There are no electrical connections between the lens and camera. Nor does it even transfer aperture data to the camera, which is a pity. However, this is a no-frills manual focus lens. sources.įor me, the Sony-Laowa combination is my first choice for a lightweight travel camera for overseas aurora trips The lens mount showing no electrical contacts to transfer lens metadata to the camera. The Laowa is not a plastic entry-level lens, nor is it cheap, at $850 from U.S. Nevertheless, it is half the weight of the massive 1250-gram Sigma 14mm f/1.8 Art.

While compact, at 600 grams the Laowa 15mm is quite hefty for its size due to its solid metal construction. Venus Optics 15mm f/2 lens (for Sony mount). Sigma 14mm f/1.8 Art lens (for Nikon mount) vs. The Venus Optics 15mm realizes the potential of mirrorless cameras and their short flange distance that allows the design of fast, wide lenses without massive bulk. Though a very wide lens, the 15mm Laowa accepts standard 72mm filters. While wide, the Laowa is a rectilinear lens providing straight horizons even when aimed up, as shown above. The Laowa 15mm f/2 from Venus Optics fills the bill very nicely, providing excellent speed in a compact lens. This is a single 0.8-second exposure at f/2 with the 15mm Venus Optics lens and Sony a7III at ISO 1600. However, for much of my nightscape shooting, and certainly for auroras, I prefer lenses even wider than 24mm, and the faster the better.Īurora over Båtsfjord, Norway. The selection of fast, wide lenses from Sony itself is limited, with the new Sony 24mm G-Master a popular favourite (I have yet to try it). While I often use the a7III with my Canon lenses by way of a Metabones adapter, the Sony really comes into its own when matched to a “native” lens made for the Sony e-mount. ( UPDATE: Venus Optics has announced versions of this lens for Canon R and Nikon Z mount mirrorless cameras.)

Made for Sony e-mount cameras, the Venus Optics 15mm f/2 Laowa provides excellent on- and off-axis performance in a fast and compact lens ideal for nightscape, time-lapse, and wide-field tracked astrophotography with Sony mirrorless cameras. It works very well indeed.īut what about lenses for the Sony? Here’s one ideal for astrophotography. In a previous test I presented results on how well the Sony a7III mirrorless camera performs for nightscape and deep-sky photography. I test out a fast and very wide lens designed specifically for Sony mirrorless cameras.

Dxo optics pro 6.6 elite