fbpx

DIY Photography

Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time

Search

Submit A Story

Laowa has released six lenses for the Leica/Sigma/Panasonic L mount system

by Leave a Comment

Laowa has released six of their popular lenses for the L mount system. The lenses include three wide angles (one zoom and two primes) along with three of their macro lenses. Laowa says that the new L-mount versions of the lenses are compatible with the Sigma fp, the Panasonic S1 series (including the S1R and S1H) as well as the Leica SL/CL cameras.

The lenses are all manual focus and the list includes some of Laowa’s favourites, including the 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 (the widest full-frame rectilinear lens that exists), the 12mm f/2.8 Zero-D, and their 100mm f/2.8 2X Ultra-Macro, that we reviewed here.

[Read More…]

Laowa releases three new 7.5mm, 9mm and 15mm cine lenses for MFT, Super 35 and Full-Frame

by Leave a Comment

Venus Optics, the company behind Laowa, has announced three new cine lenses. They are the Laowa 7.5mm T2.1 Cine for Micro Four Thirds, the Laowa 9mm T2.9 Zero-D Cine for Super35 and the Laowa 15mm T2.1 Zero-D Cine for “large format” (full-frame) video-capable cameras. Laowa says that all three lenses feature the same optical system as their photography lens equivalents, the 7.5mm f/2, 9mm f/2.8 and 15mm f/2.

[Read More…]

Laowa just made the worlds widest rectilinear full frame lens… and its AWESOME!

by 12 Comments

We recently released some footage of Laowas 9mm f5.6 Dreamer. This Full-frame rectilinear lens blew us away, but we needed to get more footage to really understand the lens.

It seems like a silly concept to describe how wide 9mm is. However, the first time you open the camera you realize, WOW!… that’s wide. Most of the time, when using the lens you end up looking around to see JUST how wide it is! I found the perfect shot to describe it!

[Read More…]

The impressive Laowa 100mm f/2.8 macro lens is now available for Nikon Z and Canon RF

by 3 Comments

Launched in the summer of 2019, the Laowa 100mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro APO lens turned out to be a pretty impressive piece of gear. It offers 2:1 magnification as well as infinity focus, making it a really versatile lens. And if you shoot a Canon or Nikon mirrorless, rejoice, because this lens is now available in Nikon Z and Canon RF mounts.

[Read More…]

Laowa is developing six new f/0.95 lenses for Sony FE – but the first won’t be here until 2021

by Leave a Comment

Laowa announced back in January that a new series of super-fast f/0.95 “Argus” lenses would be coming at some point, although there were no real clues as to what they might be. At first it was thought that they would be available for different mirrorless and DSLR systems, both full-frame and APS-C.

Fuji Addict suggested that the first might fall somewhere between 20-35mm. We still don’t know what the focal length might be, but now Sony Alpha Rumours reports that there will be six lenses coming for full-frame Sony E mount, although the first probably won’t be available until 2021.

[Read More…]

First exclusive footage samples of Laowa’s upcoming 9mm Full-Frame rectilinear lens

by 1 Comment

The Laowa Venus Optics 9mm Full-Frame Lens f5.6 Dreamer is just one of Venus Optics’ newest upcoming lenses. At 9mm you’re probably associating it with a fisheye. This lens, however, is rectilinear by design. We got our hands on an early pre-production model and took it for a spin. Turns out 9mm is incredibly wide

[Read More…]

Here are the first images taken with the Laowa 15mm f/4.5 full frame shift lens

by 4 Comments

Here is some exciting news. A while back Sony Alpha Rumors reported on a new Laowa 15mm f/4.5 full-frame W-Dreamer shift lens. We now have an exclusive look at the image this lens produces.

While the full specs are secretly kept close to Laowa’s chest, we do have some photos of the lens used on a Fuji GFX100.

[Read More…]

Can you tell the difference between a $1,500 lens and a $35,000 lens?

by 6 Comments

In the last few years, cine-grade gear is becoming more affordable. When I started shooting video, Cine PL lenses were basically a dream to rent. Let alone own. Laowa has been a key player in bridging that gap as they bring their new line of cinema lenses. They really knocked it out the park with their new Laowa 12mm t/2.9 Zero-D Cine. This video shows exactly just how well the $1500 dollar cine lens stacks up against an ARRI Ultra Prime 12mm T2.0 F Lens $35,000 lens.

[Read More…]

Yongnuo, Mediaedge and Venus Optics (LAOWA) have joined the Micro Four Thirds System Standard Group

by Leave a Comment

Well, this is interesting. Panasonic and Olympus have officially welcomed three new companies into the Micro Four Thirds System Standard Group. Those companies are Venus Optics, Mediaedge and, surprisingly, Yongnuo.

The Micro Four Thirds System standard was established by Olympus and Panasonic back in 2008. They’ve been working together to develop and promote the system ever since. A joint statement was issued by Panasonic and Olympus welcoming the new members to the group.

[Read More…]

Here are the first images taken with the Laowa 9mm f/5.6 full frame lens

by 16 Comments

A little while back, Laowa (A.K.A. Venus optics) announced a very exciting new 9mm f/5.6 full-frame lens. (Laowa already has a 9mm 2.8 lens for crop sensors, but this lens is for full-frame and lower aperture).

One of the exciting features of this lens is that it is a Rectilinear, low distortion lens and does not create any fish-eye distortion. It is not as distortion-free as Laowa’s Zero-D, but still has very (very!) low distortion for a 9mm lens.

We managed to get our hands on a few sample photos for the lens made with various cameras, click on each image for larger resolution.

[Read More…]

Recent Posts