Anhui China, Jul 19, 2022 – Venus Optics announces the launch of the new Laowa 10mm f/4 Cookie Lens for APS-C mirrorless cameras. It is one of the world’s widest rectilinear pancake lenses for APS-C cameras. At a cookie size of 25mm(0.98”) long and weighing only 130g(0.29lbs), it literally can be put in your pocket. Most of the wide-angle pancake lenses on the market are either fisheye or pinhole. They usually have obvious barrel distortion and inferior image quality. However, this new Laowa Cookie Lens is equipped with a high-performance optical design, featuring super-low distortion and optimized image quality to ensure users take full advantage of the mirrorless system – compact and capable. Laowa 10mm f/4 Cookie is a fun and mighty option for day-to-day content creators to carry around without burden, ideal for street, urban, landscape photography and everyday snapshots. The Lens has black and silver versions for multiple mounts including Canon RF, Nikon Z, Sony E, L mount and Fuji X to match with the camera body.
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Key Features:
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Extremely Compact and Lightweight
Laowa 10mm f/4 Cookie is a pancake-style lens specifically designed for APS-C mirrorless cameras. At just 25mm deep and weighing only 130g, you can use it with gimbals and shoot handheld easily. It’s almost like a body cap with function. With such discreet design and excellent portability, you will carry it anywhere and eventually shoot more.
World’s Widest Rectilinear Pancake
Featuring a remarkable 109.3° angle of view, Laowa 10mm f/4 Cookie is by far the world’s widest rectilinear pancake lens for APS-C on the market. With the advantages of the ultra-wide perspective and pocket-sized weight, this lens brings you a burdenless experience to capture epic moments in everyday life and explore the beauty in our surroundings.
Super-low Distortion
Most pancake lenses with a wide perspective are fisheye so heavy Barrel distortion would be expected. However, the Laowa Cookie is here to break the norm. The lens has excellent control of optical distortion. The horizontal and vertical straight lines are retained from corner to corner. As an ultra-wide-angle lens, this is essential not only to reduce the post-editing time but also to expand the possibility of genres you can do with this lens, from street and outdoor photography to shape-edged architectures and spectacular landscapes.
High Optical Performance
Laowa 10mm f/4 Cookie lens comes with 12 elements in 8 groups optical structure with 2 aspherical and 4 extra-low dispersion elements. Despite the light and compact design, the lens managed to deliver the impressive image quality and high contrast. The performance of chromatic aberration, flaring, and ghosting effects are optimized to support your day and night snapshots.
Stunning 10-point Sunstar
Built with 5 aperture blades, stunning 10-point Sunstar can be achieved easily when stop down.
Close Minimum Focusing Distance
The minimum focusing distance of Laowa 10mm f/4 Cookie is 10cm, allowing you to get super close to the subjects and create interesting wide-angle macro-like shots with nice separation between the object and background.
Built-in Filter Thread
Equipped with a 37mm filter thread for you to use screw-in filters directly. It is very convenient and cost-saving as no additional filter holder is required.
Pricing & Availability
Laowa 10mm f/4 Cookie is currently available to purchase via Venus Optics official website (http://www.venuslens.net/) and authorized resellers.
The US price for Laowa 10mm f/4 Cookie is USD299 for all mounts. Pricing varies in different countries.
Product Page
Laowa 10mm f/4 Cookie: https://www.venuslens.net/product/laowa-10mm-f-4-cookie/
| Laowa 10mm f/4 Cookie | |
| Focal length | 10mm |
| Aperture range | f/4-22 |
| Angle of view | 109.3° |
| Format | APS-C |
| Lens structure | 12 elements in 8 groups (4 ED elements) |
| Aperture blades | 5 blades |
| Maximum magnification | 0.15x |
| Minimum focusing distance | 100mm |
| Focus Method | Manual (MF) |
| Dimensions for Filter Thread | Ø 37mm |
| Dimensions | About Ø 59.8mm (2.35”) * 25mm (0.98”) |
| Weight | About 130g (0.29lbs) |
| Mount | Black & Silver version for all mounts: Canon RF / Nikon Z / Sony E / L mount / Fuji X |
| Price | $299 |
I personally find these lenses a gimmick for hipsters. I used to have the EF14mm with broken AF out of warranty and used it a lot on hyperfocal, but there is so much more you can do with an ultra wide lens, and autofocus is very handy. For my eyes, it is paramount.
This ultrawide focal length is not good for close up portraits/headshots as the perspective will be unnatural and distorted, it does work though when using a distant view of the subject.
If you want photos like the one shown below, where the nose is enlarged and the face is stretched thin, then just use a smartphone and get the same funky distortion, like all the smartphone users who don't quite understand focal length distortion and shoot portraits really close with an UW! (PS - in case of any confusion, the image on the right is closer to how the subject really looks!) :oops:
From https://annawu.com/blog/2011/09/focal-length-comparison/
You won't be able to shoot a bathroom scene with a 200mm lens.
I do realize that perfect photographers want top notch quality at all times. It took me 33 years to get rid of that imperfection and to realize that storytelling is about more than beautiful pixels. If technology cannot keep up with the need of curious mind, then it is nothing more than an obsolution.
I do have both the Laowa 16mm and the canon RF 16mm, but ever since I acquired the canon, the Laowa sits in the box: doesn't have autofocus.
I have been intrigued by Laowa for their ability to get out of that bubble of experienced photographers, and to get many to the land of curiosity and new ideas, yet, unable to get themselves out of that manual world. You give people abilities they have never experienced before, yet you drag them back to the age of my forefathers.
What good is rectilinearity for, if you miss the shot?
I know, we do not shoot the same thing. This gives me the right to have an opinion that manual lenses are useless. It is not a complaint, it is a statement of need.
On a side note, why would I use a smartphone to take a picture, if I have an R5? I don't understand the suggestion.
UW lenses are not just for static subjects. I use it to shoot volleyball and basketball games, I use mine to shoot tight space scenes such as in a metro and in a fridge. I use it on gimbal, I shoot manual macro with it, I shoot band rehearsal, and for all these examples, I need autofocus, and never missed rectilinearity. It would be great to have it, but not a must as much as autofocus is.
You can shoot action with a manual lens as long as you are the correct distance away, so that the subject falls into the very deep depth of field that UW lenses have. This way, AF speed and accuracy won't really matter.
Why use a smartphone to take a picture if you have an R5? If you want to use lenses incorrectly, and take UW portraits really close up to produce badly distorted images of people's faces, so they look like every other smartphone face snapshot/selfie, you don't need a premium full-frame camera worth several thousands of dollars badly paired in a very mismatched way with a low image quality, entry-level cheap plastic 16mm lens. You can do it much more cheaply, easily and conveniently with any smartphone, and post it on social media instantly. :oops: