Used Venus Laowa 12mm f/2.8 Zero-D Ultra-Wide-Angle Manual Focus Lens for Nikon AI Cameras

2023-03-08T23:56:54

Perfect wide-angle lens for the BMPCC 6K Pro. Loving it so far!

Tolga K.

2022-05-11T19:00:42

Great lens for the price. It's not auto focus but when shooting interiors or night skies I prefer manual focus anyway. It's a bit heavy, but at least it is solid!

CHRISTOPHER C.

2022-04-14T03:42:23

Rugged, heavy (but not too heavy), spectacular optics

KYLE K.

2022-01-24T07:54:31

Good kit. But the filter holder would be most likely a backup because of the canon drop-in adapter

Alex P.

2022-01-24T07:53:07

The best wide-angle kens ever. Sharp, absence of distortions, compact. Everything you may dream on.

Alex P.

2021-03-08T07:46:03

Heavier than most lenses and you have to get used to using manual focus if you are not already. But, super sharp images and works well even on a gimbal

MOSES I.

2020-12-18T11:03:22

I love it. Great, sharp, images. The reticular optics help straighten out buildings and it gives you a few more degrees in the angle of view. Certain f stops give you a four star filter efffect on street lights at night. M

Sven B.

2020-11-15T08:18:59

Super compact for travel. I got the Nikon version, since I have other Nikon bodies, but the real use will be travel with the A7iii with an adapter. I love having a 12mm f/2.8 and a 17mm f/4 shift lens in one package. (That helps justify the 1k+ price.) Since there are no electronics, there is no problem with a dumb Nikon to Sony adapter. I also had the Laowa 9mm f/5.6 but it was a little too wide for my taste and the f/5.6, especially with the 2 stop vignette, made using it low light undesirable.

ROY P.

2020-11-05T15:56:43

The Laowa 12mm is a must have for real estate and architect photographers, and videographers. The look you get with this lens opens up so many doors for creativity. I'm new to shooting real estate, but after some research, I knew I had to have this lens. Set it up on a tripod, bracket your shots for HDR, and enjoy great results!

Ricardo D.

2020-09-13T16:19:47

Worth every penny. Well built, sharp and no distorsion

JEAN R.

2020-08-26T09:40:05

Pros: Optically excellent! zero D indeed great wide angle one lens one 2 adaptors many combinations my set up d500 ->18mm f2.8 equivalent, a7RIII+basic adaptor->12mm f2.8, a7RIII + magic shift -> 17mmf4shift, all my nikon lenses on magic shift.... etc Small Great : wide shift in combination with the magic shift adapter, which surprisingly enough does not seems to alter the quality Cons: Surprisingly heavy Minor handling issues when used with magic shift A bit expensive in particular with the combination of the magic shift adapter... but actually it brings a lot of value

Patrice B.

2020-06-30T13:20:18

Got this lens today, and fell in love immediately! Although I did not play with it much yet, I already see so many possibilities. It's sharp wide open, and the build quality is very good. The minimal focusing distance is so minimal, it opens lots of creative ideas. Cant wait to receive filters to try it on the field. A few first shots. Adorama customer service is outstanding. Thank you!

SVETLANA V.

2020-06-19T08:04:24

Worth every penny!

RAYMOND S.

2020-01-02T07:24:17

The lens is extremely well built. All metal. Smooth focusing. The distortion, although not zero, is very low and I often find shooting architectural shots only with this lens. Nothing really bad to say about it.

Stefan G.

2019-11-25T08:37:30

Good lens for real estate in 12mm or even better when used in super 35 mode

PETER M.

2019-08-07T08:12:12

I was worried about distortion from this lens, and while there are some things that you would expect, like vignetting, it's not nearly as bad as anticipated! This will be my go-to lens for all my real estate shoots.

CHARLES M.

2019-07-10T09:41:30

Lens feels good to hold. The focus and aperture rings rotate smoothly with just the right amount of resistance. The images are super sharp. See example image

Andrew S.

2019-03-14T20:50:09

I purchased this for my Sony a99ii night photography, specifically the northern light, but I have not had the chance to use for this yet. The daylight landscape worked well and distortion is very low. I would recommend this lens for serious photographers.

YASUHIRO T.

2019-01-29T07:28:43

I was excited to receive this lens after reading a few reviews online.However, I was quickly disappointed after a few test shots. This copy is extremely soft and the color rendition is very poor. I did notice flare was an issue on a few images where I shot in the bright sun.I am willing to try another copy and Adorama was great with the return. I will update my review after I have tested my new copy.

CLAIRE G.

2018-10-21T19:22:35

Now onto my second copy, at best it's slightly better. But the issue is overall the same. Its not possible to focus this lens to infinity. With this second sample the center appears sharper than the first copy, yet the focus falls off quickly and not far from center at all. And again, the closest I can get to infinity is hitting the stop. If the stop could be adjusted, then maybe just enough extra adjustment could be made. Venus Optics was of little help, basically saying I dont know how to focus a lens and not to go by the infinity icon. Duh! Of course they say the center is sharp and the focus issues is because of the aperture. Meaning that while it's an ƒ2.8 lens wide open, it should not be used as such. True, most lenses are soft wide open. But they are still able to give a fairly even field of focus less edges/corners. The focus fall off with this lens is so bad that I have to go to at least ƒ8. Then its "better" but certainly will not help with astro work. My Tokina 16-28 has no issue with focusing to infinity, for example, but the corners are much, much softer than the Venus. If you are using this lens for real-estate, close-ups and even wide-macro, then all of the above will not matter and in fact the lens performs incredibly well. This is why, for me, it is such a disappointment. Its so dang good at so much with minimal CA and great looking corners. It just fails in one major area where I need it to perform well. Returning this second copy and I will not try a third. Based on what I have read on forums, I am not alone with this issues. The suspicion is this is a mount issue for Nikon bodies. It must be out of spec and why other bodies seem to not have this issue.

Shawn H.

2018-09-27T14:43:51

After reading extensive reviews, I had high hopes for this lens. At face value, its a great lens. But when it came to astro, it was a total fail for me on my D810. My other lenses are fairly accurate when it comes to the infinity mark, but this lens was not even close. Even getting all the way to the stop, things were still not in focus. Testing during the day revealed the same results. Sharp all over except center. Even the range finder could not get a good lock, just a hair off. Going to ƒ4 of course helped, but it was still off. Even tried a different body with the same results (if anything, a touch worse). Returned for exchange because of the pro points. And in hope that I just had a very bad sample. The pro points being the small size of this lens. Its feels wicked solid too. And the corners, which were in focus, were incredibly sharp with just minor CA. Blew my Tokina 16-28 out of the water in that aspect. So I really want to give this lens another go.

Shawn H.

2018-03-22T11:35:27

Best lens for the price. Heat for real estate and outdoor work alike.

Aaron K.

2017-10-31T11:45:54

Impressive mural quality lens on my Canon 5Ds and for any pro cameras. Although it is manual only is still very forgiving due to it's expanded depth-of-field and corner sharpness. It is ideal for architecture and landscapes including industrial and real estate applications. One of it's great uses is It allows cropping eliminating the need to carry other wide angle lenses. It is not without a few drawbacks; it is heavy and it's lens cap could be more secure and more easily attached. Apart from these minor objections it has no match in focal length, aperture and sharpness at it's price.

PEPE A.

2017-06-27T00:57:23

I use this lens for real estate photography and astrophotography and have been VERY impressed. While this is a manual lens, once you select an f-stop the meter in my Nikon D800E will display exposure values correctly. Focus in not a problem since most of my RE work is shot at f/8 and if I set the focus to 8 feet - everything is in focus. For astrophotography you need to find out where distant (stars/planets) are focused correctly by either using "live-view" or establishing the focus point while it's still light outside - however that's true of any lens! Priced under 1000 dollars means that is a very good value. By the way, the packaging for this product was much better and more professional than the "big camera" manufacturers. When you see the box and and start to open it, you'd swear it was made by Apple!

RICK J.

2017-05-26T13:52:26

I am a photographer mainly specializing in weddings. I have used it for a wedding and an architectural photo shoot. The distortion is so low that there is no correction needed for most purposes. I love the build quality and the optics. In the past I have owned the Canon 11-24mm f/4. Highly recommended!

Ioannis M.

2017-05-10T08:33:14

Solid feel, solid operation, solid as in performed as advertised and the pricing is solid - great job

James S.

2017-04-23T11:10:06

This lens is great. WIDE with minimal distortion. I've had it for a few weeks and I haven't taken it off my camera yet. It's great for landscapes, architecture, astrophotography, you name it.

DANIEL W.

2017-02-28T07:34:08

Great lens, everything it was reported to be. Looking forward to using it to make some night sy images.

HOWARD C.

2017-01-19T09:22:51

No stop-down feature. Pre-set diaphragm only. Stiff focus: Helical grease too viscous. Venus Optics, China, does not respond to inquiries. Nice presentation box. Focus and Depth of Field Scales are nice useable features. Good solid feel, except for being too hard to focus smoothly! Lens Shade is metal and stows nicely around lens body.

Tim H.