N°1018912 · Family detail
LaowaCinema·MICRO 4/3 mount
Laowa 7.5mm F/2 MFT C-Dreamer
Specifications01
MountMICRO 4/3
Focal length8mm
Max aperturef/2
TypeCinema · Macro · Wide · Prime
Weight170 g
Filter size46 mm
Physical length55 mm
Min focus distance0.12 m
Max magnification0.1099
Aperture blades7
Optical elements13
Groups9
Lens hoodpetal-shaped, supplied
Additional Info02
Category["Micro-Four-Thirds"]
Keywords["Laowa","Micro-Four-Thirds","Prime","Ultra-wide"]
Review AuthorKlaus
Review Rating6
Equiv Aperture“f/4” (full format equivalent in terms of depth-of-field)
Review VerdictThe primary value proposition of the Laowa 7.5mm f/2 MFT is certainly its extremely small size and low weight combined with a very large max. aperture. Upon unboxing, we experienced one of the few WOW effects during recent years. The dwarfish size also makes perfect sense on Micro-Four-Thirds cameras. Despite its size, the delivered resolution is actually very respectable. It's usable at f/2 and very good at medium aperture settings. The amount of lateral CAs is decent. The vignetting is very high, yes, but in reality it's not quite as bad as the numbers suggest because of a relatively gradual light falloff. Image distortions can be visible in certain scenes but they are far from being bad really. Ghostings/glarecan be an issue if a strong light source is part of your scene and that can happen often due the immense field-of-view. The build quality is very good thanks to a full-metal body and tight control rings. Fully manual lenses may not be everybody's darling. However, a manual ultra-wide angle lens is really easy to use especially on Micro-Four-Thirds cameras. If you want to shoot an image with an infinite depth-of-field, just set it to ~1.5m and f/5.6 and you are done really. And if you want to explore a shallow depth-of-field scene just use focus magnification - it merely take a few seconds. Honestly, we didn't feel real usability issues during our time with this lens. The most significant annoyance may be the lack of EXIF data. Over the recent years, we were often wondering why no manufacturer dared to release an ultra-wide pancake lens for MTF (or for any other mirrorless system for that matter). Formally the Laowa 7.5mm f/2 MFT is still no pancake lens but it's the next best thing. Let's be honest - most of us enjoy ultra-wide images but it's not as if we are using such lenses all the time. It's probably a safe bet to state that using an ultra-wide lens is more often than not the exception to the rule. If so and if you just don't want to carry lots of stuff, the idea of having such a tiny lens in your bag may have quite some appeal. The official pricing has yet to be confirmed but the preliminary figure that we've heard feels reasonable.
Review Criteria{"Build Quality":8,"Optical Quality":6,"Price / Performance":7}
Review Published2017-02-06T13:24:00+00:00
Equiv Focal Length“15mm” (full format equivalent)
Optical Construction13 elements in 9 groups
Summary02
Laowa 7.5mm F/2 C-Dreamer lens for Micro Four Thirds. Ultra-wide prime with a bright f/2 aperture, designed for close, low-light wide-angle video use (cinema-style).
AI-assisted summary — verify against linked sourcesWhere can this lens be adapted?
The Micro Four Thirds mount has a flange distance of 19.25 mm. A plain adapter fits a camera whose flange distance is at least 1.46 mm shorter. How lens adapters work
- Native lenses set the aperture, and often the focus, electronically. On a plain adapter they do not work. Use an electronic adapter made for this pair; for many pairs nobody makes one. Fully manual lenses are the exception.
- Nikon ZAdapter · 3.25 mm
Covers Four Thirds: it can vignette on a full-frame sensor.
- Fujifilm XAdapter · 1.55 mm
Covers Four Thirds: it can vignette on a APS-C sensor.
- Micro Four ThirdsNative
No plain adapter reaches infinity focus on: Sony E, Canon RF, L-Mount, Fujifilm G (GFX), Canon EF-M, Canon EF, Nikon F.
Sources03
opticallimits.comVisit ↗
Other Mounts03
No alternate mounts are indexed for this family yet.