Thank you for this review. I couldn't find much info about this lens and because of the distortion, this lens won't work for my applications. I subscribed and liked. Greetings from the bay area!
I'm doing well and I hope to release a few more videos at a faster pace again soon. And yes the Laowa 8-16 lens is truly unique, it was a lot of fun to shoot. Thanks Eric!
Ciao Tom bella e onesta recensione, posseggo già il 10mm non zero, devo dire che ha pochissima distorsione e non a baffo, per questo trovo che avrebbero potuto fare meglio per questo difetto che oltretutto non e' correggibile. L' idea di un 8-16 e' buona ma secondo me il rapporto qualità prezzo per questo obiettivo non e' proprio tanto conveniente..... Grazie Oliviero
Ciao Oliviero! Oh yes, the Laowa 10mm f/4 Pancake is one of my personal favorites. I also did a review of that lens when it was new. I love that it is so small and light weight. But the 8-16 is a zoom lens and they always come with some tradeoff in terms of quality, size, weight, etc. ... so I guess it is good that we have all these great choices today! All photographers can select the tool they like the most! :)
@@tomscamerasInfatti l" avevo acquistato dopo la tua recensione e mi trovo benissimo...l'8/16 come dici tu è sempre una scelta in più che abbiamo ma io..non lo sceglierei. Grazie
Tom, could you please recommend me some manual lens 20 mm. or 24mm. (apsc) which is have character similar as tt artisan 35mm. F1. 4, thank you so much
Hey, that's actually not the most easy question … the TT Artisan 35/1.4 is a pretty outstanding lens! Most of the affordable manual focus lenses in the 20...25mm range don't match the 35 so far ... Personally I love my TT Artisan 25/2, yes this is *ultra* cheap but I don't feel the 23/1.4 or 7Artisans 24/1.4 are that much better, so the 25/2 is just a no brainer if you ask me. Compact and good enough for most uses. I also can recommend the Kamlan 21/1.8 which is a very sharp lens, it has very good optics! I've got reviews of all these in my channel. Hope this helps!
In my opinion, the Laowa 8-16 lens has a very nice sunlight effect, but is the 86 filter diameter too much? Why not make it smaller, but 86? Can I use rounding down to filter smaller than 86?
The filter size is so big because the lens is so wide … this means that light enters the lens from pretty extreme angles, otherwise you wouldn’t be able to cover that wide field of view! So, no you can’t use smaller filters: you would get vignetting at the corners of your frame.
I've shot the Laowa 8-16 now for a small gig in a great interior / architecture location and will show some of the pictures on instagram in the next days. I am pleased with the results and was able to get great looking photos despite the issue with the moustache distortion. Basically you have to check every single photo individually, where are prominent straight lines in your frame, and then you manually try to correct the distortion in your RAW converter / image editing software. The Laowa 9mm f/2.8 has (like almost every of these ultra-super-wideangle lenses) also some moustache type distortion, but it is much lower than the 8-16. I guess in most cases you won't even notice that low level of distortion. So if you ask me, I'd always opt for the 9mm for shooting interior architecture. The one downside is that the 9mm is a fixed focal length so it might be less versatile. But if you're shooting interiors, you most likely will always want a very wide field of view. And it also depends on what you will use the photos for. If you don't need the full sensor resolution, you can also occasionally crop your shots afterwards.
@@tomscamerasDue To Distortion issue on 8-16 MM I am now thinking to buy Laowa 9MM. Thank You So Much For Clearing My Confusion This helps me a lot. Great Video..
considering the distortion, laowa missed the price by a bit. the sigma offering is better in every category but range and i think most people would be willing to give up the slightly wider field of view in return for the benefits of the sigma. edit: changed sony to sigma. no idea why i inintially typed sony. lol
I have to admit that I am picky when it comes to well-defined, beautiful aperture stars in my night shots. And I definitely would prefer the Laowa at night in town over both the Sony 10-18 and also the new Sigma 10-18. The Laowa's aperture stars create a really great look and make the images look very clean and crisp. It's something you can't correct in post production! But yes, both Sigma and Sony offer automatic distortion correction and, from what I have seen, they do a pretty good job there. Also the Laowa's just an f/3.5-5, yes I see the point why the pricing is criticized. Also it doesn't offer AF ... even though AF is not as important with such a superwide as compared to a standard or telephoto lens.
great view ❤from China
Nice review, thanks a lot!
You’re welcome, thanks for your feedback! 🙏
Thank you for this review. I couldn't find much info about this lens and because of the distortion, this lens won't work for my applications. I subscribed and liked. Greetings from the bay area!
Thanks for your feedback! Yes for architecture there are definitely better options out there, also from Laowa themselves. Greetings back from Cologne!
Hey Tom. Hope you are doing well! Great review! Interesting lens!!!!!!
I'm doing well and I hope to release a few more videos at a faster pace again soon. And yes the Laowa 8-16 lens is truly unique, it was a lot of fun to shoot. Thanks Eric!
Ciao Tom bella e onesta recensione, posseggo già il 10mm non zero, devo dire che ha pochissima distorsione e non a baffo, per questo trovo che avrebbero potuto fare meglio per questo difetto che oltretutto non e' correggibile. L' idea di un 8-16 e' buona ma secondo me il rapporto qualità prezzo per questo obiettivo non e' proprio tanto conveniente..... Grazie Oliviero
Ciao Oliviero! Oh yes, the Laowa 10mm f/4 Pancake is one of my personal favorites. I also did a review of that lens when it was new. I love that it is so small and light weight.
But the 8-16 is a zoom lens and they always come with some tradeoff in terms of quality, size, weight, etc. ... so I guess it is good that we have all these great choices today! All photographers can select the tool they like the most! :)
@@tomscamerasInfatti l" avevo acquistato dopo la tua recensione e mi trovo benissimo...l'8/16 come dici tu è sempre una scelta in più che abbiamo ma io..non lo sceglierei. Grazie
Tom, could you please recommend me some manual lens 20 mm. or 24mm. (apsc) which is have character similar as tt artisan 35mm. F1. 4, thank you so much
Hey, that's actually not the most easy question … the TT Artisan 35/1.4 is a pretty outstanding lens! Most of the affordable manual focus lenses in the 20...25mm range don't match the 35 so far ...
Personally I love my TT Artisan 25/2, yes this is *ultra* cheap but I don't feel the 23/1.4 or 7Artisans 24/1.4 are that much better, so the 25/2 is just a no brainer if you ask me. Compact and good enough for most uses.
I also can recommend the Kamlan 21/1.8 which is a very sharp lens, it has very good optics!
I've got reviews of all these in my channel. Hope this helps!
@@tomscameras thank you so much
In my opinion, the Laowa 8-16 lens has a very nice sunlight effect, but is the 86 filter diameter too much? Why not make it smaller, but 86? Can I use rounding down to filter smaller than 86?
The filter size is so big because the lens is so wide … this means that light enters the lens from pretty extreme angles, otherwise you wouldn’t be able to cover that wide field of view! So, no you can’t use smaller filters: you would get vignetting at the corners of your frame.
I Have Fujifilm XT3 I am Confused between Laowa 9MM Or New Laowa 8-16 MM For Real Estate. Please Share Your Suggestion Thanks
I've shot the Laowa 8-16 now for a small gig in a great interior / architecture location and will show some of the pictures on instagram in the next days. I am pleased with the results and was able to get great looking photos despite the issue with the moustache distortion. Basically you have to check every single photo individually, where are prominent straight lines in your frame, and then you manually try to correct the distortion in your RAW converter / image editing software.
The Laowa 9mm f/2.8 has (like almost every of these ultra-super-wideangle lenses) also some moustache type distortion, but it is much lower than the 8-16. I guess in most cases you won't even notice that low level of distortion.
So if you ask me, I'd always opt for the 9mm for shooting interior architecture.
The one downside is that the 9mm is a fixed focal length so it might be less versatile. But if you're shooting interiors, you most likely will always want a very wide field of view. And it also depends on what you will use the photos for. If you don't need the full sensor resolution, you can also occasionally crop your shots afterwards.
@@tomscamerasDue To Distortion issue on 8-16 MM I am now thinking to buy Laowa 9MM.
Thank You So Much For Clearing My Confusion This helps me a lot. Great Video..
considering the distortion, laowa missed the price by a bit. the sigma offering is better in every category but range and i think most people would be willing to give up the slightly wider field of view in return for the benefits of the sigma.
edit: changed sony to sigma. no idea why i inintially typed sony. lol
Laowa itself already too expensive for it's value, due to unwise pricing strategy without looking another brands
I have to admit that I am picky when it comes to well-defined, beautiful aperture stars in my night shots. And I definitely would prefer the Laowa at night in town over both the Sony 10-18 and also the new Sigma 10-18. The Laowa's aperture stars create a really great look and make the images look very clean and crisp. It's something you can't correct in post production!
But yes, both Sigma and Sony offer automatic distortion correction and, from what I have seen, they do a pretty good job there.
Also the Laowa's just an f/3.5-5, yes I see the point why the pricing is criticized. Also it doesn't offer AF ... even though AF is not as important with such a superwide as compared to a standard or telephoto lens.