So… That New (Inhales Deeply) Venus Optics Laowa 10mm f/2.8 Zero-D FF Autofocus Lens.

Let us just get this out of the way. The <inhales deeply> Venus Optics Laowa 10mm f/2.8 Zero-D FF Autofocus Lens.

I want one.

There I said it. Will I be getting one?

Not likely.

Why not?

(Wow. I am imagining you asking a lot of questions today.)

Not for any of these sensible reasons below.

• In my limited experience, AF is not really needed at this wide a focal length.
  • Past a short distance pretty much everything is in focus at infinity usually.
• I do not really have a use case for a 10mm lens.
  • Real estate, landscape, and astrophotography are not things I tend to pursue.
• While f/2.8 is useful for low light a thin depth of field is not much use unless very close to the subject.

How do I know that those sensible reasons will not stop me from buying a lens? Because I own this.

And two of the three bullets above apply to it also. But it has a couple advantages over the Laowa 10mm f/2.8.

• It costs considerably less new and if memory serves I bought mine used so I saved more.
  • One might raise the point about AF but the MF variant costs the same.
• It is also a fisheye lens.

That last one may cause some confusion understandably. Would not a rectilinear lens be more desirable and even likely more expensive. Fair point. But hear me out.

A rectilinear lens will always be a rectilinear lens.

When hit with the appropriate Lightroom stick, aka the Rokinon 7.5 Fisheye lens profile in this case, a fisheye image…

…can be turned into a reasonable facsimile of a rectilinear image.

Now the Laowa lens puts up a good fight.

• One must credit the Laowa with its 1mm wider focal length. Every mm counts this wide.
• It does have AF.
• Since it is a dedicated rectilinear lens I imagine it would have better rectilinear IQ than a corrected fisheye image.
• I have had a good experience with another wide rectilinear Laowa lens.
• From what I am reading it may be built better.

But from my experience, the build quality of the TTArtisans is also quite good. And plus, while it means nothing regarding IQ, I do rather like the TTArtisan’s gaping maw of a front element.

But if I am honest…

Money tree in hand I would have already ordered the Laowa also.

Please notice, I said also. I very briefly considered trading the TTArtisan lens towards the Laowa but that made no sense. I like having a fisheye lens so it is worth far more to me than what I would get for it.

If I were sensible I would not own either. I cannot remember the last time I used the 11mm fisheye. But I like having it around just in case nonetheless.

So for me, I guess the TTArtisan makes more “sense” to have?… Anyhoo.

As always do whatever floats your boat. Want the Laowa, get the Laowa. Want a wide lens that loses AF, adds fisheye to the table along with corrected rectilinear images, and costs considerably less then go with the TTArtisan lens.

I really need to get the TTArtisan out and take it for a spin. Until then I will add a few prior sample images after the close of this post.

Happy capturing.

-ELW