Never let it be said that Chinese lens maker Venus Optics is afraid to take a risk with its Laowa lenses. From the very beginning of their existence, they have pushed the boundaries with what is possible in lens design, making lenses that no one else dares to make. They have done it again with the world’s widest Sony FE mount zoom lens, the Laowa 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 FE Zoom. That’s right, it is a full frame lens that can go an insane 130 degrees wide, but it is not a fisheye lens! The long end of its focal range is a very wide 18mm. Many full frame wide-angle zoom lenses begin at 16mm, but with Laowa, that’s near their long end!
Every lens is a series of design tradeoffs and Laowa has elected to design the 10-18mm “C-Dreamer” to be incredibly small and compact. It dwarfed by the Sony 12-24mm F4 G Master lens, though that lens doesn’t go nearly as wide as the Laowa goes a full 8 degrees wider! The Laowa is only 90.9mm long (3.58”) and quite narrow at 70mm (2.76”). Despite its compact nature, however, it does have some heft weighing 496g as it is made from premium optical glass and metals.
Two interesting features worth noting. One is the manual aperture ring can operate with traditional aperture clicks, or, by selecting the “Declick” setting on the barrel switch, it becomes a clickless aperture – great for video aperture racking.
The second cool design feature solves a basic problem with such an extremely wide lens – filtering. Vignetting from lens filters are a common problem with ultra-wide angle lenses because the view is so wide. Laowa solves this problem by utilizing a rear, screw-in 37mm filter that is part of the optical formula, so you do have to keep a filter on. What’s great, however, is that you can swap out that filter for an ND filter, for example, and get some killer long exposure shots.
We’ve noted the manual aperture ring, and the lens is also manual focus only. This isn’t as big a deal as you might think, however, as the depth of field is massive with such a wide angle lens. It’s very easy to have everything in focus and not have to think about focus at all unless you want to move close…and this lens can get very close! It can focus down to only 15 centimeters (from the camera’s sensor), and thus allows for a very strong 0.25x magnification figure. This allows one to get some truly unique images.
Another key ingredient in the design is that Venus Optics spent a lot of time developing the aperture iris blades to produce really fantastic-looking sunstars. The aperture diaphragm has only 5 blades, but that produces incredibly beautiful 10-point sunstars. These look great with the actual sun, yes, but also with any bright points of light, like these images of a Christmas tree. They look fabulous in city scenes, too.
Laowa chose to make this lens compact and easy to bring along, which means that there are a few compromises elsewhere. This lens isn’t as sharp at a pixel level as other Laowa lenses like the 12mm F2.8 or 15mm F2 Zero D lenses that I’ve reviewed. I can see good sharpness when stopped down in the center two-thirds of the image, but the extreme edges are a little softer. There is also some persistent vignette at 10mm that remains even at smaller apertures like F8 or F11 (the fact that I’m primarily shooting snowy scenes really overemphasizes this). It has a bit more distortion than those lenses as well, though this is still mild. The 10-18mm also has two other Laowa faults – the metal lens cap that fits over the built-in lens hood falls off easily (use some foam tape in there to help provide some grip!) and in bright areas like the snow, the vignetted area looks a bit blue-green.
I view this lens as being for two particular different kinds of photographers. The first is travel photographers who would like to have a dramatic perspective. Few lenses provide a more dramatic perspective than this one, but don’t want their wide-angle lens to dominate their bag. The compact nature of the Laowa 10-18mm makes it very easy to bring along as a supplementary focal length, and it will provide some truly unique images. In tight interior spaces where you can’t back up, the incredibly wide focal length will allow you to capture scenes that few other lenses can.
The second photographer that would benefit from this lens is one who values being able to capture unique, creative images that the average photographer cannot. Many photographers have no focal length wider than 24mm in their kit. Images you capture with the Laowa 10-18mm are radically different than ones at 24mm. It does take some skill to properly compose with very wide-angle lenses (and this is the widest I’ve ever handled), so you think a little different. However, if you value the global look of images more than technical perfection at a pixel level, you can get some truly unique, truly “wow” images with this lens.
The Laowa 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 FE Zoom isn’t for everyone, but if you are someone who is always looking for a wider perspective, this may be the perfect lens for you. It’s easy to bring along, and the uniquely dramatic perspective it provides will allow you to create images like few other optical instruments can make.
About the Author
Dustin Abbott is a full time pastor/part time photographer from Pembroke, Ontario who shoots professionally but primarily for capturing beauty and sharing it with others. www.dustinabbott.net
Nice review; not too caught in the maddening concentration on fine distinctions, which clearly would not allow this lens to shine. That it is an odd lens, prone to unusual perspectives is exactly why I would want a super wide angle zoom anyway. And the limitations are not overwhelming. Your tolerance suggests a kind spirit, no doubt of value in your ministry.