Venus Optics LAOWA 9 mm f/5.6 FF RL review - Summary

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Venus Optics LAOWA 9 mm f/5.6 FF RL

13 August 2020

Maciej Latałło

11. Summary

Pros:

solid, metal barrel of moderate physical dimensions,
very good resolution in frame centre,
good image quality on the edge of the APS-C sensor,
possibility of getting useful images on the edge of full frame,
sensible coma correction,
unique parameters.

Cons:

distinct chromatic aberration on the edge of APS-C sensor,
huge vignetting,
noticeable astigmatism,
performance against bright light leaves a lot to be desired.

Although it might be not exactly evident after a simple comparison of pros to cons, you deal here with a really well-put-together construction closed in a small, metal barrel. It is a lens with unique parameters and I don't mean here only its huge angle of view but also the minimum focusing distance. Taking into account the difficulty of the project the producers managed to avoid many problems. They also guaranteed the most important thing: very sharp images up from the maximum relative aperture in the frame centre and useful images practically across the frame in the f/8.0 – f/11 aperture range. Of course we mean here the area covering the bigger, full frame sensor. I suppose it is the most important thing a lens of such a type has to achieve in order to be called a success.

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Laowa decided to produce a very interesiting device – they risked a lot but the risk paid off and, once again, that innovative company can be called a winner. I am happy for two reasons: firstly, because the lens proved to be a hit and secondly, because while testing such an untypical isntrument I enjoyed myself enormously.