Venus Optics has announced the new Laowa 20mm f/4 ultra-wide-angle shift Lens. The US price of this lens is $1,099 and available in 8 mounts including Canon EF and RF, Nikon F and Z, Sony E, Pentax K, L mount and Fujifilm G mount (via an adapter). Laowa Lenses are sold at Adorama and B&H.
Laowa 20mm f/4 Zero-D Shift is an ultra-wide-angle shift lens that you cannot resist. On top of the high image sharpness and nearly no distortion (Zero-D), the lens also comes with a rotatable lens hood for avoiding flares and protecting the front lens element.
The amount of shift is ±11mm for full-frame cameras and ±8mm for medium format cameras, making it super easy to capture architectural and interior photography in a corrected perspective. Laowa 20mm f/4 Zero-D Shift expands Laowa’s Shift Lens line-up giving you an addition option for distinct needs.
20mm Ultra-Wide-Angle Lens
With a 94.4° angle of view and up to 117° for panorama photography, it captures the whole scene while reducing the large regions of emptiness. It is ideal for architectural and interior photography to balance the subject and the background.
±11mm Shift Amount
The maximum possible shift amount of the lens is ±11mm for full-frame camera and ±8mm for medium format camera (e.g. Fujifilm GFX / Hasselblad X1D). Sufficient shift capability allows photographers to correct converging vertical lines created by distance. By changing the perspective of the lens, straight architecture can be easily captured.
Outstanding Optical Performance
This lens has 16 elements in 11 groups with 2 aspherical elements and 3 ED elements, bringing impressive control on chromatic aberration and ensuring the image sharpness is consistent from the center to the edge.
“Zero” Distortion
Laowa 20mm f/4 Zero-D Shift is one of the “Zero-D” members, the distortion is nearly zero meaning any straight lines can be maintained from corner to corner. It is a must-have advantage for architectural, commercial, interior, and landscape photographers because the post-editing time is much shortened for the image to look real.
14-blade Aperture
The 14-blade aperture creates smooth and circular bokeh, the effect is pleasantly astonishing in architecture photography.
Close Focusing Distance
Apart from far-away architecture, Laowa 20mm f/4 Zero-D Shift also supports capturing very close objects with a 25cm minimum focusing distance. Wide-angle macro images can be created easily without changing lenses.
Rotatable Lens hood
The 360° rotatable lens hood shades the front of the lens, keeping the images away from unwanted flares and a washed out. It is extremely convenient to use when there is a strong light source from the side. Photographers can also adjust the angle of the lens hood to avoid blocking the image when extreme shifts.
82mm Filter Thread
Laowa 20mm f/4 Zero-D Shift is designed with 82mm filter thread. The screw-in filter can be used which is cheaper, lighter, and more compact compared to obtaining a separate filter holder.
Special Designed Lens Support
The new lens support is compatible for both 20mm f/4 Zero-D Shift and 15mm f/4.5 Zero-D Shift. The rotatable ring outside is specifically helpful to retain the axis of the image when changing orientations and shifting. It is especially important to achieve perfect stitching for panorama photography, the shift lens support makes it much easier.
