Laowa 12-24mm f/5.6 £729/$649 www.ukdigital.co.uk
We’ve become used to new lenses from Laowa being incredible macro probe lenses, or ultra-fast prime optics – but this new 12-24mm f/5.6 zoom is something different. This time Laowa’s aim was to produce a compact and affordable ultra-wide zoom for full-frame mirrorless cameras, naturally including the Nikon Z series. It joins the 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 in Laowa’s ultra-wide range, with the aim of offering more consistent image results than its more extreme stablemate. The new lens should appeal to photographers who enjoy shooting landscapes, architecture and interiors, although an unusually short 15cm minimum focus distance gives potential for close-ups too. Many Laowa lenses provide a careful balance of price and performance: some bells and whistles might be missing, but that means you should get a quality optic at an affordable price. For example, as with many other Laowa lenses, this is a fully manual lens with no electronic contacts to support autofocus commands from the camera – although manual focus is perfectly adequate for the lens’s typical usage. With a diameter of 69.4mm and an 84mm length, the 12-24mm f/5.6 certainly ticks the compact box, and it’s also light for a full-frame ultra-wide zoom, at just 497g. Part of the reason for this compactness is the relatively slow f/5.6 maximum aperture, though this does stay constant throughout the zoom range. A water- and dust-repelling ‘Frog-eye Coating’ gives the front element some weather protection. The front element is also relatively flat for an ultra-wide lens. This means, unusually, that the 12-24mm f/5.6 accepts filters; and a 77mm filter thread is conveniently integrated into the supplied lens hood. Inside, the 15-element, 11-group optical stack incorporates two aspherical elements and three ED (extra-low dispersion) elements. The five-blade diaphragm is unlikely to produce the smoothest bokeh, although that doesn’t matter too much when you’re shooting landscapes and architecture. On the other hand, it should produce 10-point sunstars, which will add a distinctive touch of style to lit interiors.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
What the Laowa 12-24mm f/5.6 lacks in speed, it aims to make up for with portability and affordability. The careful balancing act Laowa practises usually results in a quality lens at a low price; the price is certainly competitive, so we look forward to getting the 12-24mm f/5.6 in our labs to try it out.