LensLaowa (Venus Optics)40% by Neofiliac Team66% by External Reviewers

Laowa 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 Zoom

Full-Frame Lens

Product Gallery

Photo 0of Laowa 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 Zoom Photo 1of Laowa 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 Zoom Photo 2of Laowa 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 Zoom Photo 3of Laowa 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 Zoom Photo 4of Laowa 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 Zoom

Product Overview

Laowa 10-18mm F4.5-5.6 Zoom is a unique manual-focus ultra wide-angle prime lens for Leica L-mount, Nikon Z-mount, and Sony E-mount. It is the widest rectilinear zoom lens that covers the full-frame image circle. Introduced by Laowa in 2018, it has 14 elements in 10 groups.
Manual focus may be limiting to some, but purists will find it much more engaging. There are also fewer things to go wrong on the long run. Unfortunately, Laowa has opted to omit weather sealing for this lens, so owners should pay extra attention when shooting in incremental weathers.
As an ultra wide-angle prime lens that happens to have relatively small maximum aperture, it is best suited for landscape photography. Even though the lens is not stabilized, at this focal range it does not usually matter. In fact, some may be able to get cleaner corners without image stabilization.

Ratings

What we found

Neofiliac score 40%
Pros
  • Widest rectilinear zoom lens for FF
  • Good build quality
Cons
  • Dark maximum aperture
  • Lacks weather sealing
  • No front filter
  • Optically weak

What external reviewers found

External score 66%
Pros
  • Very good performance in the centre
  • Compact and light
  • Wide angle of view for full-frame systems
  • Sunstars with 10 spikes are really nice and you get them even wide open (except at 18mm)
Cons
  • Focusing scale not respected at all
  • No autofocus
  • Occasional chromatic aberration

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Specifications

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External Reviews

pcmag[1]

Reviewer score 69% (normalized by Neofiliac)
Reviewers from pcmag have found:
The Venus Laowa 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 is the widest rectilinear zoom for any full-frame system. At $849 it's a relative bargain when compared with the lenses it most directly competes with. It doesn't autofocus, nor does it include weather sealing, and its optical quality isn't on the same level.
Pros
  • Wide angle of view for full-frame systems
  • Compact and light
Cons
  • Occasional chromatic aberration
  • No autofocus

sonyalpha[2]

Reviewer score 63% (normalized by Neofiliac)
Reviewers from sonyalpha have found:
The Laowa 10-18mm F4.5-5.6 is the second ultra wide zoom for Sony E mount. It is a fully manual lenses with aperture control on the lens and manual focusing ring. Sharpness tests made on Sony A7RIII (42Mpix) show consistent good results in the centre but corners are lagging behind & being good around F8-F11.
Pros
  • Very good performance in the centre
  • Sunstars with 10 spikes are really nice and you get them even wide open (except at 18mm)
  • Compactness is surprising and it offers nice possibility to mount a rear ND filter on the back or front filter holder
Cons
  • Focusing scale not respected at all

Also Check

Product ComparisonProducts in LensProducts by Laowa (Venus Optics)Keyword e-mountKeyword full-frameKeyword l-mountKeyword manual-focusKeyword mirrorlessKeyword prime-lensKeyword ultra-wideKeyword wide-angleKeyword z-mount

References

  1. ^ Venus Optics Laowa 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 Review. [pcmag].
  2. ^ Laowa 10-18mm F4.5-5.6. [sonyalpha].

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