Laowa 7.5mm f/2 MFT Review

Compact and lightweight; Extremely sharp, particularly in the centre of the image; Good for low-light shooting;

Corners quite soft at large apertures; Strong vignetting; No exposure data passed to camera;

Venus Optics Laowa 7.5mm f/2 Review

The Venus Optics Laowa 7.5mm f/2 ($499) is one of the smallest, widest lenses you can get for a Micro Four Thirds camera. If you crave wide angles, that's a good thing, especially when you consider that the lens captures twice the light as competing zoom options from Olympus and Panasonic, and takes shots without the fish-eye distortion you get with lenses like the Olympus M.Zuiko ED 8mm F1.8 Fisheye Pro. Of course, you also don't get autofocus, which can be a turnoff for photographers who like to snap quick shots. If you're willing to live without that convenience, and are after a wide, fast lens, the Laowa 7.5mm is good performer. Design The Laowa 7.5mm is very small, especially when you consider its f/2 aperture and ultra-wide field of view. Tiny wide-angle lenses are made possible by the mirrorless designs of Micro Four Thirds cameras—to make a similar lens for an SLR, optical design has to be more complex, as the rear element of the lens can't sit close to the image sensor be...

The Venus Optics Laowa 7.5mm f/2 is a tiny ultra-wide lens for Micro Four Thirds cameras that minimizes distortion, but has a few optical drawbacks.

Compact; Ultra-wide field of view; Wide aperture design; 4.7-inch close focus

Soft edges at f/2; Heavy vignette; Manual focus isn't for everyone