blade design is shown below.
Focusing close can cause defocused highlights to take the form of an aperture. The seven-blade version is relatively circular when it's stopped down. The five-blade model I tried gave them a pentagonal shape. Although it's unlikely you will notice it in every photo, it's something that you just can't resist looking at when you do. It's highlighted in this crop, which we took from the original image.
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Broad, with Straight Lines
Although the Venus Optics Laowa15mm f/2 Zero D delivers distortion-free images with its promises, it is not the only benefit it has. The bright design and manual focus ring—which has a hard stop at infinity—make it attractive for night sky photographers, and landscape specialists who employ neutral density filters for long exposures will appreciate the thread.
The Frog Eye fluorine and aperture protections are nice, as well as the selectable detents. We do wish fit and finish were a bit better—the hood doesn't lock in place, and we'd love to see the manual lens get a little bit of weather protection. Be careful in dusty or wet conditions.
It's an excellent lens for a reasonable price. Although the resolution may not be spectacular wide open, the close-up focus effect will make it a great lens for landscape photography.
You can also choose the Sigma 14mm F1.8 DG HSM Art as an alternative. It is heavier and more expensive than the Laowa 15, which retails for $850. There are also zooms. Canon has yet to announce pricing for the 15-35mm F2.8 zoom, which will be compatible with its mirrorless camera system. Nikon offers the F4 14-30mm F4 zoom for its Z system. Sony also has two F/2.8 16-35mm zooms with front filter support, one F/2.8, and one F/4. All are more expensive and offer less light gathering or distortion control than the Zero-D.