New 10mm Ultra Wide - Laowa 10mm f/2.8 Zero-D FF (Auto Focus)

[nmerc_photos]

Do any of those other lenses autofocus on the Z bodies? If autofocus is important to you in wide angle work (it is to me), the options are more limited. I have opted to stay with the 14-30 S for now, but have been following the reports on this Laowa.

I don't believe they do. That is a good point, although I don't know that I've ever wanted auto focus on a wide angle lens. Good for those who do though!

I think the other feature of this lens is the Zero-D (distortion). If you look at Rick's architectural images, there's almost no discernible distortion (at least pincushion or barrel), even at the edges. Sure, there's keystoning, but point pretty much any lens up at a building and that will occur.

I bought the manual focus Z-mount version for a trip to upper MN for Milky Way photos earlier this summer. Would've preferred the AF version, but it's still not available at B&H. Unfortunately the whole weekend was cloudy/rainy, so I didn't get to try it. Oh well, if everything lined up perfectly for every shot, everyone in the world would be a photographer!

Yep, I think that is the key factor driving the price. I've been watching videos and reading reviews since I posted my comment.

Surprising to me that the AF and MF versions appear to be the same price. I was hoping the MF would be cheaper and I might be interested in scooping it up for testing.

It might have something to do with the Zero D in that lens name claiming to have no issues with both horizontal and vertical lines. No experience myself with this lens as written here in another post but impressed what this little lens can do

Yep - I think that's the main value. Interesting for sure.

I ask the questions because I love shooting Northern Lights, and I always want wider and wider. Sometimes I shoot with the 7.5mm APS-C lens, which on full frame gives a full 360 degree FOV. it's a cool look, but it's not for everyone.

If I could get something similar to the Sony 14mm f1.8 or Sigma 14mm f1.4, but a little wider it would be nice.

Is the 15 extra degrees of FOV worth losing 2 stops of light? I don't know...my gut says not for Astro, but I still kind of want to play around with it.

 

[MikeJ]

Yep, I think that is the key factor driving the price. I've been watching videos and reading reviews since I posted my comment.

Surprising to me that the AF and MF versions appear to be the same price. I was hoping the MF would be cheaper and I might be interested in scooping it up for testing.

I was surprised too, and almost waited for the AF version. But here we are, MW season is pretty much over where I live, and it's still listed as "coming soon" at B&H. But the DOF is pretty insane if you're not doing astro and can stop down. I'll have to look tonight, but it's something like 6" to infinity at either f11 or f16.

 

[MikeJ]

Ok @nmerc_photos, I was a little off. At f16, you can say maybe .56 feet? So less than 7" to infinity. Pretty deep DOF! Even at f11 you're well under a foot to infinity.

The focus ring is well damped and very smooth, even so I have a small piece of gaffer tape stuck to the body cap so I can tape the focus ring if I'm doing astro. That is the one benefit to the Z 14-24 - if I turn off my camera then turn it back on, my lens "resets" to infinity and I can tape the focus ring there. (Or truth be told, after power cycling the camera, I turn it to my "Astro" bank which has AF turned off! )

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[Wes Peterson]

I ask the questions because I love shooting Northern Lights, and I always want wider and wider. Sometimes I shoot with the 7.5mm APS-C lens, which on full frame gives a full 360 degree FOV. it's a cool look, but it's not for everyone

You sure about that?