Laowa 15mm f/2 from Venus Optics is world’s fastest

By Daven Mathies Published September 14, 2016

Ahead of Photokina, Venus Optics has announced two new lenses for mirrorless cameras. The Laowa 15mm f/2 FE Zero-D follows in the footsteps of the previously unveiled 12mm f/2.8 Zero-D, promising a wide, 110-degree angle of view with near zero distortion on full frame cameras. If the claim holds up, this will be an excellent landscape and architecture lens.

Amazingly, despite the extreme wide angle and fast aperture, Venus Optics has managed to fit it with a standard 72mm filter thread. For landscape shooters, that means attaching an ND filter or polarizer is cheap and easy compared to the complex and expensive filter holder systems that are required for many ultra wide angle lenses.

Recommended Videos

The 15mm is built specifically for the Sony E mount, and Venus Optics has worked to control the size and weight of the lens in order to make it a good match for Sony’s full frame mirrorless cameras. This means the lens will not be compatible with most other mirrorless systems and especially not DSLRs — even with an adapter — because Sony’s E mount flange distance is so short.

The second lens introduced is the Laowa 7.5mm f/2 wide angle for Micro Four Thirds cameras (Panasonic and Olympus). Despite its very short focal length, this is still a rectilinear lens, which makes it the widest non-fisheye lens for the MFT system.

As MFT shooters may have noticed, this lens is half the focal length of the 15mm, which means it offers an equivalent field of view given the 2x crop factor of MFT sensors. Indeed, Venus Optics states it has a 110-degree angle of view, although note that it lacks the “Zero-D” designation, so it likely has more visible distortion than its full frame counterpart.

Designed with aerial photography in mind, such as when mounted to the DJI Inspire 1 RAW camera that uses the MFT mount, the 7.5mm weighs just 0.37 pounds (170 grams) and is only 55mm long.

Prototypes of the new lenses will be on display at Photokina next week, but final versions aren’t expected to ship until spring 2017. At this time, Venus Optics has not released pricing information on either lens.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Daven is a contributing writer to the photography section. He has been with Digital Trends since 2016 and has been writing…

Mobile

Phone cameras are so good, they’ve finally replaced my camera for work

Close up of the camera on the iPhone 16 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro.

For almost two decades, I’ve carried more than twenty pounds of electronics in my backpack for the slightest chance of needing to capture content for my professional life. My backpack usually contained my MacBook, a full-frame camera with a big lens, a tripod, and an assortment of video and audio gear that I always deemed essential.

As it turns out, over the past two years, many of these items were rendered obsolete, as many companies launched new products that were quickly able to replace technology that I previously considered irreplaceable.

Space

This is what happens ‘when you get two uber-geeks in space at the same time’

NASA's Don Pettit on the space station.

During NASA’s first-ever Twitch livestream from the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday, current station inhabitant Don Pettit and recent returnee Matthew Dominick talked about what it’s like to live and work in a satellite 250 miles up.

Photography

The GoPro Hero 13 Creator Edition is $100 off, but not for long

A person holding the GoPro HERO13 Creator Edition in front of the ocean.

Outdoor enthusiasts who want to buy a new action camera should go for the brand that popularized the product and look for GoPro deals. Best Buy has an offer that's going to be hard to refuse, as it features the GoPro Hero 13 Creator Edition. From its original price of $600, it's down to just $500 as part of the retailer's Presidents' Day Sale. There are still a few days remaining before the $100 discount ends on February 17, but we highly recommend completing your purchase as soon as possible because stocks may run out before then.

Why you should buy the GoPro Hero 13 Creator Edition
The star of the GoPro Hero 13 Creator Edition is the GoPro Hero 13 Black, which is the latest version of the brand's popular line of action cameras. It's capable of recording video at up to 5.3K resolution, and you can grab photos of up to 24.7MP from your footage using the GoPro Quick app. The GoPro Hero 13 Black can also take videos that are slowed down by 13 times the normal speed, and it can last more than 5 hours on a single charge. The front and rear LCD screens will let you frame your shots perfectly, and the built-in buttons enable easy controls for lengthy sessions.