Venus Optics Laowa 20mm F4 Zero-D Shift E-mount lens reviews
reviews found: 2
 waldo_posth#46955 date: Sep-10-2023 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 5 build: 5 distortion: 5 flare control: 4 overall: 4.7 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | The lens outresolves my Voigtlander Ultra-Wide Heliar 12mm F/5.6 when used as an alternative (applying perspective correction in Photoshop). My 16-35 Sony CZ FE F/4 at 16mm will lack a wide enought angle to compete with a 20mm shift pano. Sharpness is similar. My Zeiss Distagons (e.g. ZF 21mm F/2.8, Contax 28mm F/2.8, ZM 35mm F/1.4) are sharper and have more micro-contrast. I no longer have the Samyang 24mm F/3.5 T/S lens which is clearly inferior in handling, IQ and build. |
| price paid: | Euro 1200 |
| positive: | Built like a tank, very good rendering, very good colors - the IQ is absolutely up to date and on par with the current generation of UWAs by Sony, Sigma and Tamron. Sharpness is very good, stopped down even excellent. This also holds for the extended image circle which almost covers the fourfold space of the full frame sensor. There are two dedicated lens brackets/collars (Arca-Swiss compatible) which allow shifting the camera instead of the lens - to create shift panoramas without parallax error. I have the smaller one which lets one produce panoramas from three exposures extending either left/right or top/bottom. The larger one allows for stitching four exposures by shifting 45/135/225/315 degrees. Rotating the lens by 15 degree steps makes this possible - something not possible with Canon or Nikon tilt-shift lenses. The mechanical solutions that the lens provides (for shifting, rotating, using lens brackets) currently make it the most advanced shift lens available for full frame. The lens offers an easy way of handling, quick to familiarize with, and lending to a painless flow of using it. |
| negative: | It's a heavy (fully metal) and - for a 20mm F/4 lens - a very big lens. It lacks an electronic connection to the camera and does not provide EXIF data. It's a manual focusing lens - so no quick shots (except for using it within hyperfocal distances). Bring a tripod, even if you don't use the lens bracket/collar for shift panoramas. The lens can be vulnerable to flare if you do not control it by blocking light sources. The lens shade is effective, but both, tricky and crafty. Using you hand sometimes will be even more effective. |
| comment: | As a 20mm shift lens this is a standard lens for architecture photography, very versatile - due to the possibility of creating shift panos. For an architecture photographer the possibility of using the combo of Laowa 15mm and Laowa 20mm shift lenses is superior to the Canon combo of 17mm and 24mm EF TS-E lenses, IMHO (and you won't need an adapter). The lens excels in easy handling and produces great output. |
; 61MP| Snegren#46928 date: Feb-8-2023 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 5 build: 5 distortion: 5 flare control: 4 overall: 4.7 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | I have the Laowa 12mm f2.8 with shift adapter, which makes a 17mm f4. Wider, heavier and perhaps slightly sharper when shifted. But, 17mm is much wider than 20 mm, hard to compare. |
| price paid: | RRP Netherlands |
| positive: | Very solid mechanical build, typical of all Laowa lenses. Lens has filter thread (although 82 mm is very large, expensive filters). Warning: LEE filters wide angle adapter ring does not fit due to sunshade construction, it needs to be a normal one. 77 mm WA adapter with step down ring works without vignet but does not allow much portrait shift. Makes beautiful 14 point sunstars. Large rings for shift, focus and aperture adjustment. Infinity is correctly adjusted. |
| negative: | Heavy, lots of metal and glass. Sunshade can be in view when shifting (but this can be fixed by rotating the sunshade 90 degrees or by removing it altogether). Like on all wide angle lenses flare is always an issue. Stopped down not so bad, The double lobed sunshade seems adequate. Just deal with it. |
| comment: | The unique design feature of this lens, and the only reason to obtain it, is that it is a shift lens that provides in-camera composition with corrected perspective. It does that very well. Yes you can correct in post, but you have to think ahead and frame wider. I prefer in camera. The shift adjustment does not droop but can be positively locked anyway. The lens can be rotated to shift horizontally or vertically, or you if are very creative can be rotated in 15 degree increments with click stops to shift any way you want. The lens is all manual and has no electronics. As a shift lens is the opposite of a point-and-shoot lens, this is no issue. The aperture has light but noticeable clicks. I read in reviews that sharpness is not its main strength. However, with carefull focusing after shifting and stopping down to f/8 there is nothing to complain about, even on the 61 MP sensor of the A7RM4. |
reviews found: 2
rating summary
- total reviews: 2
- sharpness: 4.50
- color: 5.00
- build: 5.00
- distortion: 5.00
- flare control: 4.00
- overall: 4.70
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