The Laowa 15mm F/5 Cookie FF and 12-24mm F/5.6 Zoom Shift CF lenses are now available for pre order
posted Monday, November 18, 2024 at 8:09 AM EST
Chinese lens maker Venus Optics recently released two new Laowa lenses: the 15mm F/5 Cookie full-frame and 12-24mm F/5.6 Zoom Shift CF. Both lenses are now available for pre-order at B&H.
The Laowa 15mm F/5 Cookie FF lens is a pancake-style ultra-wide designed for street, landscape, and everyday photography. It is super compact and lightweight, weighing just 158g and measuring 25mm long. The lens design is cookie-shaped hence its name.
Despite its diminutive size, the 15mm has a field of view of 110° which is great for landscapes and casual snaps. The lens has a minimum focusing distance of 12cm allowing photographers to capture intricate details of subjects.
Auto-Aperture functionality is available for the Nikon Z and Sony E mounts. The Nikon and Sony variants of the lens also have electrical contacts meaning photographers will have an aperture readout in the camera. The Canon RF, Leica M, and L-mounts are fully manual lenses with no electrical contacts.
The Laowa 12-24mm F/5.6 Zoom Shift CF lens is the world’s first shift zoom lens. This lens can shift up to seven millimeters, giving photographers precise perspective control. The shift function allows photographers to capture straight vertical lines when photographing tall buildings and other architectural subjects.
In the past, only prime lenses had shift capabilities. Laoawa engineers have come up with a clever design that allows for seven millimeters of shift across the entire zoom range. The lens gives photographers the versatility of a zoom lens with the perspective control of a shift lens in one neat package.
The 12-24mm Zoom Shift is designed to be light and compact, measuring 93.6mm in length and weighing 497g. The lens uses a 77mm filter thread and has a minimum focusing distance of 15cm. There are 15 elements in 11 groups, including two aspherical elements and three ED elements. The front lens element is coated with the “Frog Eye” coating, which protects against water and dust.