2024 is a special year for Laowa, as it marks the company’s 10th anniversary. What better way to celebrate this than with a 10mm lens? But wait, Laowa already released a 9mm full frame lens, so what is so special about this 10mm lens? For starters, this lens features a maximum aperture of f/2.8, making it the world’s fastest 10mm lens and also the world’s widest f/2.8 lens. But what might be even more important: this is Laowa’s first AF lens. The beginning of a new era.
Sample Images
Sony A7III | Laowa 10mm 2.8 AF | f/4.0Sony A7III | Laowa 10mm 2.8 AF | f/2.8Sony A7III | Laowa 10mm 2.8 AF | f/4.0Sony A7III | Laowa 10mm 2.8 AF | f/5.6Sony A7III | Laowa 10mm 2.8 AF | f/4.0Sony A7III | Laowa 10mm 2.8 AF | f/8.0Sony A7III | Laowa 10mm 2.8 AF | f/4.0
When looking for an affordable AF lens in the ultra wide angle realm my recommendation so far has usually been the Samyang 18mm 2.8 AF – also due to lack of alternatives. But in October 2023 Viltrox released this compact 20mm 2.8 AF lens and now, in February 2024 they released this super low budget lens in Nikon Z and Fuji X mount too. Not as wide as the Samyang, but noticeably cheaper. Is this my new recommendation for a low cost AF lens in the ~20mm range? Let’s find out.
Sample Images
Nikon Z 7II | Viltrox AF 20mm f/2.8 STM ASPH ED IF Z | f/2.8Sony A7III | Viltrox 20mm 2.8 AF FE | f/8.0Nikon Z 7II | Viltrox AF 20mm f/2.8 STM ASPH ED IF Z | f/2.8Sony A7III | Viltrox 20mm 2.8 AF FE | f/5.6
It has always been very hard to guess what Voigtländer lens Cosina will come up with next. By the time many people started giving up the hope for a fast 28mm M-mount lens we got exactly that: the Voigtländer VM 28mm 1.5 Nokton. Is this the fast 28mm lens I know many of you have been desperately waiting for? Let’s find out!
Sample Images
Leica M10 | Voigtländer VM 28mm 1.5 Nokton | f/1.5Leica M10 | Voigtländer VM 28mm 1.5 Nokton | f/1.5Leica M10 | Voigtländer VM 28mm 1.5 Nokton | f/1.5Leica M10 | Voigtländer VM 28mm 1.5 Nokton | f/1.5Leica M10 | Voigtländer VM 28mm 1.5 Nokton | f/1.5Leica M10 | Voigtländer VM 28mm 1.5 Nokton | f/2.8Leica M10 | Voigtländer VM 28mm 1.5 Nokton | f/4.0
For obvious reasons I prefer reviewing lenses I am also personally interested in. But every now and then I also review lenses where this is not the case. Sometimes, because I think that lens might still be interesting for you, sometimes, because I just want to see if the manufacturer made any progress since their last lens I reviewed. This AstrHori 50mm 2.0 is one such case, so let’s have a closer look.
Laowa Argus 25mm f/0.95 CF APO with the lens hood on a Nikon Z fc
We have seen a few exciting lenses from Laowa in recent years, especially in their Argus product line, which seems to be Laowa’s premium line of lenses. The one here, Laowa Argus 25mm f/0.95 CF APO is one of them. A manual focus “standard/wide-angle” lens for APS-C cameras with an ultra-fast maximum aperture of f/0.95. It has an unusual focal length of 25mm (fullframe equivalent of 37.5mm*), between the more usual 23mm and 27mm focal lengths (FF equivalents of 35mm and 40mm*). The 0.95 aperture promises impressive and nice background separation and hopefully a nice bokeh and extreme low-light capabilities. Besides, the APO designation indicates Laowa has used its APO technology in this lens and it should give much better correction of spherical and chromatic aberrations than non-APO lenses. Let’s see how good it is in the real world!
* The fullframe equivalent focal length of 37.5mm is true for Sony, Nikon, and Fujifilm cameras, while on a Canon APS-C, it will be equivalent to a 40mm lens on a fullframe camera.
I tested this lens on a Nikon Zfc You can see this review a YouTube video here
Sample Images
Nikon Z fc | Laowa Argus 25mm f/0.95 CF APO | f/2.8Nikon Z fc | Laowa Argus 25mm f/0.95 CF APO | f/1.2Nikon Z fc | Laowa Argus 25mm f/0.95 CF APO | f/0.95Nikon Z fc | Laowa Argus CF 25mm f/0.95 APO | f/0.95
Sony α | Leica M | Nikon F/Z New article every week
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I tested this lens on a Nikon Zfc
You can see this review a YouTube video 
