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Lens review

Venus Optics LAOWA 12 mm f/2.8 ZERO-D

9 January 2019
Arkadiusz Olech

8. Vignetting

Let’s check first how the Laowa 2.8/12 deals with vignetting on the small sensor of the Canon 50D – appropriate thumbnails are presented below.

Canon 50D, f/2.8 Canon 50D, f/4.0
Venus Optics LAOWA 12 mm f/2.8 ZERO-D  - Vignetting Venus Optics LAOWA 12 mm f/2.8 ZERO-D  - Vignetting


No reason to worry – at the maximum relative aperture the vignetting amounts to 34% (−1.19 EV), and by f/4.0 and f/5.6 it decreases to 16% (−0.51 EV) and 13% (−0.41 EV) respectively.


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Now let’s check how the situation changes when you pass to full frame – below we present photos taken with the lens attached to the Canon EOS 5D Mark III.

Canon 5D III, f/2.8 Canon 5D III, f/4.0
Venus Optics LAOWA 12 mm f/2.8 ZERO-D  - Vignetting Venus Optics LAOWA 12 mm f/2.8 ZERO-D  - Vignetting
Canon 5D III, f/5.6 Canon 5D III, f/8.0
Venus Optics LAOWA 12 mm f/2.8 ZERO-D  - Vignetting Venus Optics LAOWA 12 mm f/2.8 ZERO-D  - Vignetting


When you combine moderate physical dimensions, good aperture fastness for a given focal length and a huge angle of view you have to reap what you have sown. At the maximum relative aperture the vignetting reaches a monstrous level of 71% (−3.54 EV), easily one of the highest results seen in our tests so far. After passing to f/4.0 the brightness loss decreases to a still very high value of 54% (−2.24 EV). That aberration also remains visible by f/5.6, where it reaches 33% (−1.15 EV). By f/8.0 we got a result of 27% (−0.93 EV), and further stopping down didn’t have any measureable effect on the level of this aberration.

Canon 5D III, JPEG, f/2.8
Venus Optics LAOWA 12 mm f/2.8 ZERO-D  - Vignetting