Laowa's latest low-distortion wide-angle prime is now available in Canon EF and Nikon F mounts
(Image credit: Laowa)
Venus Optics has launched Laowa 14mm f/4 Zero-D lens for full-frame DSLRs. The mirrorless version of the lens was launched last year, but now the design has been reconfigured to suit the longer back-focus requirements of Canon and Nikon DSLRs. As the name suggests, the lens creates a near-distortion-free image from a lens with an superwide angle of view.
Costing $499, the manual-focus lens offers an impressively short 14.5cm minimum focusing distance makes macro-like images possible – but the focal length will make the lens appeal most to landscape and architectural photographers.
The newly developed 13 elements in 10 groups optical design for the 14mm f/4 has two extra-low dispersion elements and two pieces of aspherical glasses to eliminate the color fringing and distortion. The lens has five aperture blades, which create crisp 10-point sunstars from specular highlights, when stopped down.
The new Laowa 14mm f/4 is the first lens in the Zero-D range to get a focusing scale adjustment system. This feature allows easy focus calibration against users’ own cameras - allowing you to set the infinity point precisely on the infinity mark - which should be particularly helpful for astrophotography.
Mount: Canon EF, Nikon F Full frame: Yes Autofocus: No Image stabilization: No Lens construction: 13 elements in 10 groups Angle of view: 114° Diaphragm blades: 5 Minimum focusing distance: 0.145m Maximum magnification ratio: 0.3x Filter size: 67mm Dimensions: 72.5 x 75mm (Canon), 72.5 x 73mm (Nikon) Weight: 360g (Canon), 320g (Nikon)
Chris George has worked on Digital Camera World since its launch in 2017. He has been writing about photography, mobile phones, video making and technology for over 30 years – and has edited numerous magazines including PhotoPlus, N-Photo, Digital Camera, Video Camera, and Professional Photography.
His first serious camera was the iconic Olympus OM10, with which he won the title of Young Photographer of the Year - long before the advent of autofocus and memory cards. Today he uses a Nikon D800, a Fujifilm X-T1, a Sony A7, and his iPhone 15 Pro Max.
He has written about technology for countless publications and websites including The Sunday Times Magazine, The Daily Telegraph, Dorling Kindersley, What Cellphone, T3 and Techradar.
