Wide angle macro lenses are a rare breed, but the Venus Optics Laowa 15mm f/4.5 Macro lens brings intriguing possibilities to your photography. Its unique ability to merge ultra-wide perspectives with macro capabilities offers you creative flexibility that standard lenses can’t easily match.
Coming to you from Christopher Frost, this practical video explores the strengths and weaknesses of the Venus Optics Laowa 15mm f/4.5 Macro lens, particularly its unusual macro abilities. Frost highlights its compact build and solid metal construction, which includes basic weather-sealing and a convenient 62mm filter thread. He also points out the short working distance at the closest focus—just under 1.5 inches from your subject—which demands careful lighting considerations. This is a lens that asks you to think differently about composition and lighting, pushing you toward creative experimentation rather than standard practices. While the manual focus ring is precise enough for most wide angle shooting, Frost notes that the lens suffers noticeable focus breathing when close focusing.
Image quality, always a key consideration, is thoroughly tested by Frost using a 45-megapixel sensor. Sharpness at the center of the frame is respectable at the widest aperture of f/4.5, improving notably at f/5.6. Corner sharpness is a different story—edges remain soft and display significant color fringing, even as you stop down further. Frost suggests that while sharpness can reach acceptable levels at smaller apertures, corner performance will likely disappoint serious landscape users. Macro shooting performance is similarly mixed, offering soft images with color fringing at the widest aperture, though notably improving at f/8 and f/11.
Key Specs
-
Focal Length: 15mm
-
Maximum Aperture: f/4.5
-
Lens Mount: Canon RF, Nikon Z, Nikon F, Leica L, Sony E, Canon EF
-
Format Coverage: Full-Frame
-
Minimum Focus Distance: 1.4 inches
-
Maximum Magnification: 0.5x
-
Filter Size: 62 mm
-
Dimensions: 2.8 x 1.9 inches
-
Weight: 10.9 oz
-
Price: $399
When considering issues like distortion and vignetting, Frost finds barrel distortion minimal, yet vignetting remains significant even stopped down. Flare handling isn’t a strong point either, with noticeable artifacts appearing under bright lights. However, the lens produces appealing sunstars at smaller apertures, adding creative flair to your images, especially useful in landscape scenarios. Background blur at macro distances is pleasantly smooth, an asset for creating dynamic wide-angle close-ups with clear subject-background separation.
This lens won't replace your everyday wide angle or macro lens—it sits comfortably in a niche category. You should consider it primarily for specialized macro photography, leveraging its wide-angle perspective for unconventional imagery. Landscape and standard wide angle photography are certainly possible, but secondary to its macro capabilities due to noted image quality issues, particularly around the edges. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Frost.
