LensLaowa (Venus Optics)50% by Neofiliac Team

Laowa 15mm f/4 1:1 Macro

Full-Frame Lens

Product Gallery

Photo 0of Laowa 15mm f/4 1:1 Macro  Photo 1of Laowa 15mm f/4 1:1 Macro  Photo 2of Laowa 15mm f/4 1:1 Macro  Photo 3of Laowa 15mm f/4 1:1 Macro

Product Overview

Venus Laowa 15mm F4 1:1 Macro is a manual-focus ultra wide-angle macro lens for Canon EF-mount, Leica L-mount, Nikon F-mount, Pentax K-mount, Sony A-mount, and Sony E-mount. It is one of the widest macro lens that covers the full-frame image circle. Introduced by Laowa in 2015, it has 12 elements in 9 groups.
Unfortunately, Laowa has opted to omit weather sealing for this lens, so owners should pay extra attention when shooting in incremental weathers.
The 1x magnification opens up a lot of opportunity for macro shots. Manual focus can be a blessing in this case. As an ultra wide-angle prime lens that happens to have relatively small maximum aperture, it is also 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. Those who like sunstars (sun bursts) will be pleased by the lens' even-numbered aperture count, though conversely those who find sunstars distracting may have the opposite feeling.

Ratings

What we found

Neofiliac score 50%
Pros
  • 1:1 reproduction
  • One of the widest macro lens for FF
  • Unique +/- 6mm shift feature
Cons
  • Dark maximum aperture
  • Lacks weather sealing
  • No EXIF communication

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Price Comparison

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Specifications

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