Laowa continues to expand its range of manual focus prime lenses, with the announcement of the Laowa 15mm f/2 Zero-D FE lens.

It’s designed specifically for Sony’s full frame (FE) mount, which includes the a7 range of mirrorless cameras. The Sony FE mount also accepts Sony’s APS-C mirrorless cameras (E Mount), with 1.5x multiplication factor.

Billed as the widest f/2 lens for Sony a7 cameras, the Laowa 15mm f/2 Zero-D FE is an ultra-wide angle rectilinear lens with 110° field of view. A lens like this fills a gap in the Sony a7 range of lenses.

It looks set to cater astrophotographers particularly well, though of course it’s not restricted to this type of photography. Users can expect stunning night sky images thanks to the fast aperture of the lens and the excellent low light performance of a Sony a7 camera.

As we have come to expect, the manual focus lens lacks weather sealing, but features a solid all metal build and the focus ring should handle beautifully. At 500g it should sit well when attached to a Sony a7 camera.

What’s new here for a Laowa lens is an aperture switch that allows the user to select between clicked and click less aperture control. It’s a feature sure to be popular with filmmakers.

By excluding autofocus, Laowa is able to make this lens cost effective compared to, say, the Sigma 14mm f/1.8 ART lens (which is not available for Sony FE anyway). Many photographers interested in this lens would argue that autofocus is not necessary for their photography.

Landscape photographers and filmmakers will be pleased to know that threaded filters can be attached directly to the lens. It accepts 72mm filters.

Laowa 15mm f/2 Zero-D lens: What to expect

If the image quality produced by this lens is similar to that of Laowa’s other ‘Zero-D’ lens - the 12mm f/2.8 - then users can expect pin sharp images and impressive control over lens distortion.

There is no official information about its control of distortion, but in Laowa’s 12mm f/2.8 Zero-D lens, barrel distortion is as little as 0.2%, which is outstanding. That lens also controls chromatic aberration particularly well.

All in all, we have high expectations of the Laowa 15mm f/2 Zero-D lens and it should satisfy photographers that need the ultra-wide angle field of view.

Pricing and availability

The Laowa 15mm f/2 Zero-D FE lens is designed specifically for full-frame (FE mount) Sony mirrorless cameras like the a7 range. It’s currently listed as backorder until 31st August 2017 and costs £899.

For more information about the lens, please visit the product page on the Laowa UK website.