Back to Venus Optics Lenses

Venus Optics 'Laowa' 9mm f/2.8 Zero-D Review

85

The Laowa 9mm f/2.8 Zero-D is an extremely wide-angle lens with a bright aperture that produces sharp images with low chromatic aberration. It is lightweight and well-built, making it a great option for landscape photographers.

The Laowa 9mm f/2.8 Zero-D lens is an exceptional choice for photographers looking for an extremely wide-angle lens with a bright aperture. The lens is well-built, lightweight, and produces sharp images with low chromatic aberration.

Pros
  • Extremely wide-angle with bright aperture
  • Produces sharp images with low chromatic aberration
  • Lightweight and well-built
  • Accepts 49mm filters
Cons
  • Resistance to bright light
  • Vignetting at wider apertures
  • Field curvature at f/2.8

The lens is well-built, lightweight, and accepts 49mm filters, making it a practical choice for landscape photographers.

The Venus Optics 'Laowa' 9mm f/2.8 Zero-D lens is an exceptional choice for photographers looking for an extremely wide-angle lens with a bright aperture. The lens is well-built, lightweight, and accepts 49mm filters, making it a practical choice for landscape photographers. The manual focus ring operates smoothly and quietly, and despite being a manual lens, it is easy to use with modern cameras that offer focus peaking and magnification. The lens produces sharp images with low chromatic aberration and good contrast, especially when stopped down to f/4 and beyond. However, there is some field curvature at f/2.8, which affects the sharpness of the corners. Despite this, the lens is capable of producing high-quality images with little distortion and a reasonably pleasant bokeh. Overall, the Laowa 9mm f/2.8 Zero-D lens ticks many boxes with its wide angle, bright aperture, close focusing capability, and compact, lightweight design. However, it does have some weaknesses, such as its resistance to bright light and the need to address vignetting when shooting at wider apertures. Despite these flaws, the lens is a great option for landscape photographers looking for a portable and high-quality wide-angle lens for their mirrorless APS-C cameras.

Overall, the Laowa 9mm f/2.8 Zero-D lens ticks many boxes with its wide angle, bright aperture, close focusing capability, and compact, lightweight design.

Source

This article is based on the review by

Christopher Frost

Christopher Frost

Christopher Frost is a YouTube channel dedicated to providing in-depth reviews and analyses of photography equipment, particularly lenses. Christopher Frost, the creator and host of the channel, is known for his thorough and detailed evaluations of various lenses from different manufacturers, including Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, and others.  To learn more, please visit the channel here.

See reviews