Admiring Light
Menu
  • Home
  • Review Index
  • Shop Talk
  • Technique and Vision
  • Opinion
  • Portfolio
  • Site Index
  • About
    • Privacy Policy
Menu

Review: Laowa 15mm f/4.5 Zero-D Shift

Posted on February 25, 2021February 25, 2021 by Jordan Steele

Contents

  • 1What is a shift lens?
  • 2Construction and Handling
  • 3Image Quality
  • 4Conclusion

Image Quality

Evaluating image quality on an ultra-wide shift lens is a bit of a challenge. This lens really has nothing else in the world to compare it to, being the widest shift lens ever made. However, based on other wide-angle shift lenses, creating a lens like this invariably involves design decisions that make creating a perfect lens near impossible.

Sharpness

One of those tough to evaluate criteria is sharpness. I tested the lens on the 45 megapixel Canon EOS R5, which with its high resolution is rather demanding on lenses. The Laowa 15mm f/4.5 Shift lens shows good resolution, but in absolute terms falls below the very best fixed focal ultra-wide lenses. The central image area (unshifted) shows good sharpness wide open at the focus distances that are typically in use, with softer edges. Stopping down to f/8, or even better, f/11, brings edge and corner sharpness of the unshifted image to very good levels.

At maximum shift, there is some residual softness near the edges even at small apertures, but the definition is still at a notably higher level than the typical shift lens. While I have not directly compared them, I have seen other tests that put the Laowa head to head with Canon’s $2,100 17mm TS-E, and the Laowa is notably better at the edges at full shift.

It’s worth noting that despite things being softer near the shifted corners, there is still a fair bit of detail that can be brought out with proper sharpening. Below is an example. The shot below was taken at f/11 and at around 8mm of shift.

Downtown Columbus, Canon EOS R5 with Laowa 15mm f/4.5 Zero-D Shift @ f/11

Looking at the detail near the upper left corner, you can see that while there is decent contrast and moderate detail there, the overall impression is somewhat soft. With proper sharpening, however, the lens can blossom, even at the edge. The 100% crops below show the image with my default RAW sharpening on top, and then below that after a pass through Topaz Sharpen AI, which really brings out a nice level of detail at the edges.

100% Crops of the upper left area of the image, showing sharpness with my default RAW sharpening, and then sharpened in Topaz Sharpen AI.

It’s worth noting that while the lens doesn’t produce tack sharp corner results at maximum shift, it is still a better performance than the vast majority of shift lenses, and significantly better image quality than taking a sharper, wider lens and doing software perspective correction to correct the verticals. The detail is certainly good enough to make very pleasing large prints.

The lens can focus to a very close 0.2m, and it maintains excellent central sharpness even at f/4.5 at this close focus distance. However, outside of the very center, sharpness falls off dramatically, with anything outside of the dead center being essentially unusable. Of course, the nice thing is that shifting the lens can keep the center of the optics focused on your subject, but in a different part of the frame. Stopping down to around f/16 improves sharpness a little. But other than the occasional odd closeup, I think most people are going to be sticking to using this lens for architecture.

Close Focus Test – Close focus yields good central sharpness…with the optical center area of this shot being the bottom center of the image due to shifting.

Bokeh

A lens like this is not designed for creamy backgrounds, though wide open near minimum focus distance, the Laowa 15mm shift lens produces a fair amount of blur. It also doesn’t look too bad, with generally smooth results on distant out of focus backgrounds. However, focusing this close up dramatically increases lateral chromatic aberration, so some funky things can pop up on objects near the focus point.

Color, Contrast and Chromatic Aberration

In most situations, the Laowa 15mm f/4.5 Shift produces images with nice contrast and color, with perhaps a touch of a warm tint to the images. The exception comes in case of flare, which I’ll touch more on in the next section. The 15mm f/4.5, like many extremely wide lenses, as well as many shift lenses, has a fair bit of lateral chromatic aberration. This is minimal when unshifted, but the edges can show noticeable CA at maximum shift. This is mostly correctable in software, but it’s definitely something to note.

Courthouse, Zanesville, Ohio – Canon EOS R5 with Laowa 15mm f/4.5 Zero-D Shift

At close focus distances, the lateral chromatic aberration becomes extreme, especially when shifted, such that it becomes difficult to get anything particularly sharp near the edges at close focus. It’s also severe enough that auto correction tools can’t really deal with it either.

Distortion, Flare and Vignetting

The Laowa 15mm f/4.5 is designed to have minimal distortion, which is why the lens carries the ‘Zero-D’ moniker in its name. The lens shows minor barrel distortion that is only really visible at the extreme ends of the shift range. For the most part, however, the lens shows remarkably low distortion, which is important in a lens that is primarily used for shooting architecture.

Franklin County Common Pleas Courthouse – Canon EOS R5 with Laowa 15mm f/4.5 Shift @ f/11 (3 image HDR)

The lens is a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to flare. I definitely noticed some subtle ghosting in certain situations from artificial light, and I have seen samples from other reviews that show the lens can produce rather large ghosts when the sun is in a specific position. In my shooting I did not encounter this, though I didn’t shoot into the sun much. The shot above has the sun just above the horizon, but no ghosting was induced. I did notice reduced contrast in images with the sun out of frame, however, and that’s something that could require extra processing work if shooting in sunny conditions.

The lens does vignette noticeably, especially at wider apertures. The lens vignettes most notably at the edges of shifting, where the vignetting is one-sided. Since that area is usually in the sky, I didn’t find it to be distracting, but if it bothers you, getting rid of it becomes more of a challenge due to the fact that it is only on one edge of the frame.

In all, the Laowa 15mm f/4.5 Zero-D Shift is a pretty impressive optic for an ultra-wide shift lens, with minimal distortion, good sharpness and good color and contrast. Like most wide shift lenses, it falls short of the best prime ultra-wide lenses in terms of pure image quality, but it can also do things that those lenses can’t.

Continue: Conclusion and Image Samples

Pages: 1 2 3

3 thoughts on “Review: Laowa 15mm f/4.5 Zero-D Shift”

  1. Scott says:
    February 25, 2021 at 8:41 pm

    Thanks Jordan for doing all the work and posting this review. I will be buying the Laowa 15 based on your review verification.

    I have the ts17, ts24, Loawo 15 shift macro, magic shift to go with my Laowa12mm for Sony to make it shift 17, and ts90. I look forward to buying the Laowa shift 15 for the extra 2mm. If you don’t have a shift lens you don’t have perspective 🙂

    Scott

    Reply
  2. Don McConnell says:
    February 28, 2021 at 2:14 pm

    Not many reviewers would put so much time and effort into reviewing a lens like this.

    I’ve been thinking about buying a tilt/shift lens for some time now, but budget has been a consideration. This lens has gone straight to the top of my wish list.

    Thanks Jordan!

    Reply
  3. Julian Heath says:
    April 10, 2021 at 7:36 am

    I have two shift lenses; a 24mm Samyang & an 85mm Nikon and now use these two almost exclusively but sometimes feel the need for a wider version and this one might just fit the bill! It’s half the price of the Nikon 19mm but still quite a chunk to pay out for its very limited use in landscape photography even though it does look to have good quality images!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Follow Me:

Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on RSSFollow Us on InstagramFollow Us on Mastodon

Most Popular Posts

  • "Full Frame Equivalence" and Why It Doesn't Matter (288)
  • Fuji X-Pro 2 vs. Sony A7 II: Noise Comparison (70)
  • Fuji 56mm f/1.2 vs. Panasonic Leica 42.5mm f/1.2 Nocticron (63)
  • Review: Metabones Speed Booster (Canon FD to Fuji X) (56)
  • Review: Olympus OM-D E-M5 (48)

Recent Comments

  • Eric Wojtkun on My Favorite Photos of 2022
  • Jordan Steele on “Full Frame Equivalence” and Why It Doesn’t Matter
  • Leon on “Full Frame Equivalence” and Why It Doesn’t Matter
  • Clarke jones on Review: TTArtisan 50mm f/1.4 ASPH (RF Mount)
  • Anonymous on Sony A7 III vs. A7 II – Noise Comparison

Archives

©2023 Admiring Light | Theme by SuperbThemes
We use cookies to personalize content and ads and to analyze our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with advertising and analytics partners who may combine it with other information that you’ve provided to them or that they’ve collected from your use of their services. You may consent to the use of cookies or opt out. Accept Reject Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

SAVE & ACCEPT