The NiSi 15mm f/4 lens has now been announced. It will be available for Canon RF, Sony E, Nikon Z and Fuji X mounts.
It takes 72mm filters and is equipped with 10 straight blades for well defined sunstars! It will be interesting to find out how it compares to the Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 III.
tkbslc wrote:
Will be interesting to see how it compares to the Venus Loawa 14mm f4 Zero-D. The Venus is a similar price, but quite a bit more compact.
I hope someone will round up ALL the 14-15mm lenses that are available and rank them.
tkbslc wrote:
Will be interesting to see how it compares to the Venus Loawa 14mm f4 Zero-D. The Venus is a similar price, but quite a bit more compact.
Already rated. Nisi sunstars on all apertures, less vignetting , no dip in the middle zone, the hood is removable. Highlights are average. Cons: dimensions, weight.
sergun wrote:
Already rated. Nisi sunstars on all apertures, less vignetting , no dip in the middle zone, the hood is removable. Highlights are average. Cons: dimensions, weight.
Based on Bastian's review, another cons is below average flare resistance. That's a big deal for those shooting landscapes.
realVivek wrote:
I hope someone will round up ALL the 14-15mm lenses that are available and rank them.
Way too many of them.
No need, the only small prime with EXIF is the CV15 so you don't need to waste time considering the rest--only searching for a good copy of the CV without corner smearing
grahamgibson wrote:
No need, the only small prime with EXIF is the CV15 so you don't need to waste time considering the rest--only searching for a good copy of the CV without corner smearing
Personally I don't care too much about the lack of EXIF for these ultra wides since I usually shoot at the lens' optimal aperture anyway. Currently I own the Voigtlander 15/4.5 III M-mount and it puts up a good fight against the mighty 12-24/2.8 GM: https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1659827/9#15327754
I am interested in the rumored Sony 16/1.8 and if it has the same 12-24/2.8 GM's aperture mechanism, it will be capable of very attractive 18-point sunstars. It could perhaps be our highest resolution ultra wide to date.
grahamgibson wrote:
No need, the only small prime with EXIF is the CV15 so you don't need to waste time considering the rest--only searching for a good copy of the CV without corner smearing
That won't help me on Canon RF!
Jan 08, 2021 at 02:42 PM
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grahamgibson wrote:
No need, the only small prime with EXIF is the CV15 so you don't need to waste time considering the rest--only searching for a good copy of the CV without corner smearing
And others wouldn't think EXIF is that big of a deal and shouldn't be the determining factor. I would put myself in this camp even though I just picked up the Voigtlander 15 f/4.5.
Here's how I see the comparison of the 4 lenses (CV 15 f/4.5, Nisi 15 f/4, Laowa 15 f/2, and Laowa 14 f/4).
You can make a quick division on size (the CV 15 f/14.5 and Laowa 14 f/4 are definitely smaller than the Nisi 15 f/4 and Laowa 15 f/2).
You can also make a quick division on price (the Nisi 15 f/4 and the Laowa 14 f/4 are cheaper than the CV 15 f/4.5 or Laowa 15 f/2).
If you want a detachable hood, then only the bigger ones have it. The more expensive ones if you get a good copy have a bit more sharpness into the corners, but sharpness differences are not huge and copy variation seems to be such that differences within a type of lens seems to be as big as or almost as big as difference between lenses. If you care about sunstars the CV and the Nisi are a bit better, but the Laowa lenses with 5 blades are close. As noted in the quote above only the CV has EXIF data.
Personally when I put these together, I knew I wanted a smaller lens and that narrowed it down the the CV or the Laowa 14. The price difference wasn't big enough to influence my decision especially as I could get a used CV for very close to the price of a new Laowa 14. That led me to pick the CV for its perhaps slightly better performance and its slightly better sunstars. The EXIF was a bonus, but really didn't affect my decision at all. That is just my decision making about theses lenses. Any one of them could be quite reasonably chosen with just slightly different and reasonable weighting of the differences between the lenses.
the Laowa 15 is the only one suited for astro landscapes due to its aperture (even stopped down to 2.8 its one stop faster than the others). In this range that is a factor many landscapers would deem important as well.
the Laowa 15 is the only one suited for astro landscapes due to its aperture (even stopped down to 2.8 its one stop faster than the others). In this range that is a factor many landscapers would deem important as well.
You need to stop the lens down to at least f/3.2 for 'good' coma control with the Laowa. That's unfortunate.
We have many 14-15mm options now but if one intends to use this focal length for landscapes, I'd think that flare control should be a top priority. From the primes I've tested, the Voigtlander 15/4.5 III has the highest resistance to flare.
This and the Laowa 15mm seem to be the best options at that focal length that you can easily attach a polarizer to given the non-removable hood on the Voigtlander. I don't yet know if I will get either lens, but I've had a hard time determining which way I would lean.
With the Laowa I like the idea of having f/2 for interesting close-up images and potentially having it for astro (coma performance doesn't bother me too much here). It also seems that you can reduce vignetting stopping down. With the Nisi I like the lower price, lighter weight, and I think the sunstar rendering is better than what I have seen in a number of the Laowa reviews. I have tried searching specifically for Laowa reviews on the RF mount to ensure I'm only looking at the newest iteration of its aperture blade set-up, but perhaps I need to do some more searching on this forum and also wait to see someone who ends up owning both.
It remains to see what sample variation is like for the new lens. The anecdotal reports on the Laowa seemed not great when it was first released.
I agree that flare performance is really important as it's hard to make use of those nice sunstars if you're focused on trying to avoid distracting artifacts from shooting into the sun. That's the main challenge I have currently with the 16-35GM in these situations.
Fred Miranda wrote:
You need to stop the lens down to at least f/3.2 for 'good' coma control with the Laowa. That's unfortunate.
We have many 14-15mm options now but if one intends to use this focal length for landscapes, I'd think that flare control should be a top priority. From the primes I've tested, the Voigtlander 15/4.5 III has the highest resistance to flare.
I am actually looking to buy back a good copy of the CV 15 even though I have the Sigma 14-24. If I have a choice, I would rather give my money to the Japanese, but that's a totally different matter...Choice is good though.
ketang wrote:
This and the Laowa 15mm seem to be the best options at that focal length that you can easily attach a polarizer to given the non-removable hood on the Voigtlander.
I regularly use a thin polarizer on my CV 15mm. The front is threaded, and accepts filters. The built in hood doesn't get in the way. Just not a deep stack of them, or the square filter setups.
Fred Miranda wrote:
Based on Bastian's review, another cons is below average flare resistance. That's a big deal for those shooting landscapes.
To be fair, he did say the hood didn't arrive in time for testing. I wouldn't expect it to do much in the corner of the building example, but it might've helped with the dock shot.
1bwana1 wrote:
I regularly use a thin polarizer on my CV 15mm. The front is threaded, and accepts filters. The built in hood doesn't get in the way. Just not a deep stack of them, or the square filter setups.
Thanks for noting that. But I would guess something like the Revoring with its built in filter would be hard to attach, no? I haven't yet received mine but I'm hoping that can save me the trouble of carrying multiple CPL-NDs and step-up rings and ideally any new UWA would work with it.
