Used Venus Laowa 12mm T2.9 Zero-D Ultra-WideAngle Lens for Sony E Cameras - Black

2021-03-05T08:02:44

This is certainly a unique lens and I commend LAOWA for endeavoring to make unique lenses like this. I purchased this $600 more expensive cine version to replace the "regular" photo version for two reasons: 1. Laowa made the peculiar decision to have the photo version of this lens focus in the same direction as Nikon lenses do (opposite to most other lenses ever made and opposite to every other LAOWA lens ever made before or since). While for this cine version it correctly focuses in the direction that all other cine lenses do. 2. My photo version got damaged and is no longer sharp at infinity - so, given point number 1, I thought it would be a good time to get the one that focuses in the correct direction and enjoy the superior build quality of a Cine lens, which leads me to my review of this lens. Pulling it out of the case, I was excited to see that the hard stop at infinity stops directly on the infinity symbol, but when I attached the lens to my camera, I actually found infinity focus to be around the 5'4" mark on the focus scale. This makes the hard stop, and the focus scale of neither use nor ornament. For the premium price I paid for this lens, I would have expected the focus to be calibrated precisely, not least because there is no option to adjust it yourself. The lens comes with its own pelican case, which is a nice touch and adds professionalism, but I would have preferred that the money go towards proper calibration rather than its own case, which ends up just being another case I have to remember. Putting the lens into a bigger case with other lenses become problematic, due to the fact that the lens cap does not clip or screw on, and can easily fall off. The lens also comes with some mount shims, which I hoped would help me fix the focus calibration but, upon reading the manual, appear to apply only to the PL mount version of this lens which, I should also note, is also used as the picture to advertise this - the EF version of the lens... So I am left unsure if the shims are of any use to me at all. Overall I am still excited to use this lens, and am aware of its unique properties, having used the photo version already but LOAWA seem to still be suffering some growing pains as a lens manufacturer. Some small attention to detail could have made this lens so much easier to use and better value for the price.

Elliot L.

2020-09-29T08:52:26

Amazing!!!

DUSTIN K.

2020-06-30T08:36:16

I really love this lens. So unbelievably wide and it can focus as close as about 2 inches from the end of the lens. The markings aren’t quite accurate according to my tests though, so that would take some getting used to. It comes with a ring for a standard matte box but you can’t really put some of the smaller matte boxes like the Tilta mini matte box on it unless they release a low profile ring for it. Still, it is super sharp in my opinion and has absolutely zero barrel distortion. That’s what they mean by zero distortion. Because if you get a subject close to the lens it will definitely be distorted but all of the lines will be straight. It’s more like skewing the distortion. I think this would be stellar for any kind of architecture work for sure. I have been playing with this on a new Z Cam F6. The gears are smooth, but probably a little strong for a Nucleus Nano. You would probably need a Nucleus M or similar motor to really push these gears smoothly.

BRADEN B.