Laowa 7,5mm f/2 Ultra Wide for MFT -manual goodness
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ก.พ. 2019
- My review of the Laowa 7,5mm f/2 ultra wide lens for the micro4/3 system. This is an attractive choice, if you are looking for a compact fast wide angle. Manual focus is not a problem at all.
My Instagram: / sulantoblog
![LAOWA 7.5mm F2 long term review [2021 - samples - tips]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/InJz8DReH3k/mqdefault.jpg)
Love your reviews. You hit all the key areas of interest.
Thank you!
Thank you for another excellent review!
As usual content well delivered.Well done
Much appreciated! Thanks.
Brilliant review and fantastic pictures!
Thanks a lot!
I used my 7.5 mm Laowa recently in a church in Mannheim, Germany mounted on my E-M10. Very pleased with the results! Color, contrast, sharpness all good, and vignetting not a problem as I often add a bit of vignetting in PP anyway!
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing this video. I bought that lens yesterday. I really like it. Subscribed your channel. Greetings from Sicily
Thanks. I hope you'll like the lens and make some nice images with it in Sicily.
I bought one of these recently. Very happy with the image quality. It's been great for shooting in aquariums. I just put a dab of glue on the threads of the lens hood to keep it on all the time rather than let it interfere with my photos or get lost.
Try PTFE tape. You can get it from any plumbers merchant. It's non adhesive and you won't run the risk of getting anything on the optics.
Thanks, well done! I have my new lens sitting right here and getting ready to give it a go.
Thanks! I hope you'll like the lens.
Man! You are good. Liked your pictures!
Thank you for those kind words.
Great review and fantastic images - subscribed :)
Thank you!
The Laowa is lovely lens which I use on my travels. It's excellent inside cathedrals, churches, palaces, castles etc. Gives an immersive feeling.
It sure is a nice lens and very compact too.
This lens was definitely at my shortlist. But two weeks ago ... in a weak moment... I accidentally bought the Panasonic Leica 8-18. It is much bigger ... in grams and in Euros 😇 but it’s worth every extra gram. I like it so much!
Thank you for your very thorough and informative review!
PS: This week I’m in Helsinki for some sightseeing. My girlfriends brother is living in Kauniainen. I have to go to Oddi ... thanks for the tips 😉
Thanks for your comment. The zoom is very nice too, but also a very different lens.
great advice for a wide angle lens!
Thank you.
Looks like a very good lens.
Peter Forsgård It’s nice! Haven’t yet had time to test astrophoto with it, but hopefully soon...📷
Great video!
I used Lumix G9 with G vario 7-14mm F4 , it will be interesting how this Laowa 7.5mm compare to 7-14mm
Laowa just came out with a t2.1 cine version of this lens. Maybe you can get your hands on one and do a comparison between the two for both video and photos? I'm tempted to get the cine lens just because of no focus breathing and I can use follow focus with it on my gimbal
I use the Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 for Nikon with the viltrox speed booster adapter. Creates stunning images, and is much brighter! Also takes 77mm filters so convenient if you have another system like I do.
I'm happy that works for you and I believe you can make great images with that set up.
Lightweight version (which I own) has excellent build quality.
Light weight version has a thin line around lens body. The normal version has a thin blue line around lens body.
It's a great portable size lens for my EM10ii, and will also be a good size for my future GX10. Laowa M43 lenses are fulfilling M43 original core mission of small, light, high quality, and reasonably affordable.
So far I haven't used a filter with this lens, and probably won't ever need to because my only filter is a linear polarizer (which works great with contrast AF). I only use the polarizer on lenses when I want more color saturation and less contrast on sunny days, or darker, bluer sky. However, the Laowa 7.5mm and 9mm give such good color that I have no need for polarizer on Laowa lenses.
I plan to put a little bit of either clear or black fingernail polish on hood mount just prior to mounting hood. That will permanently attach hood in it's proper position.
The focus ring has a high resistance, which is perfect for how I use this lens. I set it for zone focusing and it stays how I want it.
The small/thin aperture ring is fine for me, but I'm in a climate where I never wear gloves.
I like the Laowa 7.5mm, but I love the Laowa 9mm because it has no barrel distortion (none that I can see) and excellent image quality in every regard. So I can use Laowa 9mm to shoot architecture jpg with no need for post processing.
Mr Sulanto, I love your photos. Especially the ones that show signifigant converging lines into the distance. Good stuff!
Thank you for sharing!
I have one, it saved me money on the very expensive lumix wide angle zoom and does the job for me
Some sellotape will stop the lens hood from moving or falling off 😂📷👍
thanks for this review. what is your favorite mft/lumix wide angle lens for landscape/architecture? thanks!
Thanks. I don't shoot that much landscape or architecture, so I really don't have a favorite lens for that. I'd be happy with almost any lens in the 7-17mm range😀
Thanks. I live in a humid tropical island south of China. This lens is not weather sealed. Do you think I'd be better of with an Olympus 7-14 which is weather tight? I prefer the Laowa. Will the humidity get in the lens after some time?
I don't have enough experience to say much to that, I live very far north. But, I think if you can store the lens in a dry place when you are not using it, you should be fine.
I may buy this lens but I'm not sure if the NO EXIF data is a big problem? Do you need this for image processing afer? All my actual lenses are lumix with electronics inside... I'm looking for a cheap wide lens. I like the rectilinear aspect of this lens.
I don't think it's a big problem and not needed for post processing. You just can't see afterwards which lens you used by looking at the EXIF.
Reminds me of my ZD 7-14 Four Thirds lens and Samyang 7.5mm MFT Fisheye. In daytime I rarely adjust the f/no. For 7-14 I prefer f/8 because the field is so wide that near objects look softer so the f/8 gives me more DOF. The Samyang fish is easier star bursts from street lights and the sun - this Laowa's starbursts look quite attractive and happen even at f/4 from your shots.
The reason why the coating is called Frog Coating is because Laowa 老蛙 means “Old Frog” in Chinese.
I think manual focus for this lens is easy and suitable and the price is not high but not cheap, cheap?
Thanks for your comment, Ananda.
Thanks Matti, always here to help
Great video - subscribed - do you have to change the settings in the menu when you mount the lens 💁🇩🇰
Thanks. You have set the IBIS, but that's it.
Sulantoblog, to achieve the front and back sharpness even at a relatively wide open f4, do you recall where you focused at? Also, did you find infinity to be not at the physical stop, but just before the stop, somewhere in the middle or slightly before the infinity icon on the lens? I have this lens, and I am trying to achieve the excellent results that I see in your video. Thanks.
Thanks for your comment. I focused on the part of the image that I thought was the most important. It's normal that the infinity is not at the hard stop, because the lens needs some room for thermal expansion. The infinity is not the same if you are in +35 C or in -24 C.
@@mattisulanto Interesting. Sulantoblog, thank you!
do you have issues with taking video on this lens on a g9? i've seen a video where there is an inordinate amount of shakiness, which is odd because even though it has no lens stabilization i thought ibis would take care of it. if i need an ultrawide (rectilinear) for video indoors would you suggest this or the 8-18? on the one hand the pana leica will give me dual IS and aF, but the laowa is one stop brighter.
I don't own the lens and returned it after my review. During my review I didn't see any strange behavior, but I shot mostly photos. I have the 8-18mm and I like it a lot, however you don't get Dual IS with it, because the lens has no IS. I have a video on the Dual IS, if you are interested, please search my channel.
@@mattisulanto thanks for the response. I've now seen another video where the laowa displays excessive shakiness even with IBIS so it is a "feature" of the lens it sounds like and not just a one off defective unit. I guess I might have to give up on that extra stop of light.
Thanks for the review. I like the lens as well, but the €500.- price mark makes it expensive for what it’s worth. Love it but I’ll pass unless it goes down to €300.-
peter forsgard brought me too here.
i use an olympus and the lens is a 7artisans 7.5 mm 2.8mm.
but i can´t use focus peaking . do you have an idea why not works?
I'm sorry, but I can't help with Olympus. It should work though.
Eduardo , que tal es la calidad del Artisans? estoy dudando con el Samyang 7.5. No es una fotografia que vaya a practicar mucho, solamente jugar un poco macro extremo o arquitectura
@ por el precio que tiene, la calidad no es nada mala. La otra opcion que barajaba era el laowa 7.5, pero es 4 veces mas caro. Uno es rectilineo y el otro no, pero no puedo pagar 4 veces mas.
@ mira una comparativa que hace steve lavikka del pixco (es igual al 7artisans) con el samyang/rokinon.
Focus peaking must be turned on AND you need to choose manual focus in the menus.
How does one determine where to set the aperture on the older model? Thanks!
I don't understand your question.
@@mattisulanto How do we know how to set the aperture dial on a lens if the lens is not communicating with the camera body? Thanks again.
@@georgemohring5348 You turn the aperture ring on the lens until you have your desired aperture. However, you can't use P or S modes, because your camera can't control the aperture.
Blue rim is the standard. Red rim is for the drone.
Matti, thanks for this video and your street photography is amazing. Question: shooting aerial mounted & wifi remoted with this lens, how should I set my ISO in a GH5? Auto? Planning on leaving it at 5.6 and focus close to infinity.. Thanks and Merry Christmas! - Mark PS - see my documentary Alaska Long Hunters @ www.alaskalonghunters.com free on Vimeo..
Laowa mean 'old frog'