Venus Optics LAOWA 15mm f/4 1:1 Wide Angle Macro

[calvin83]

The price in China is about 1.5 times of the Venus Optics 60mm. It should be available on their website soon.

Spec(in Chinese, the English website has not updated yet).
http://www.venuslens.com/index.php?c=content&a=show&id=42

Some details translated:

Shift range（APS-C only）±6mm

MFD 122mm

Minimum working distance(from subject to front element) 4.7mm

More photos and discussion(in Chinese)
http://forum.xitek.com/thread-1457710-1-1-2.html

[kds315*]

Interesting lens, yet the working distance is very short for a 15mm wide angle macro. I really wonder how they achieved those test shots with insects so close...

[calvin83]

They are experts on these kind of photography. That is the reason why they made both macro lens.

[iangreenhalgh1]

15mm sounds too short to be very practical to me, as Klaus says, the working distance will be very small.

[calvin83]

The lens is designed for those who like to include the subject and the surroundings at the same time. It does not replace longer FL macros.

[kds315*]

Of course not. I was just wondering how not to shy away those insects when shooting such wide angle macro.

[iangreenhalgh1]

It seems like it's more intended for table top work than field work.

[kds315*]

Well, I have experimented myself with such type of photography and finally ended up with a relay lens solution, just because of that. Most insects and animals just shy away when the photographer comes to close to them, so I still wonder how they coudl achieve that, except with animals being used to humans ...

[Olivier]

Nice shot, Klaus.
We can see you in the frog's eye

I use a Canon 100mm f2.8 macro with 30cm working distance, not to frighten insects.

[kds315*]

[kryss]

Great shot Klaus..........must try my Tamron 63b again.

[ZoneV]

[bernhardas]

edited

[kds315*]

It was a special magical moment indeed...

[DConvert]

It's not a lens for shooting macro's of timid insects (without leaving the camera & using a trigger) but I think it could be extremely useful as a UWA.
The shift ability will be useful for architecture, close focus gives it the ability to shoot close ups with the environment and it should serve fairly well for other UWA uses. OK I'd like it to be faster to shoot night skies - but that would push the price up & probably introduce all sorts of problems with IQ.

I think I want one!

For those whose Chinese is no better than mine here's a link with details in English:
http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/venus-announces-the-worlds-widest-11-macro-lens-15mm-f4-0/

[Variegator]

I have registered to give you a short personal review.
I got my 15mm last week and fell in love with it. The image quality is much better than expected, I'd call it even very good! It offers the possibility for very unusal photos if you get used to this lens.

I have tested it in close-up shots, architecture and landscape so far, using a Canon 6D and an IR-converted 5D (both are full frame cameras)

+:

• Very slight vignetting, which obviously increases when shifting
  
• Minimal CAs, that are easy to correct
  
• Very sharp in the centre, drops at the corners a bit.
  
• Shifting is possible even on full frame though not to the full extent and only if the lens hood is removed
  
• Sturdy construction, smooth handling of both the aperture ring and the focussing ring
  
• Colour rendition and contrast
  
• no hotspot on IR-modified camera
  
• minimum focus distance almost at the front element.
  

-:

• Moustache distortion, especially visible if you have straight lines in the lower quarter of the frame; rather strong barrel distortion at the centre
  
• shift mechanism - you have to pull a lever and move the lens with your fingers. The usual mechanism with a screw like on the Canon 24mm/TS-E is definitely superior.
  
• lens hood - quite difficult to mount, gets visible when shifting (on full frame)
  

~:

• no EXIF data - I have resorted to using exiftool to insert LensModel and FocalLength. The fNumber is obviously only possible to insert if you keep notes or do all your shots with the same setting. I am definitely too lazy for that. Too bad that Venus Optics have skimped on this part. It shouldn't have been too expensive to include such a chip.
  
• so far no correction profile available in Lightroom
  

ToDo:
Testing with all apertures
macro photos with at least 0.5:1
tests with an APS-C camera

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. I will try to answer them or do some specific test shots if possible.

[miran]

Very informative! Looking forward to some real world samples. Should be interesting and unique.

[TrueLoveOne]

that is a great lens i think! makes you think out-of-the-box, like said: to create new, unusual and interesting pictures! The cat picture from the first (official Venuslens) link is excellent.

thanks for sharing!
Cheers, René!

[Langstrum]

I found one review on Sony Alpha forum with sample photos. It's a good macro lens but I don't see anything outstanding from it, or maybe because I'm not familiar with that kind of short range macro lens.

http://www.sonyalphaforum.com/topic/1837-new-15mmf4-venus-macro-11-review/#entry11020

[calvin83]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

It is a product made for niche market. If one don't take any close-up, it is better stick to other lens like the VM 15/4.5.

[Variegator]

Some examples. Not the best of photos concerning composition but I chose them for illustration purposes. All colour photos with a full frame Canon 6D and the B/W with an IR-converted 5D. No photo war cropped, resized or any geometric correction applied. I only did some basic Lightroom stuff (added +30 clarity, some contrast and exposure corrections).

Let's start with two straight indoor shots.





Now an architecture photo with the lens shifted - you can notice the increased vignetting.




Flare is controlled very nicely as you can see here.




Now one where you can see the moustache distortion I mentioned. I can't remember if I shifted the lens in this instance.




A close-up shot with a twin macro flash mounted




IR landscape

[tomasg]

Lovely pictures, that makes me take a deeper look at the lens and maybe consider to get one.

[iangreenhalgh1]

It looks okay, quite nice distortion correction, but the edges are not very sharp and there is quite a lot of CA in the outer parts too. Of course, this is to be expected with most ultrawides. I suppose the attraction (apart from the macro feature) is the lack of competition in the sub-18mm range on APS-C.

[kds315*]

[Nordentro]

The mouse is great! Look like a giant