Laowa announced a mirrorless fisheye lens, the FF II 8-15mm F2.8 Fisheye Zoom

[Macro_Cosmos]

A fixed 2.8 aperture, 180 degrees fisheye seems interesting.  It will not be cheap though, I would expect it to cost more than a good used Nikon/Canon DSLR-era one, without autofocus.
However, this will be a fixed F2.8 lens.


Lens mount: E/Z/L/RF
PL versions available
Compatible Sensors: Fullsize
Focal length: 8-15mm
Lens construction: 13 elements in 9 groups
Maximum aperture: F2.8
Minimum aperture: F22
Aperture blades: 9
Minimum focusing distance: 0.16m
Maximum magnification: 0.23 times
Filter Diameter: –
Coating: Unclear
Size: 94.5×76.4mm
Weight: 650g

I am not sure what II is supposed to mean, but I do know Laowa designed something similar back then that was never turned into a real product.  Perhaps this is the second iteration.
16cm minimum focusing distance is awesome, I would love to try this on my Z30/Z8.

[Birna Rørslett]

Laowa makes some very good-excellent lenses. I'm expecting this fisheye zoom to belong in this category. Unfortunately, Laowa hasn't followed the practice of Voigtländer, Viltrox, or other third-party makers to provide electronic communication between lens and camera. Now, that is a pity. I really wish they had taken that extra step.

The Fisheye Zoom Nikkor is 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5, meaning 2/3 to 1 1/3 stop slower than the Laowa. It also needs the FTZ/FTZ.2 adapter, not sure if the cheaper Viltrox F-Z adapter will support that lens with full AF and EXIF. I'll try later today. The F 8-15 is quite sharp and these days, the "loss" of ~1 EV brightness compared to the fixed f/2.8 of the Laowa is not very important any more. The 8-15 F does make some visible hot spots in IR though and perhaps the Laowa is better in that regard (?).

[Birna Rørslett]

Breaking news: The Nikkor Fisheye 8-15mm works in AF through the cheap Viltrox F-Z adapter. Using a  Kolari clip-in filter, IR hot spots appear to be tamed concomitantly. Thus I'm not in the first line of potential customers for the Laowa Zoom Fish.

[MEPER]

Can the Viltrox adapter do something the Nikon FTZ can't?
I was wondering why it was "Breaking news". It was not expected to work? :-)

[Birna Rørslett]

With the AFS Nikkor 8-15 Fish: You get the same functionality for half the price with the Viltrox NF-Z adapter compared to the Nikon FTZ/FTZ.2..

Frankly, I hadn't expected that since the Viltrox can be capricious in its interaction with some Nikkors.

[MEPER]

Ok, I have 2 x FTZ and 1 x FTZ 2 and then a couple of the passive adapters.
The first FTZ was part of a Z50 kit. It is a good way to get such an adapter. From memory the two others at very reasonable prices.

[Birna Rørslett]

To enjoy the full features of that AFS lens, a "dumb" adapter is pretty useless.

[MEPER]

Yes, the "dump" adapters are for the old MF Nikkors.
But I must admit that 95% of the time I use Z-lenses on my Z-body.