The very first lens I reviewed from Laowa was their 12mm F2.8 Zero D wide angle prime, which I reviewed at the end of 2016 on Canon EF mount. I ended up buying that lens later on, though actually to use on Sony FE. I used the lens (with adapter) by itself, but also with the Magic Shift Converter to get what became a 17mm F4 lens with 10mm of shift in either direction. I had fun with that combination. Fast forward nearly nine years and Laowa is releasing a new (and improved) version of that lens. Whereas the original lens was a manual everything option, the new Laowa 12mm F2.8 Zero D Lite has autofocus (a manual focus version is also available), and is much smaller and lighter. It now sports weather sealing along with another key improvement – the ability to use traditional screw on filters in a common 72mm size. This lens will come in autofocus versions for Nikon Z (tested here) and Sony FE, with manual focus variants available for Z mount, E mount, Canon RF mount, and Leica L-mount. What’s more, the price is even cheaper – just $699 for this new lens. This are obviously a lot of key upgrades here – does that make this a lens a worthy option for these platforms? Either read on or watch the video below to get my thoughts.

https://youtu.be/DpfZtoUZ_x8

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Thanks to Laowa for sending me a review loaner of this lens.   As always, this is a completely independent review.  All opinions and conclusions are my own. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the 45MP Nikon Z8, which I reviewed here. You can find the product listing page for the Laowa 12mm F2.8 Zero D Lite here.

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AI Summary: The Laowa 12mm F2.8 Zero D Lite is an updated version of their original wide-angle lens, now featuring autofocus and a more compact, lighter design. With the inclusion of weather sealing and the ability to use standard 72mm screw-on filters, it offers a significant improvement in usability. This lens, available in autofocus for Nikon Z and Sony FE, and manual focus for other mounts, maintains low distortion but is still challenged by heavy vignette. Priced at $699, it is competitive considering its ultra-wide angle capabilities compared to other lenses on the market.

Strengths:

• Smaller, lighter design and more affordable price compared to its predecessor.
• Attractive, modern design language with weather sealing.
• Excellent low distortion, maintaining straight lines in images.
• Autofocus capabilities for both stills and video with quiet performance.
• Ability to use standard screw-on filters for added versatility.
• Great center sharpness, good flare resistance, and impressive sunstars.

Weaknesses:

• Autofocus glitches noted during testing, possibly firmware-related.
• Heavy vignette that can impact metering and requires correction.
• Corners can be somewhat soft, especially at wider apertures.
• Lack of in-camera corrections for lens issues like vignette.

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Laowa’s market expertise has largely been in two areas of lens design – macro and wide angle. They have have produced other lenses, but the majority of their lenses fall into one of these two baskets. This includes a lot of unusually wide angle lenses. When the 12mm F2.8 Zero D was released nearly ten years ago, that was an uncommonly wide focal length. Since that point, Laowa has gone even wider, and in many ways this new 12mm Lite (which we’ll refer to it as in this review to distinguish from the older lens) most resembles the AF 10mm F2.8 Zero D that I reviewed last year. The 12mm Lite is ridiculously wide, with a 122° angle of view. This is the kind of lens that you need to watch to make your feet aren’t in the frame, and if you point the camera towards your feet, it’s a long way down!

The 12mm F2.8 Zero D Lite has familiar Laowa strengths and weaknesses. One of the primary strengths is right there in the name: Zero D. The “D” refers to distortion, and while it may not be mathematically zero, the 12mm Lite has impressively low distortion. Interior lines look nice and straight in this shot without any correction.

The greatest weakness is also familiar for Laowa, and that’s vignette. I’ve always found vignette very heavy on Laowa’s wide angle lenses, and that is only exacerbated by reviewing on the larger diameter Z-mount. Vignette is at the “max-out-the-sliders” level and is heavy enough to impact metering on cameras.

This was considered proper metering in my Z8, but if I clicked the “auto” adjustments in Lightroom, it felt the need to add about 1.3 stops of exposure (that’s a LOT!) This isn’t new for Laowa lenses, but it definitely does present a challenge for some types of photography. This is an extreme instrument – is it worth buying? Let’s dive in and find out.

Laowa 12mm F2.8 Zero D Lite Build and Handling

I’m doing this review on a Nikon Z-mount version, and there will also be a Sony E-mount autofocus version available. Because Canon has still not opened their platform to license autofocus, the RF and Leica L mounts of this lens will be manual focus only, with similar MF versions for Sony and Nikon available. The version I’m testing has 5 aperture blades to allow for clearly defined sunstars (bokeh won’t really be a thing here!):

You can get a higher blade count option in manual focus, but frankly I think this is the best option. Look at how gorgeous that clean, simple sunstar is. You don’t really need round specular highlights in a 12mm lens anyway.

The winners here are Sony E-mount and Nikon Z-mount users, as they have access to an autofocus lens that works well and makes Laowa a more accessible brand, because switching to autofocus means a few other things as well. The inclusion of electronic contacts means:

• We get full EXIF data – information like the lens name and aperture value for the shot is now included.
• Information for VR (in body image stabilization) is automatically transferred so the lens stabilization works properly.
• Any manual focus aids dependent on electronic communication will now work.
• What we don’t seem to get (at least in the pre-release copy I tested) is in-camera corrections. As we’ll see, distortion is so low that it doesn’t really need correction, but vignette is another story. This is a chronic weak area for Laowa wide angle lenses, and, as we can see below, the JPEG has just as much vignette as the RAW images.

That’s unfortunate, though that is something that could potentially change in the future.

The Laowa 12mm Lite carries forward the new Laowa design language that is a major departure from their previous look. Previous Laowa lenses had a black anodized metal look, while this new lens has a cobalt blue/grey type finish that looks fresh and unique.

The lens has a completely different profile from the long, slim original 12mm F2.8 Zero D. The Lite is 77.2mm (3.04″) in diameter and just 80.6mm (3.09″) in length. That definitely favorably compares to the 113mm length of the older lens. The weight is also reduced to just 390g (0.86lb) from 699g (1.4lb). That’s an impressive amount of size and weight reduction!

This hasn’t come at the cost of poor build quality. The lens has a reassuring density and the materials still feel like metals rather than plastics.

Laowa has managed to retain traditional screw-on filter threads in a relatively common 72mm size for this lens (quite an accomplishment on an F2.8 lens this wide!) That’s a huge improvement over the first generation lens and adds a huge extra layer of versatility for a wide angle prime.

Look at how much more interesting the long exposure version of this image is:

It is much harder to achieve this with lenses that can’t be easily filtered.

The lens sports an AF/MF switch on the side of the barrel, which is always welcome.

Most of the lens barrel is dominated by a wide manual focus ring. It’s different than typical Laowa fare due to this being a mirrorless autofocusing lens, which means that focus is now focus-by-wire (input on the ring will be routed through the lens’ focus motor). Body specific manual focus aids will all be available. The damping is nice and smooth, allowing for good focus precision.

There is a flat section on each side of the ring with the brand logo stamped there. What’s interesting is that due to there being no hard stops on a focus-by-wire lens, those logos could end up pointing anywhere. But they can be used to some advantage as it does give you some point of visual reference for a focus throw. The ring is not linear, however, but speed specific. The focus throw is about 100° and seems to be fairly linear.

There is some badging on the lens along with a nice scalloped curve near the lens mount that has a nice visual look and tactile feel.

There are electronic contact points along with a nice weather sealing gasket in a faint blue color. It’s nice because it is visually different than everything else. There are no other internal seals, however, so weather resistance is limited to just this gasket.

The lens has a shallow metal hood that can be removed. It won’t block much sun and is more than to protect the front element from bumps.

The front cap is (thankfully) a traditional pinch camp which fits easily into a pocket.

There is no aperture ring, so the aperture iris will be controlled from within the camera. As noted earlier, there are just five aperture blades to allow for easy sunstars.

Minimum focus distance is 14cm (5.51″), which means you can get very close to your subject. Resulting magnification is a very high 0.21x.

As per usual, the big challenge is getting close enough to your subject without shading it, as 14cm is measured from the sensor. You’ll only have about 4cm between the end of the lens and your subject at MFD. The good news is that when shooting video you won’t really have any limitations on focus. By the time you’re past the minimum focus distance you’ll be bumping into your subject. Up close you can get some interesting looking images.

The AF 12mm F2.8 Zero D Lite is another nice looking lens from Laowa that will look great mounted on your camera. It is nicely sized, and is light enough that it won’t be a strain to bring along. Their new design language is nice, and, what’s more, it is unique from everyone else.

Autofocus for Stills

This is the second autofocus lens that I’ve tested from Laowa (after a decade of testing manual focus only lenses from them). It’s also the first that I’ve tested on Nikon. Autofocus in general seems roughly comparable on Z-mount, though I do think I’ve seen a couple more glitches from my loaner lens. I’ve had a couple of situations where I needed to remove the lens and remount it because autofocus wouldn’t work even when I toggled the switch back and forth. I would end up with this result:

…rather than this one:

It could be copy specific, or perhaps a firmware update is needed.

The focus motor (probably some type of STM motor, though I haven’t seen it specified) is very quiet; I can only hear the slightest whirring if I press my ear right up against it.

Other than the glitch I described, autofocus works great…even when shooting in high speed bursts on my Z8. I took nearly 200 shots of guys spiking (or trying to) during beach volleyball, and it seems to me like every shot was properly focused.

Shooting from a low angle like this resulted in some wild keystoning and stretching of the image, but the resulting images were dynamic and fun.

Now, to be fair, autofocus isn’t as demanding in a lens like this. Such a wide focal length means that most everything is in focus most of the time. You can see from the photo above that even though the focus is accurately on the foreground volleyball player, pretty much everything else is at least somewhat in focus even at F2.8.

That being said, I found that autofocus changes did happen quickly in my formal speed tests. They aren’t necessarily well damped (focus seems to jump a bit), but there does seem to be plenty of thrust in the focus motors. I felt like autofocus was good on Sony with the 10mm; it is also very good here on Nikon with the 12mm. This shot, for example, I snapped on the fly while walking; I wanted to quickly nail a shot while others weren’t in the frame (and a lot of the periphery is in the frame with this focal length!)

The one thing you do have to be careful with with such a wide angle lens is composing with people near the edges of the frame. People will get very distorted and stretched near the edges of the frame. People will rarely be happy to be depicted like this:

That stretching effect (or keystoning where tall objects like buildings seem to lean into the frame) is just the nature of the focal length; it’s not actually distortion.

Video AF

I was also pleased with my video tests. Focus pulls are fast and confident and have no visible steps or hunting. There is, however, a surprising amount of focus breathing for such a wide focal length. That will negatively impact video capture in some settings.

My hand test where I alternately cover and the uncover the camera’s view of my face was smooth, with good transitions from my hand to my eye and vice versa.

Natural focus transitions when shooting video clips were fairly smooth, and the wide focal length while moving is visually interesting.

Laowa has done an impressively good job in making the transition to autofocus.

Laowa 12mm Zero D Lite Image Quality Breakdown

Laowa promises optical improvements over the first generation manual focus lens. It is a slightly different optical design, which stands to reason considering how different the physical profiles of the two lenses are. This new design is 16 elements in 9 groups, with 4 of those elements being ED (Extra Low Dispersion) elements and two being ASPH (aspherical) elements. Laowa also notes their propriety “Frog Eye Coating” on the front element, which is similar to a fluorine type coating to add some moisture and fingerprint resistance. The MTF shows an extreme sharp center of the frame performance with a linear drop towards the corners.

I can attest from real world shots that the center is very sharp, even at F2.8 and at closer focus distances.

When stopped down, it is possible to get very reasonable results even at the edges of the frame (this shot and crop at F5.6):

Taking a closer look at distortion and vignette reveals a tiny amount of barrel distortion, but this is actually probably more a byproduct of the close focus distances.

Distortion is well controlled, with just a tiny amount of barrel distortion. I could dial in a +2 or +3, but at the risk of introducing some pincushion distortion in other parts of the frame. I would say that leaving what tiny distortion is there uncorrected might be the best choice. Vignette is another matter, however, and is very heavy. I needed to max out the slider (+100) to correct the vignette, and I would say it could use even a bit more. That being said, here’s a look at the recent 14-24mm F2.8 LK Samyang adapted to Nikon via the Megadap ETZ21 Pro adapter. Even though the Laowa is much wider, it has much less distortion and vignette.

While there is always something worse, there’s also no question that the Laowa’s vignette will be an issue, and, as I discussed previously, I did feel that it sometimes lead to some metering issues.

There are minimal amounts of LoCA (longitudinal chromatic aberrations) before and after the plane of focus. Depth of field isn’t particularly shallow, so it makes this type of fringing less likely.

No problems there.

LaCA (lateral chromatic aberrations) typically show up along the edges of the frame with high contrast transition points.  There is some fringing there, but nothing particularly obvious.

I didn’t notice issues with lateral aberrations in real world shots.

We’ll move on to inspecting our test chart.  Before I jump into my test chart results, I will offer the caveat that the very short test distances required to frame the chart don’t always produce optimal results, particularly if there is any field curvature. That curvature means that all sections of the chart aren’t in focus at the same time, which can make something like the corners look softer than what they actually are (though the MTF chart suggests that the corners at F2.8 aren’t exceptional anyway). I will do some follow up testing to ensure I’m giving a complete picture on performance. This test has been done on a 45MP Nikon Z8 sensor.  I use a high end tripod and two second camera delay to ensure vibration doesn’t affect images.  Here’s a look at the test chart that we will examine at high magnification:

If we take a look at crops (at 200%) at F2.8 from the center, mid-frame, and lower right corner, we find that center performance is excellent (high contrast and detail), the midframe looks shakier, and the corners are impacted both by the vignette and also general softening.

I took my tests outside to a fence where I could set up with more distance between myself and the subject. Instead of being 18 inches away, I could now be about five feet away. I found the same results to be true, however. There’s definitely some field curvature at work, as I got significantly different results when focusing in the center and then on the lock at the edge of the frame.

When focused in the center and examining the center at 100%, the results are definitely better than when focused on the corner. When looking at the corner/edge of the frame, however, the results are definitely better there when focused in that area. Bottom line is that the plane of focus isn’t particularly flat, making it difficult to get everything in focus at the same time…at closer focus distances. This won’t really be an issue at further distances, which will probably also be more normal.

As you stop the lens down, depth of field increases, and that focus variance diminishes. By F5.6, for example, the corners are looking better even on the test chart.

I wouldn’t say that corner performance ever reaches the level of the center, but you can easily get landscape images that are largely sharp right into the corners when shooting at apertures like F5.6 or F8.

Sharpness consistency seems to peak at F8, with results looking good everywhere on my test chart (corners are not exceptional, but solid).

By F11 you will start to see a mild regression due to diffraction on my high resolution Z8 body, and that diffraction will become more pronounced by the minimum aperture of F22.

Bokeh isn’t going to be a big factor with a lens like this, as opportunities to strongly blur a background will be minimal. The bokeh I do see is okay but nothing exceptional.

I would call flare resistance a mixed bag. On the plus side, the coatings do an effective job of preserving contrast. At F2.8, the ghosting patterns are minimal and non-destructive. When stopped down to smaller apertures like F11, however, those ghosting patterns can potentially become much more destructive, though this is really dependent on composition and when the sun sits. Here’s a variety of images shot at different angles and apertures to allow you to determine this for yourself.

I did not have a chance to test coma during my review period, which was abbreviated by a few mitigating circumstances. My experience with similar Laowa lenses expects me to believe that there will be minor issues with star points losing shape in the corners, though here on Nikon I think the bigger issue will be with the heavy vignette bringing the potential for noise.

Optically I would call the Laowa AF 12mm F2.8 Zero D Lite solid. It isn’t without flaws, but I’m not sure any of them are fatal flaws. What’s more, there is nothing else this wide in Nikon’s own lineup, with the 14-24mm F2.8 S being the widest FX lens available. Add to this that the Laowa costs $699 USD, and the Nikkor zoom costs $2000, and I suspect there will be some interested customers. You can get some really extreme images with a lens like this…particularly when you pair it with an ND filter to get long exposures.

If you would like to see more images, check out the gallery linked here.

Conclusion

I’m glad to see Laowa revisiting some of their older lens designs and giving them a modern update, particularly when that update comes with autofocus. Hard to imagine that these second generation lenses added weather sealing, autofocus, and the ability to use standard filters while also being smaller, lighter, and cheaper. That’s a winning combination.

I often felt like Laowa lenses were priced a little too high to become mainstream options, but that may change with a lens like the 12mm F2.8 Zero D Lite AF lens. Moving the price to $699 USD makes this much more competitive, particularly when they are going wider than just about anyone else. I find incredibly wide focal lengths a little harder to use (12mm is about my limit), but there are some photographers who obsess over going ever-wider, and it is true with modern high resolution cameras that you can easily crop into images…but you can’t make them wider.

I think potential buyers of the Laowa 12mm Lite will have a lot of fun with it. It’s an attractive lens, and having the ability to easily filter it will make this a compelling option. I’m glad to see it on Nikon and Sony. It has a few flaws, but

Pros:

• Smaller, lighter, and cheaper than the lens it replaces
• Love Laowa’s new design language
• An extremely wide angle of view + large maximum aperture
• Good autofocus performance for both stills and video
• Low distortion
• Weather sealing gasket
• Stable video autofocus
• Ability to use traditional filters
• Mostly good flare resistance
• Great looking sunstars
• Good center sharpness at wide apertures
• Gets pretty sharp across the frame when stopped down

Cons:

• No in camera corrections?
• Heavy vignette
• Real world corners somewhat soft

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GEAR USED:

Purchase the Laowa AF 12mm F2.8 Zero D Lite @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

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