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Archive 2018 · Laowa 15mm F2 lens--any experience? (Found nothing with Search.)

Jeffrey Behr
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Laowa 15mm F2 lens--any experience? (Found nothing with Search.)

Looking for an affordable UWA--wider than my Loxia 21--for a 7R3. The several reviews of the Laowa are overall positive, but I'd love to hear from some of our resident experts.

Edit--Oops...that's a 15mm F2.

Edited on Jun 15, 2018 at 05:17 PM · View previous versions

Jun 14, 2018 at 11:33 PM

jmbillings
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Laowa 15mm F2 lens--any experience? (Found nothing with Search.)

I didn't even know there was an F4, most people seem to talk about the F2! There's an overview of it on dpreview here

*edit, sorry, just saw you've seen reviews... yeah, I've seen very little about it as I say above, so you might struggle to find lots of opinions...

Jun 15, 2018 at 12:08 AM

benjimouse
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Laowa 15mm F2 lens--any experience? (Found nothing with Search.)

I'm not by any means a resident expert, but I have the E-mount version of the Laowa 15mm f4.0. It was selling 2nd hand on my local auction site, I ended up getting it for less than 1/2 the new price. It's a very odd lens.

As a macro you have so little working distance you have to constantly be aware of not shading the subject with the lens barrel, and composing compelling macro images so wide is very difficult. You have to think quite differently to the usual tele-macro approach. Thomas Shahan has a great video on his youtube channel about using it as a macro.

As a ultra-wide landscape lens, it seems... ok. I haven't pixel peeped the corners to the levels people here are able, but from what I have seen it's service-able. The shift function does seem to be useful for verticals.

Jun 15, 2018 at 02:24 PM

rvh23
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Laowa 15mm F2 lens--any experience? (Found nothing with Search.)

At 15mm it is probably the most versatile option currently available.

https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1527669/0
https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1535868/0
https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1511916/0
https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1548235/0

Jun 15, 2018 at 05:37 PM

nandadevieast
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Laowa 15mm F2 lens--any experience? (Found nothing with Search.)

To OP,
Actually 15/4 is the one no one is talking about. They have a 15mm/4 for sony also.
15/f2 has got lots of press here.

Jun 16, 2018 at 07:51 AM

GMPhotography
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Laowa 15mm F2 lens--any experience? (Found nothing with Search.)

https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1511916/0?keyword=Laowa,15#14208656

Jun 16, 2018 at 08:12 AM

kkolatat
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Laowa 15mm F2 lens--any experience? (Found nothing with Search.)

Anyone has problems with the non-clickable lens hood of the Laowa? Mine keeps falling off and it's driving me nuts. I emailed Laowa support asking for a way to alleviate the issue, but they don't have a solution.

Oct 29, 2018 at 11:42 AM

liftedspirit
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Laowa 15mm F2 lens--any experience? (Found nothing with Search.)

I've not had any issues with the lens hood, no.

Oct 29, 2018 at 01:29 PM

Shebco
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Laowa 15mm F2 lens--any experience? (Found nothing with Search.)

No issues with mine at all. I got this to supplement the Batis 18 for RE shots. I'm very happy with it!

Oct 30, 2018 at 03:25 PM

ylimehajile
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Laowa 15mm F2 lens--any experience? (Found nothing with Search.)

I bought one primarily for Astro work and wasn't impressed. For most everything else it was a great lens. I already have a CV15 for the 'most everything else' so I returned the Laowa. So, I guess it depends on what you are shooting with it. The MFD is crazy - a lot of fun. I wish it had the electronics to feed back data to the camera.

Oct 30, 2018 at 03:35 PM

imagesfromobjects
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Laowa 15mm F2 lens--any experience? (Found nothing with Search.)

Laowa 15/2 is AMAZING. Maybe the search has a glitch, because I posted a whole thread not too long ago debating it vs the CV15. I ended up getting the Laowa for its close focus and low light capabilities.

Did not disappoint

Oct 30, 2018 at 04:09 PM

shac
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Laowa 15mm F2 lens--any experience? (Found nothing with Search.)

Especially like the bee and flowers image - other great too.

Oct 30, 2018 at 04:24 PM

juicer
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Laowa 15mm F2 lens--any experience? (Found nothing with Search.)

The laowa is amazingly high IQ, compact, and versatile. For astro I find it great - at true infinity there is some coma but this is improved if you focus just a smidge closer. Doing this you lose an insignificant amount of sharpness in the middle (not noticeable at <100%) and it may also sharpen foreground elements if present. People compare it to the Batis 18 for astro but if you crop the Laowa, you get that extra stop with no vignetting or coma. MF is way better too.

Every lens has some trade offs, but there are no WA lens that can do everything the 15 f2 can. I consider it the perfect companion to my Loxia 21. I can't think of one thing that a hypothetical Loxia 15 or 16 could offer that would make me consider selling the Laowa.

Oct 30, 2018 at 05:13 PM

pdmphoto
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Laowa 15mm F2 lens--any experience? (Found nothing with Search.)

The Laowa 15/2 is an excellent lens that compliments my Loxia 21 very nicely.

Oct 30, 2018 at 08:18 PM

rvh23
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Laowa 15mm F2 lens--any experience? (Found nothing with Search.)

I have bought and sold the Laowa multiple times now, and have decided to keep the most recent one mainly because at the moment there simply isn't a better relatively small alternative at that FOV that allows both landscape and astro. Coma at 2.8 is fine - it is far less of a limiting factor to print size than ISO noise.

However, I definitely prefer the Loxia 21 for its color, sun-stars, CA, and a slight sharpness advantage particularly in the corners. Probably my main annoyance with the Laowa is corner CA in high contrast details (like tree branches) that doesn't always clean up well. A Loxia 15 would almost certainly replace the Laowa in my bag, for everything except astro if it were too slow for that.

juicer wrote:
The laowa is amazingly high IQ, compact, and versatile. For astro I find it great - at true infinity there is some coma but this is improved if you focus just a smidge closer. Doing this you lose an insignificant amount of sharpness in the middle (not noticeable at <100%) and it may also sharpen foreground elements if present. People compare it to the Batis 18 for astro but if you crop the Laowa, you get that extra stop with no vignetting or coma. MF is way better too.

Every lens has some trade offs, but there are no WA lens...Show more →

Oct 30, 2018 at 09:12 PM

lostinjapan
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Laowa 15mm F2 lens--any experience? (Found nothing with Search.)

It is a great lens, I love mine though I haven't used it much and it is about to be sold. The ability to close focus at f/2 makes for some interesting image possibilities. It is a very good lens.

Ryan

Oct 30, 2018 at 09:32 PM

Frogfish
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Laowa 15mm F2 lens--any experience? (Found nothing with Search.)

Use Google search instead of the FM search : use a term something like 'Laowa 15/2 Fred Miranda'. You'll get a lot more hits and it's easier to search/modify.

Oct 30, 2018 at 09:42 PM

GMPhotography
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Laowa 15mm F2 lens--any experience? (Found nothing with Search.)

Most tests are in 2017

https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1511916/0?keyword=Laowa#14208656

Oct 30, 2018 at 09:47 PM

nicephore
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Laowa 15mm F2 lens--any experience? (Found nothing with Search.)

Jeffrey, the Laowa 15mm f2 has been tested by several serious testers (Philip Reeve, Dustin Abbott, ...) and they really praised this lens.
I am in the same situation as you but, instead of looking for a prime, i am looking for a zoom which will cover the 15/16 mm -> 28 mm focal range. I find the 16/35 GM interesting but not ready to pay this price and i am waiting/expecting Tamron to release a native WA FE zoom to complement the excellent 28-75mm (even if it's a "slow" f4, i don't mind as long as it does perform well and stays relatively compact) and maybe Sigma will release an FE-designed WA zoom as well, who knows ?
In case this doesn't happen soon (6 months -> 1 year), here are the things which might prevent me from buying the Laowa: 1/ lack of magnification/preview (i am not sure if we can turn on the 5.9x magnification feature on this lens but i find it super useful with a lens like the Lox to check the focus) 2/ lack of exif info : although this is probably less a pain than for say the Laowa 10-18mm zoom lens (btw, have you considered this one ?), it's a pity for statistics/LR collections etc...

Oct 31, 2018 at 11:18 AM

imagesfromobjects
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Laowa 15mm F2 lens--any experience? (Found nothing with Search.)

nicephore wrote:
... lack of magnification/preview (i am not sure if we can turn on the 5.9x magnification feature on this lens but i find it super useful with a lens like the Lox to check the focus) 2/ lack of exif info : although this is probably less a pain than for say the Laowa 10-18mm zoom lens (btw, have you considered this one ?), it's a pity for statistics/LR collections etc...

You can magnify, just have to assign the function to c1 (or any of your choosing) you just can't bring it up automatically. I found auto-magnify rather intrusive and annoying with CV40/1.2, so I quickly disabled it. I know I'm not alone in doing so.

As far as exif, I just tag upon import, so not much of an issue, really. I always run some initial tests and take careful note, but once I know more or less how a lens behaves at a given aperture, it's not really important to me to have that info saved.

I won't try to sell you on the Laowa, though

Oct 31, 2018 at 12:33 PM

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