Laowa do make some very good lenses. I have used a couple of their macro lenses and they never disappoint with excellent sharpness. I used them a lot of the Fuji system and got some lovely shots. The only disadvantage (and its debatable it is with macro) is they lacked autofocus if they had that too you could have used them for a lot more of a general lens too.
When I switched over to Sony I purchased another Laowa lens (90mm 2x "Dreamer" f2.8) and it is very good, however I would like to try focus stacking and for that I would need to use a Sony lens so have just ordered the new Sony macro 100mm f2.8 so will be giving that a try. I doubt there will be much in it in regards to optical quality though as with Fuji their Fuji Macro (80mm if memory serves me well) was on par with Laowa in terms of sharpness etc.
I was so impressed with this lens I just picked up the 15mm f/1.7 for my APS-C kit and it seems like a winner, as well. I do some videos for my online teaching and I think it will be absolutely perfect for that, but the AF is fast + smooth and it seems sharp like the 14/4.
It might help users to know a little about the unusual performance profile of the mighty V14/4. This bar chart comes from Optical Limits (I tend to think of them as the Outer Limits, an old sci-fi show).
It presents, in stark detail, just how much you lose by using f11 and even f8. Viltrox have some super-talented optical engineers, that much is obvious by now despite making their first full frame lens in October 2018. With this 14mm one, they front-end loaded the image quality - a sensible move in such a wide lens.
Note that you lose *everywhere* with each stop down you make - with every move you make! Centres- midframe, corners, they all lose. You don't see that too often. I try to stick to f5.6, and this ploy is helped along by the pleasant-to-the-eye gentle focus fade, another V trademark. Losing one third of image quality is not in your best interest, for many compositions.
Got one of these today.
Indeed it is really sharp! Unfortunately only the left corners are really sharp, the right edge is significantly softer. Decentered or tilted.
Will send it back and order a new one.
