LAOWA 9mm F2.8 Zero-D And 25mm F2.8-2.5 5x Super Macro

During CP+ 2018 which ended earlier this month, Chinese optical company Venus Optics introduced two APS-C lenses for mirrorless cameras: the LAOWA 9mm F2.8 Zero-D and 25mm F2.8-2.5 5x Super Macro.

Both lenses are quite interesting and unique in there own way. The LAOWA 9mm F2.8 Zero-D is the third zero distortion lens in Venus Optics’ line (after the Laowa 12mm f/2.8 Zero-D, and the Laowa 15mm f/2 FE Zero-D full frame lenses).

The LAOWA 9mm F2.8 Zero-D is a really tiny manual focus lens with 15 elements in 10 groups that have a 12cm (4.5″) min focus distance and a weight of only 215g (7.5 ounces). It is fully metal with a filter thread of 49mm it comes in Sony E-mount, Fuji X-mount and Canon EF-M mounts and it will cost $500 starting in April 2018 (see a test video below to see just how wide this lens really is and how you can use it to blur the background – we still need to test the zero-d aspect ourselves).

The second lens is the Laowa 25mm F2.8 2.5-5X Ultra Macro. This is yet another super macro lens from Venus Optics which are known for their quality macro and super macro lenses (see past reviews of the Laowa 60mm f/2.8 Macro 2:1 and the LAOWA 15mm f/4 lenses).

The Laowa 25mm F2.8 2.5-5X is a dedicated super macro lens (you are not going to shoot any “normal” shots with this one only 2.5-5x times normal magnification shots). This lens ahs a working distance of 14mm from the subject (we are guessing that this is from the end of the extending lens), this is short but hopefully not too short so you can get light in which is essential for super macro shots.

The Laowa 25mm F2.8 2.5-5X isn’t heavy at 400g (14 ounces) and has a simple design with 8 elements in 6 groups). This lens is available in Canon EF, Nikon F, Pentax K, and Sony E-mount and will sell for $400 starting in April 2018.

The interesting test video below shot in CP+ shows how the LAOWA 9mm F2.8 Zero-D looks on the A7RIII in both APS-C and Full Frame mode (spoiler this is not an APS-C lens that you want to use on FF).

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Iddo Genuth

Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.