Laowa 14mm f/4 FF RL Zero-D

Testers find the centre sharp from f/4, with borders and corners catching up by f/8, which is where landscape shooters will use it anyway. Distortion is genuinely low for a 14mm, and lateral colour is modest and easy to correct.

Vignetting is strong wide open and only partly improves on stopping down, and flare resistance is average when the sun sits in or near the frame. The lack of electronic contacts means no EXIF data and no automatic lens profile on Sony bodies.

Owners pick it for its size: it fits in a jacket pocket, balances on compact Sony bodies, and takes cheap 52mm filters instead of a bulky holder system. The sunstars and straight lines get frequent praise from cityscape and architecture shooters.

Common complaints are the f/4 aperture for astro, heavy corner shading in skies, and having to set aperture and record lens data manually. Some users find the small focus ring fiddly with gloves.