Laowa 15mm f/2 FE Zero-D Lens for Sony FE

USE - for my A7rii.Travel,rentals,business,casual landscape,amateur videos.There are limited choices for wide angle fast lenses with Sony.I'm a former Canon guy 5D,6D,rebels etc.Happy I finally went mirrorless with Sony but miss the Canon lens variety from L to fantastic plastic.Studied alot before buying.Samyang Rokinon were tempting and cheap but too much distortion and no filters made them a NO. FEAR-I was Afraid of Manual focus and buying Laowa.Been a long time since focusing manual and had split screen/prism aids.But its OK,even if you've had no experience.Sony has focus magnifier,Also image stabilizer and focus is easier in wide angle in most situations, The lens is fast and with in camera stabilization you can increase a couple f stops and get near and far objects in good focus.With even very basic post process like magic wand freebie programs,you can under expose and pull your pic out of shadows with great depth of field.Also you get better at focusing quickly without using the magnifier for travel and casual video in most light. QUALITY - up with the best of Canon and Nikon.Weight is fine for Sonys and the lens is not huge and intimidating. Conclusion - value and best choice for amateurs to use.Try it you'll be happy.

So far I am really enjoying this lens. I will admit I bought this lens from the particular seller because they stated the ability to return in 30 days. I shoot with a Sony a7 and was needing a wide angle fast lens for astral photography. This is a manual lens which reduces some use of this lens for say movie lens for wide angle shots or anything with action in it. However, as a landscape lens it can really do a great job. I highly recommend using the zoom focus function and I even set my c3 button to pull that up when using this lens because otherwise its difficult to get sharp focus especially at night. I always shoot manual focus at night and typically use a flashlight to set focus on an area about 75 yards away then leave it but I found with this wide angle it was a bit more difficult to get perfect sharpness. So, just take your time in focusing. I do notice that the focus ring tends to have all the focus that matters in a very short amount of turn. This could be part of the difficulty I find in getting the sharpness I need. Not saying it isn't possible just that a micro movement of the ring makes for a large shift in focus. Aside from focus the colors are good, I don't see a lot of aberrations or vignetting. It is a heavy lens and very solid built. Should last a long time. Since competing lenses are more than twice as much, it's hard to beat this one at least in the short term. David Mays jdavidmays.smugmug.com

This lens is AMAZING. I use it on my Sony a7iii full frame camera It is a full frame lens It is extremely sharp. Sharpest lens I’ve used so far! It’s a manual only lens The only thing negative I have to say about it is the distortion and vingetting in the corners but this is my first ultra wide angle lens and according to everyone else, it has less distortion than other wide angle lenses. So I guess that’s a good thing. Both things can be fixed pretty well in post too so it’s not a big deal. The build quality is amazing. Also, it arrived packaged and sealed very well. Was highly impressed. Overall, I give it 5 stars and would highly recommend this lens! The pics attached are of the packaging and of worship at my Sunday morning church service.

Love the build quality, I was really impressed with the packaging and just everything about the lens instantly satisfied me. Minus the fact that you can't take off the lens hood with the lens cap on that's a bit odd but I love how the lens hood is metal. Picture quality is pretty awesome I hoped it would be slightly sharper but I probably just need more practice with it. Obviously it's distorted and stretched on the edges but nothing looks warped. Did notice a little vignetting but nothing you can't easily fix in post. I just really love how the colors come out in this lens and the background blur is niiiiiice. Happy I bought this. The frog eye coating or whatever they put on the lens is pretty awesome too, It really feels like it will repel dirt, dust, and water.

Maybe I’m being too harsh for a $700 lens, but I’m old enough to feel like $700 should buy me a sharp lens. In most shots I see little benefit to this over the $250 Rokinon APS equivalent. It’s not *bad* but it’s not nearly as great as reviews led me to expect. I buy manual focus lenses mostly for night sky, challenging focus environment to be sure. But in 250 sequential shots of the northern lights, focused on an a7iii with the focus magnifier on an object at 25 yards at f/8, nothing is acceptably sharp to print past 16x20. I’m really frustrated and now feel that I will always need to check focus with a large screen during every session with this lens. It’s just not sharp enough for a modern sensor. Can’t upload photo due to pointless limitations of the Amazon app, sorry. I did a 300-ish shot time lapse of the northern lights over a camp fire. It looks good at screen resolution but at 100% everything is a bit soft, foreground and background alike. Stopping down doesn’t help. I can’t help but conclude this is a one trick pony. Sure the rectangles are square but that’s pointless if the stars are fuzzy. I guess this is the best lens ever if you’re shooting real estate for Zillow, but it’s kind of trash for art.

Built quality is great, a full metal body. I use it on my a7r3 and the images are pretty sharp. The only flaw I'd say is that flaring could be better, but when you consider its price, it's not really a thing tos stress. Overall it's nice. 5stars.

Based upon the numerous reviews and image samples I've seen, I have no doubt that this is a usually a superb lens offering the solid build and small size that I desire for my landscape work. Unfortunately, the IQ of the copy I received was totally unacceptable across the entire frame at f/2 and f/2.8, and was only marginally usable from f/4 to f/11, and then only in the very center of the frame. So my low rating of this lens is more a reflection of Laowa's quality control than what another copy of this lens might deserve.

I'm by no means an expert but I've dabbled in photography for years. I think this lens does what it says and my pictures look amazing. I don't even like manual lenses but this one is actually pretty easy to use and gives a great result even when you aren't entirely sure your focus is on point. My pictures are vibrant, detailed, and look like it could be taken by a professional. I don't think I'll ever take out my kit lens again at this rate. Sure there are always better lenses out there but this gets the job done for less and you'll still have fun with it. After all, everyone knows what Sony lenses cost. It's a must have for vacation and adventures.