What’s best to celebrate a journey of 10 years in the realm of optics than to announce a lens that marks that path of innovation with another world’s first? That’s what Venus Optics though when their engineers started the project for the new Laowa 10mm f/2.8 Zero-D FF lens, which is the world’s first rectilinear 10mm full-frame lens with f/2.8 aperture and the first-ever auto-focus lens, for Sony E and Nikon Z mount, in Laowa’s lineup.
The 10mm is also the first Laowa lens equipped with autofocusing. AF is available for both Sony E and Nikon Z mounts. Embrace the convenience of autofocus and focus on composition and creative aspects. Now, the bad news for Canon users: although available for the RF mount, the lens does not offer AF, being a purely manual lens. The same happens with the version with L-mount, so remember this note when looking at the lens.
After a decade of innovation, Venus Optics continues to surprise the world and this lens keeps the trend. The Laowa 10mm f/2.8 lens delivers an unmatched ultra wide-angle shooting experience for photographers and video creators to achieve every new idea. The lens delivers, according to Venus Optics, “outstanding image quality” and close-to-zero distortion. Despite such an ultra wide-angle, the lens comes with a 77mm front filter thread, making it a powerful tool for photography and videography, from capturing one-of-the-kind landscapes, architecture, interior and astrophotography to stunning time-lapse and vlogging.
The Laowa 10mm f/2.8 Zero-D FF has pushed the boundary of the maximum aperture for the 10mm wide non-fisheye lens. The f/2.8 fast aperture opens up a lot more possibilities in low-light conditions and the remarkable 130.4° angle of view helps exaggerate the sense of space, allowing users to capture at an ultra-wide perspective which was never possible before. This one-of-a-kind perspective helps realize a lot of formerly impossible shots and expands the options in terms of visual storytelling.
A 10mm lens is usually a fisheye or heavily distorted. This full-frame 10mm optically suppresses distortion to a close-to-zero level, according to Venus Optics. Both horizontal and vertical straight lines can be maintained on the image from corner to corner, giving you a true 10mm experience even without any in-camera lens correction.
With a minimum focusing distance of 12cm, allowing you to get super close to the subjects and create interesting wide-angle macro style shots with nice separation between the object and background, the lens expands on what’s possible to achieve, as a conventional 12mm wide-angle lens usually can focus at distances close to 20cm.
Featuring 15 elements in 9 groups, including 2 aspherical glasses and 3 ED glasses, the Laowa 10mm f/2.8 Zero-D FF offers, according to Venus Optics, “outstanding image sharpness and CA control, ensuring that every detail is captured with precision and clarity.” Despite its incredible specification for full-frame cameras, the lens is only 7cm (2.79”) long and weighs 420g (0.93 lbs), providing the desired portability for photographers and videographers to explore and travel with ease.
The new Laowa 10mm f/2.8 Zero-D FF is currently pre-order via Venus Optics official website and authorized resellers. The US price for Laowa 10mm f/2.8 Zero-D FF is USD799 for all mounts (both AF and MF version are the same price). Pricing varies in different countries. Shipping starts from mid-March.