New Laowa 12mm f/2.8 Lite Zero-D FF lens review by Christopher Frost

Last week Venus Optics announced the new Laowa 12mm f/2.8 autofocus Full Frame E-mount lens. You can preorder it now at BHphoto, Venus-store, Amazon. At $699, it’s more affordable and easier to use than its 10mm sibling.  Christopher Frost reviewd the lens and these are his key findings:

Build & Handling
– Solid all-metal build with weather sealing gasket
– Available in a unique blurple finish
– Autofocus versions include a smooth manual focus ring and AF/MF switch
– Supports 72mm filters (thin ones recommended due to vignetting)

Image Quality
– Excellent sharpness from center to corners even at f/2.8 on 61MP sensors
– Slight chromatic aberration and vignetting in corners (can be corrected in post)
– Minimal distortion with in-camera corrections; close focus down to 14cm
– Slight coma at f/2.8, gone by f/4
– Nice sun stars from 5-blade aperture (on AF version)
– Flare can be an issue with strong light sources at image edges
– Close-up sharpness improves significantly by f/5.6

Autofocus
– Fast, quiet, and accurate in both AF-S and AF-C modes
– Early units may have AF lock-up issues (should be resolved in final versions)

Video Use
– Noticeable focus breathing
– Good choice for handheld vlogging and interior work due to its light weight and field of view

Conclusion
The Laowa AF 12mm f/2.8 Zero-D delivers superb corner-to-corner sharpness and excellent build for its price. Autofocus support makes it a standout in the ultra-wide category, especially for Sony and Nikon shooters. Just beware of flare and filter-induced vignetting. A great stills lens, potentially preferable to the older 10mm model.

Buy the Laowa 12mm f/2.8 Zero-D at BHphoto, Venus-store, Amazon.