Archive 2023 · Horrendous Laowa 15/2 coma on Sony?

wuxiekeji
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Horrendous Laowa 15/2 coma on Sony?

Laowa 15/2 "Zero-D" on Sony FE at f/2.8.

Here's a crop from an image including the center and top edge. Is the coma supposed to be *this* bad? Are there better 15mm manual focus options? (Not looking for an AF lens.)

Sep 22, 2023 at 03:00 PM

MAubrey
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Horrendous Laowa 15/2 coma on Sony?

Yep, this is a known issue with the lens, though others have described as "not bad."
https://phillipreeve.net/blog/rolling-review-laowa-15mm-2-0-zero-d/#Coma

Some take it as good enough for the night work they do:
https://www.nationalparksatnight.com/blog/2019/12/14/getting-the-best-star-points-for-astro-landscapes-how-to-test-lenses-for-coma

Sep 22, 2023 at 04:31 PM

BastianK
Online
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Horrendous Laowa 15/2 coma on Sony?

Is that single shot or stacked?
Definitely that is not coma.
Either the lens is defective or there are other issues in the workflow.

Sep 22, 2023 at 04:38 PM

wuxiekeji
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Horrendous Laowa 15/2 coma on Sony?

This is a single shot. Also, those are not star trails, the sky doesn't move in that direction, and it's reproducible exactly as seen as such in several dozen shots.

Stopping down to f/5.6 gets rid of it but bleh I expected better at f/2.8.

I can focus it slightly differently to get the "batman" coma in the corners but then the center becomes blurry.

Are there any good 15/2.8 manual lenses out there?

Short of adapting a bulky 15/2.8 ZF Distagon or some such?

Sep 23, 2023 at 03:14 AM

BastianK
Online
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Horrendous Laowa 15/2 coma on Sony?

wuxiekeji wrote:
This is a single shot. Also, those are not star trails, the sky doesn't move in that direction, and it's reproducible exactly as seen as such in several dozen shots.

Stopping down to f/5.6 gets rid of it but bleh I expected better at f/2.8.

I can focus it slightly differently to get the "batman" coma in the corners but then the center becomes blurry.

Are there any good 15/2.8 manual lenses out there?

Short of adapting a bulky 15/2.8 ZF Distagon or some such?
Replace this defective copy of the 15mm 2.0.

Sep 23, 2023 at 06:30 AM

GHarris
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Horrendous Laowa 15/2 coma on Sony?

BastianK wrote:
Replace this defective copy of the 15mm 2.0.

Agreed, that is considerably worse than the performance of my Laowa 15 at f/2.8. It is not the best lens for coma by any means but this here is a defect.

Sep 23, 2023 at 11:53 AM

thrice
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Horrendous Laowa 15/2 coma on Sony?

As @BastianK@ said, this is not coma. This is a lens with a decentered/misaligned element.

Sep 23, 2023 at 11:13 PM


FM Forums \| Leica & Alternative Gear \| Join Upload & Sell

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.