Venus Optics unveils their new Laowa 15mm f/4.5 Zero-D Shift lens, the widest shift lens currently available for full-frame cameras.
The company is well known for making some outrageously good specialty lenses such as the 24mm f/11 probe, and 12mm Zero-D cine, among many others. And of course, who can forget their ground-breaking 25-100mm OOOM cine zoom.
Full-Frame and Medium Format Coverage
The latest Laowa 15mm TS lens boasts +/- 11mm shift amount when used with full-frame cameras, and even +/- 8mm on medium format cameras like the Fuji GFX100. Furthermore, the Zero-D designation gives this ultra-wide shift lens nearly no visible distortion when capturing breath-taking vistas.
With a gigantic angle of view of 110 degrees, the Laowa 15mm f/4.5 Shift can covers monstrous 65mm image circle. And of course, this is excellent for architecture photographers especially when shooting interiors in tight spaces.
Perfectly Straight Lines for Architecture Photography
The shift capability allows photographers to capture straight lines of buildings, which is a must in architecture photography.
Furthermore, the new Laowa shift lens allows for both horizontal and vertical shift, as well as diagonal giving you even more options to capture super-wide perspectives when stitching in post.
Explore more Laowa lenses on the blog here!
Advanced Optical Formula and Zero-D(istortion)
Additionally, the lens’ optical formula is comprised of 17 elements arranged in 11 groups with aspherical elements. In addition to the Zero-D design, the lens also comes with a brand new lens coating. And according to Venus Optics, it is “…a significant improvement on the chromatic aberration, flaring and ghosting control.”
The advanced optical design off the new Laowa Shift lens gives photographers access to edge-to-edge sharp images free of chromatic aberration.
360-degrees Rotation and Close Focusing Distance
Impressively enough, the new Laowa 15mm shift lens has a minimum focusing distance of just 20cm. This means you can capture macro-like photos with a surreal perspective.
Furthermore, the rotation function enables photographers to change the direction of the shift easily by pressing the silver unlock button. This provides more flexibility when composing your shots in both landscape and portrait orientation. The lens barrel can be rotated through 360-degrees, with clicks every 15-degrees.
Explore a Huge Range of Laowa lenses on Amazon!
In addition, Venus Optics is also providing a tripod lens support that has been custom designed for the new Shift lens. With this attachment, photographers will have a much easier time filming panoramas and then stitching in post-production.
Laowa 15mm Zero-D Shift – Available Lens Mounts
The new Laowa shift lens will be available in Canon EF and Nikon F (at launch) followed by Canon RF, Nikon Z, Sony FE mounts later.
However, as this is a manual focus lens you can also adapt the EF version to Sony E mount for example and use it on cameras like the Sony a7III, or Sony a7R IV.
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Even though this lens quite a niche lens for landscape and architecture photography, it works very well for video too, as demonstrated by this demo by DSI Pictures below:
Price and Availability
The new Laowa 15mm f4.5 Zero-D Shift is available to pre-order for $1,199 USD directly from Venus Optics.
Shipping is estimated as follows for the different mounts:
- Canon EF and Nikon F – shipping late November 2020
- Canon RF, Nikon Z and Sony FE – coming in February 2021.
