Venus Optics' fantastic 4mm fisheye lens with 210° field of view is now available for multiple mounts
(Image credit: James Artaius)
Venus Optics has brought its latest unique lens, the Laowa 4mm f/2.8 Fisheye – a hyper wide-angle fisheye lens with a 210° field of view – to multiple mounts for crop sensor cameras.
Originally released for Micro Four Thirds cameras, the Laowa 4mm f/2.8 Fisheye is now available for Canon EF-M, Fujifilm X and Sony E mount systems. One of our favorite optics, it's one of the best fisheye lenses on the market.
The optic has a 35mm equivalent focal length of 8mm on Olympus / Panasonic, 6.4mm on Canon and 6mm on Fujifilm and Sony. Boasting a close focusing distance of just 80mm, it's also ultra-compact and light, measuring just 45.2 x 82mm and weighing a mere 135g.
Unlike the company's Zero-D series of wide-angle lenses, the Laowa 4mm f/2.8 Circular Fisheye is specifically designed to capture images with a highly distorted, dramatic perspective.
In addition to the 'conventional' circular images that fisheye lenses are known for, the 210° field of view enables photographers to record a full 360° panorama with as few as 2 images (where standard fisheye lenses often require 6 or more).
The extreme perspective also means that the Laowa 4mm lends itself perfectly to VR photography applications, such as shooting spherical panoramas and creating virtual tour environments.
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Further, the fast f/2.8 aperture makes the optic a capable performer in low light situations, making it adept for astrophotography.
Laowa claims that the lens possesses "outstanding sharpness" throughout the entire frame, since it features seven elements in six groups. This means that de-fishing your shots into rectilinear images in post-production should yield surprisingly sharp standard images.
And of course, between its inherent properties and the 2x crop factor of Micro Four Thirds, the depth of field on the optic is so ridiculously deep that virtually no focusing is necessary; set to infinity at around f/5.6, everything will be in focus.
The editor of Digital Camera World, James has 21 years experience as a journalist and started working in the photographic industry in 2014 (as an assistant to Damian McGillicuddy, who succeeded David Bailey as Principal Photographer for Olympus). In this time he shot for clients like Aston Martin Racing, Elinchrom and L'Oréal, in addition to shooting campaigns and product testing for Olympus, and providing training for professionals. This has led him to being a go-to expert for camera and lens reviews, photo and lighting tutorials, as well as industry news, rumors and analysis for publications like Digital Camera Magazine, PhotoPlus: The Canon Magazine, N-Photo: The Nikon Magazine, Digital Photographer and Professional Imagemaker, as well as hosting workshops and talks at The Photography Show. He also serves as a judge for the Red Bull Illume Photo Contest. An Olympus and Canon shooter, he has a wealth of knowledge on cameras of all makes – and a fondness for vintage lenses and instant cameras.
