Laowa 15mm f/2 FE Zero-D (L-Mount)

Testers find the centre excellent from f/2, but corners are soft wide open and improve only slightly at f/2.8. Quality is fine from f/4, and the best results come around f/5.6 to f/8, with good to very good borders and corners. Distortion is a highlight: slight, simple barrel, low enough for architecture. Lateral fringing is present but easy to correct, and longitudinal colour is not a concern.

Vignetting is high wide open, about 3 EV, and still visible at f/8, and it cannot be corrected in camera. Coma is slight at f/2 and much better by f/4. Flare is handled well for an ultra-wide, helped by a front element that is not bulbous, though corner light sources can cause small artefacts. Build quality is very high and the de-click switch suits video; one test called the price high against autofocus alternatives, while another rated it one of the most versatile ultra-wides it had used.

A long-term user who takes it on aurora shoots values it for being much smaller than fast 14mm alternatives and finds manual focus no handicap for night-sky work. Owners describe the all-metal barrel as dense and the focus ring as well damped, and two readers say they sold other lenses to buy it.

The complaints are vignetting that stays noticeable for a couple of stops, slight coma on stars in the corners, and a metal hood that does not lock firmly. Some owners report copy issues such as an infinity offset, a soft quadrant or decentering, and one who compared it with Sony's 14mm f/1.8 GM found the Sony better on coma and flare. No owner reports specific to the L-Mount version were found.