Loawa Keeps it Weird: 10mm f/4 Pancake Announced

Jul 19, 2022 | Laowa, Lenses, News

Laowa released a 10mm f/4 pancake lens for crop sensors in the typical mirrorless mounts for $300. Laowa is among the best at removing distortion from its designs, but the image quality and sharpness are yet to be tested. It does contain 12 elements, including some low dispersion elements likely to knock down color aberrations.

laowa 10mm f4Weighing only about a quarter of a pound, and extending only 2.5 cm in depth, it’s not far off in size to a lens cap.

Laowa brags it has a honking sun star effect and controls both flaring and ghosting. Manual focus, of course.

Sample images provided by the manufacturer show some significant vignetting, as would be expected at this focal length. Some shots show near-macro capabilities relative to a 10mm lens. The minimum focus distance is only 7.5 centimeters from the end of the lens.

It’ll take all your 37mm filters.

Laowa touts the lens as “the world’s widest rectilinear pancake lens.” Which is sort of like the saying something is “the world’s richest green-haired optometrist,” but we can’t argue with its accuracy.

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