Voigtlander 10mm f5.6 lens V Laowa 10mm f/2.8 Zero-D

INTRODUCTION

Since the early 1990’s we have been fascinated with wide-angle lenses (thus our name WideScenes Photography). For over 20 years we even shot with a Fuji G617 Professional Panoramic camera that produced magnificent wide-angle panoramas, one of which was printed as a banner 25m long and 8m high for an International Trade Show. Since the beginning of digital photography, we have owned a fisheye lens (initially the Samyang 8mm f3.5 for APS-C sensor cameras and then the Samyang 12mm f2.8 for Full Frame sensor cameras), however, as far as rectilinear lenses are concerned we owned nothing wider than a Laowa 15mm f/2 Zero-D lens that we acquired in 2017. Before COVID-19, Laowa Australia was kind enough to lend us a selection of Laowa lenses to showcase to our large Meetup Group in Sydney, Australia. The selection included the Laowa 9mm f5.6 FF RL lens that produces ultra-wide images but with significant distortion. The lens was a real challenge and didn’t make it to our wishlist.

Then late 2023 a friend gifted us the Voigtlander 10mm f/5.6 Heliar Hyperwide Aspherical lens. Fortunately, this was just before a 3.5-week visit to Japan. We knew that this lens was going to be a challenge to use as far as the subject matter is concerned, however, we had a few ideas on how this lens could be used on the trip, although sparingly. This focal length is primarily designed for architectural interiors and not necessarily street photography or landscape photography, although compositions can  work if there are enough elements in the composition. The shot below was taken at Lake Kawaguchiko with Mt Fuji in the background and would not have worked without the Autumn leaves in the top half of the frame.

Having just returned from Japan and being fairly satisfied with the results of the Voigtlander 10mm f/5.6 lens, a spanner was thrown into the works. Laowa (Venus Optics) released their first AF (Autofocus) lens in their lineup – the Laowa 10mm f/2.8 Zero-D (Zero Distortion) FF lens for Sony FE, Canon RF, Nikon Z, and Leicas L mount cameras (although the AF version is only available in the Sony E and Nikon Z version). We’ve been using the magnificent Laowa 15mm f/2 Zero-D lens since 2017 and it is one of our favourite lenses, and besides the 12mm fisheye, it is our widest lens (excluding the 10mm Voigtlander).

Laowa Australia kindly sent us a loan copy of the Laowa 10mm f/2.8 Zero-D FF lens for testing and evaluation. As always, this is an unbiased review and we have not been paid by Voigtlander or Laowa for this review. All opinions expressed are our own.

THE LENSES

It’s not a completely fair comparison between the two lenses since the Voigtlander lens incorporates technology from 2016, while the Laowa lens was released in 2024. Additionally, the Laowa lens has a 2-stop advantage over the Voigtlander, making it a more desirable option for low-light shooting. Therefore, any comparison test shots will be only shot on f/5.6 or smaller. We’ll throw in a few shots at f/2.8 on the Laowa just to show you its capabilities wide open.

There are three versions of the Laowa lens. There’s an Auto Focus (for Sony FE and Nikon Z) and Manual Focus (for Canon RF and Leica L) version of the lens with 5 aperture blades. There’s also a Manual Focus version with 14 blades for all the mounts. For this review, we only have access to the Auto Focus 5 blade version for Sony E mount.

Personally speaking, we’re not sure why this was introduced as an AF (Autofocus) lens as Manual Focus works well on this type of lens. On the Voigtlander, we set the focus to 1m at f/5.6 or f/8 and shoot. These settings have everything in focus from about .5m to infinity. Nevertheless, AF can be useful if you have a close subject in the composition that you want to specifically focus on although the above technique will work anyway as long as the subject is more than .5m from the camera. Oh, and AF is probably a bit quicker than setting manual focus and there is less chance of you inadvertently moving the focus ring.

BUILD QUALITY

The Voigtlander 10mm f/5.6VM Hyper Wide Heliar Aspherical lens is a well-built robust lens constructed with metal. The lens has a more classical design, reminiscent of old-style film lenses from a bygone era. The lens has an aperture ring at the front of the lens, that moves in 1/3 stop increments from f/5.6 to f/22, although the Voigtlander website specifies that the lens has 1/2 stop increments. We triple-checked this and the lens definitely has 1/3 f-stop increments.

The undulating Linear focus ring is set back towards the rear of the lens. The fact that it is a Linear focus lens gives it hard stops rather than continuously rotating. At the very rear of the lens is the distance scale in feet and metres.

The front of the lens has a permanently fixed metal petal-style lens hood that is an integral feature that protects the slightly bulbous design of the lens. The lens cap is a metallic lid that neatly fits over the lens hood. This style of lens cap is great as it is very secure and will generally not fall off in your bag (unlike the cheap plastic lens caps on our Sony lenses that tend to break over time). The lens does NOT have a filter thread for attaching circular filters, however, you can attach a 150mm Square Filter Holder specifically designed for this lens. You would then be able to use 150 x 150mm ND filters and 150 x 170mm ND Grads.

The lens weighs 312 grams and is only 58.7mm in length. The diameter is 67.8mm. These specs make it an easy lens to fit in your camera bag.

The new Laowa 10mm f/2.8 Zero-D FF lens also has a metal construction, however, the lens has a more sleek and modern design. In fact, the design is a complete shift away from the look of other Laowa lenses which tend to be a little closer in design to the Voigtlander lens. The new design reflects this difference because this is Laowa’s first AF lens. The lens is 108g heavier than the Voigtlander and is a much larger lens, especially in diameter. This may be because it is a f/2.8 lens. Strangely, the lens body has a slightly blue tinge which looks a little strange on a black camera body. Maybe this is a new colour for lenses that have the AF  – only time will tell.

The lens has a very wide focus-by-wire focusing ring. The focus ring, therefore, rotates without any hard stops. The focus ring rotates very smoothly.

On the side of the lens is an AF/MF switch that toggles between Auto Focus and Manual Focus. Interestingly, the front of the lens has a removable plastic lens hood. We are happy Laowa now provides a lock when attaching the lens hood. This has been an issue with our Laowa 15mm f/2 lens. On the odd occasion, we’ve inadvertently rotated the lens hood, which has resulted in vignetting.

The lens has a thread allowing for 77mm filters to be attached. We have attached an ultra-slim Urth UV filter, Urth CPL filter, and even a thicker Urth Variable ND8-128 filter and only the latter showed the slightest hint of vignetting. Once the lens profile has been applied in editing we’re sure you will not have any issues with vignetting if using a single circular filter. Very impressive as we were certain there would be some vignetting on a 130º lens.

As mentioned above, the Laowa lens is much bulkier and 108g heavier lens compared to the Voigtlander. Although the length is only slightly longer than the Voigtlander the diameter is significantly larger. Therefore, the Laowa may not be that much heavier but will take up more room in your camera bag.

Both the Voigtlander and Laowa lenses have exceptional build quality, however, regarding durability, the Voigtlander lens has a tiny advantage over the Laowa lens. The Voigtlander lens seems more robust and well-made, making it an excellent choice for photographers who need a lens that can survive heavy use and harsh conditions. Considering that you cannot mount circular filters and there is no weather sealing on the Voigtlander lens the addition of weather-sealing and circular filter compatibility makes the Laowa lens highly desirable.

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Above: The image is uncorrected. Slide the arrows to the left will show the Voigtlander 10mm lens and to the right will show the Laowa 10mm lens. Interestingly, the Voigtlander lens is slightly wider than the Laowa. The dark edges of the image can be significantly improved on the Voigtlander once the lens profile has been used, however, as there is currently no profile for the Laowa lens we can only presume that once applied it will give a similar result. Lastly, and actually the most baffling, is that the Voigtlander shot resulted in a longer exposure. Every comparison shot we took on a tripod resulted in the Voigtlander having a longer exposure. We do not understand why, so if anyone can shed some light on why this would happen, please leave a comment.

Both shots were taken on a tripod in Aperture Priority and were manually focused to 1m. The exposure results were as follows.

Laowa 10mm – f/8 | 3.2 sec | ISO100 – Voigtlander 10mm – f/8 | 6 sec | ISO100

SHARPNESS

Both lenses are sharp in the centre when used at all apertures until diffraction kicks in at f/16. The corners are slightly soft on the Laowa lens at f/2.8 and f/4 but this is to be expected for this type of lens design. By the time it is stopped down to f/5.6 there is a lot of improvement in corner sharpness. At both f/5.6 and f/8, we found the Laowa to be slightly sharper in the centre but only marginally. If you are not too concerned about corner sharpness then the Laowa is a clear winner here. Personally, we couldn’t give a rat’s ass about corner sharpness as we never pixel peep. As far as we are concerned, as long as most of the content matter in the image is sharp, that is good enough for us. Nevertheless, it’s a bit of a trade-off – if you want the fast aperture of the Laowa then you will have to accept the softer corners.

APERTURE

As mentioned above, the Voigtlander is a fully manual lens and has an aperture ring on the lens. The apertures move in 1/3 stop increments from f/5.6 to f/22. The camera controls the aperture when using the Laowa.

WEATHER SEALING

Unlike most Laowa lenses, the Laowa 10mm f/2.8 Zero-D FF lens IS weather-sealed. The Voigtlander 10mm f/5.6 Hyper Wide Heliar Aspherical lens is not weather-sealed. We’re unsure why lens manufacturers do not add this feature to all their lenses.

VIGNETTING

Due to the design of ultra-wide lenses, there is always some degree of dark corners and these lenses are no exception. Both lenses display significant dark edges at all apertures. Naturally, these can mostly be corrected using the lens profile in post-processing. As mentioned, Lightroom has still not released a profile for the Laowa lens so we cannot show you an example at this time. Below is the correction on the Voigtlander. This is straight out of the camera and has been shot at f/8.

ANGLE OF VIEW

Both lenses will give you a 130º angle of view, however, as mentioned above, the Voigtlander lens is slightly wider than the Laowa lens. We’re not sure who got it wrong here, Voigtlander or Laowa. Regardless, as we cannot correct the Laowa images with a profile at the time of writing, we are not 100% sure about the difference between the two.

Below is a comparison of some of the key specifications of the lenses. Other specs can be found on the Laowa and Voigtlander  websites.

THE VERDICT

Both lenses are exceptional. Based on the comparison of the specifications above the Laowa 10mm f/2.8 is the clear winner even though it is slightly more expensive. For an extra USD$50, you will get a lens that focuses closer, accommodates filters, a removable lens hood, weather sealing, less distortion, more mounts, and a faster aperture. The only negatives are the weight, size, colour (debatable), and aperture blades on the autofocus versions. The only other drawback, which is a major one for us, is that the lens will not work with our Silence Corner Atoll S+ that is permanently attached to the camera. We do not want to remove this each time we want to use the Laowa lens. The only option would be to revert to using an L bracket – and this is an option we will have to consider as we are not using a tripod that much these days.

So, if you have never tried this focal length before, we highly recommend that you purchase the Laowa 10mm lens. However, if you already own the Voigtlander 10mm lens, like we do, we would recommend you upgrade to the Laowa only if the positives are essential in your photography. For us, the only real desire we would have to upgrade to the Laowa would be the ability to attach circular filters. This opens up a lot of creative opportunities that you cannot achieve with the Voigtlander lens without having to use a large square filter system. Nevertheless, the Voigtlander is a fantastic lens for us due to it’s weight, size and portability.

So, in conclusion, we think that Laowa has produced a winner here and produced a magnificent lens but for now we will be sticking with the Voigtlander lens until we decide whether to revert back to an L bracket.

PRICING

Funnily enough (actually, not funny at all) the Voigtlander in the USA is slightly cheaper than the Laowa, however, here in Australia the Voigtlander is AUD$1650 and the Laowa is AUD$1449. Go figure!!! If you are purchasing in Australia, click the banner below and use the Wide5 coupon code for a 5% discount 

Below is a comparison of some of the key specifications of the lenses. Other specs can be found on the Laowa and Voigtlander  websites.

TEST SHOTS

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