Hasselblad is back with another video in its ongoing behind-the-scenes series, ‘Hasselblad’s Home.’ In the inaugural video, titled ‘The Design Philosophy Behind Creating the X System,’ Hasselblad shared an inside look at what went into developing the company’s mirrorless medium format camera. Now, in episode two, Hasselblad shares what’s gone into developing the ergonomics, materials and user interface of the Hasselblad X System.
Hasselblad’s factory in Gothenburg, Sweden.
The five-minute video, titled ‘The X System’s Ergonomics, Materials and Hasselblad User Interface’ shares an inside perspective of the decision-making process that went into making some of the most important components of Hasselblad’s X System. In Hasselblad’s own words:
‘This episode takes a deeper look into what went into creating the X System’s deep grip and the different materials tested for it before choosing the final one, the materials used for the camera itself, button choice and placement, as well as the thoughts behind building the Hasselblad User Interface (HUI).’
Regardless of whether or not you’ve ever used a Hasselblad camera, it’s a fascinating video that explains the rationale for the design decisions that are typically confined to within the walls of Hasselblad’s Gothenburg, Sweden operation.
The post A Non-Techie User Guide to Installing GIMP Plugins appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ana Mireles.
Have you heard all about how GIMP is free and open-source, but you’ve struggled to embrace the program? Well, I was like that at first; that’s why I decided to make this guide on installing GIMP plugins from one non-techie to another.
My first few attempts to use GIMP were quite off-putting, and when I tried to install a plugin I ended up completely frustrated. But now I actually prefer GIMP to Photoshop for certain edits. Hopefully, this article can save you some time and turn you into an avid GIMP user, as well.
What is open-source software?
When a developer builds software, they write lines of text in a specific programming language. This forms the software’s source code.
In commercial software, this code is protected by copyright. You have to pay a license to use such a program, and you can’t change it in any way.
Instead, an open-source program can be used, modified, and distributed by anyone. Also, most of the time it is free. Sounds great, right?
Well, it is. That’s why everybody keeps telling you GIMP is amazing because it’s “open source.” On the other hand, GIMP is not as user-friendly as other programs. So you might need some time to get used to it. Here’s an introductory guide to get you started.
What are plugins?
A plugin is an add-on that gives more functions to a program. It can be a filter, a tool, or a library that isn’t included in the original source code. As a result, the software gets more powerful and gains more capabilities.
Commercial software has plugins, too (Photoshop, for example).
Since we are already talking about expanding the capabilities of software, scripts are another essential add-on to be aware of. You’ve probably heard of Photoshop actions and Lightroom presets, both of which are scripts.
Well, GIMP has scripts to automate processes and save you time and effort. So while you might find GIMP to be somewhat basic at first, once you start adding plugins and scripts you’ll see that it really has a lot to offer.
Where can you find GIMP plugins?
This is where it starts to get more tricky. Because neither GIMP nor the plugins are made by one developer, there isn’t a website that you can go to find a list with links.
There used to be one registry that held all the plugins, scripts, images, and files, but it’s not active anymore. Fortunately, in this day and age, you can find anything just by Googling.
As you know, search engines like Google will show you a lot of results; some of it can be outdated, other results can even be a virus, so be careful with what you download. Here are some tips to make your search more efficient:
Look for tutorials
Start by searching for guides or tutorials on what you want to do, for example: “How to do Content Aware Resizing in GIMP?”
These results will give you suggestions for different plugins that have this functionality, and often they’ll even share the link so you can download it. Since you know that the recommendation comes from a plugin user, you know it’s safe and you can also see if it’s what you’re looking for.
Always look at the date the recommendation was published and click on the most recent suggestions. If you find an article that’s too old, you might not find the plugin anymore, or the plugin may not be compatible with your GIMP version.
Look for reviews on blogs
There are tons of websites that make lists and reviews about these kinds of things. You can search for “The best plugins of this year for GIMP.”
This way, you’ll also find safe downloads and you don’t have to worry about the plugins being useful. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t be on such a list, right?
Installing GIMP plugins
Download your file
Once you find the plugin you want, download it to your computer. I’ll use the Resynthesizer plugin as an example, which you can download here. Please keep in mind that you need to find the right file for your operating system. Everything you see here is done on a Mac.
Resynthesizer downloads in a zip file, so double-click on it to extract the files. Leave this Finder window open. You’ll need it again in a moment.
Find GIMP’s plugin folder
Now open GIMP. Click on the GIMP menu and choose Preferences. This will open a pop-up window.
In the left column, find the Folders menu and click on it. This will display all the folders that hold GIMP’s information, so just look in there for the one called Plugins.
Find the folder with the plugin resources. It should be called something like this: GIMP-2.10.app/Contents/Resources/lib/gimp/2.0/plug-ins.
Of course, the GIMP version may be different for you; mine is 2.10.
Now click on the square button in the top right of the window. If you hover on top of the button, it should say Show file location in the file manager. This will open the folder that contains the plugin files.
Copy the plugin to GIMP
Now you should have the two folders open:
On one side, the Finder window with the folder of the plugin you downloaded.
On the other side, the window you just opened from GIMP with the folder that contains the plugins.
Select the files from the new plugin and drag them into GIMP’s plugin folder.
Restart GIMP
That’s it. Now you only have to restart GIMP to find the new tools ready for use.
In the case of the Resynthesizer plugin, it adds the filters Enlarge & Sharpen, Heal Selection, Heal Transparency, Sharpen by Synthesis, and Uncrop.
Conclusion
That’s it. As you can see, installing GIMP plugins is basically a copy-paste operation, so it’s really not as complicated as you might think.
The only hassle is finding the right files and locations. With the tricks I showed you in this article, it will hopefully get easier.
In the end, it’s worth the effort.
Now over to you:
Share in the comments your experiences with GIMP plugins, as well as any plugins or scripts you recommend.
The post A Non-Techie User Guide to Installing GIMP Plugins appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ana Mireles.
An elaborate phishing scam has hit some Instagram users who warn that the content appears, at least initially, to be a legitimate message from the platform. The scam involves sending a private message to Instagram users, warning them that they have infringed upon an image’s copyright and they need to fill out a form to avoid having their account suspended.
Phishing scams are attempts to acquire the victim’s personal information, typically login credentials for online accounts or information that could be used for financial fraud, such as a Social Security number. In the case of this latest Instagram scam, which was first reported by Fstoppers, the scammers seek login information for the victim’s Instagram and email accounts.
It’s unclear how broadly this scam may be deployed, but at least one seemingly legitimate account appears to have been hijacked to send these messages. Andy Day at Fstoppers reports having received a private message on Instagram from The North Face Chile account alleging that a copyright violation had been detected on his account.
The North Face Chile account behind the phishing message.
The phishing scam states that the user must ‘provide feedback’ to the message or else their account will be suspended in 24 hours. The message includes a link to “InstagramHelpNotice.com,’ a website that appears — at first — to be a legitimate Instagram website (at least if the victim is on mobile, which is the primary platform used by Instagrammers).
The first two screens presented on the phishing website ‘InstagramHelpNotice.com’
The phishing website first prompts the user to enter their Instagram username, then their password. This section of the website appears legitimate, but the next part seeking the user’s email address and email password is obviously a scam. In addition to the fact that Instagram would never ask for a user’s personal email credentials, the website also misspells ‘address’ as ‘Adress.’
The second and third screens on the Instagram phishing website.
It’s unclear whether The North Face Chile is, indeed, a legitimate account or whether scammers went to fairly elaborate lengths to create the account and make it appear legitimate. The content that is currently on The North Face Chile Instagram account mirrors the content found on a different account called ‘zeusclubantalya.’
According to WHO.is, the phishing domain was registered on June 9, 2020, indicating that it may have been sending these messages to Instagram users over the past three or so weeks. The registrant information was made private so it isn’t possible to see who owns the domain, but WHO.is suggests — based on similar websites — that this phishing scam may originate from Russia. However, the information presented on The North Face Chile account points back to an alleged club located in Antalya, Turkey.
It’s impossible to say where this scam ultimately originates from and who is behind it. However, it is clearly an attempt to get email login credentials from unsuspecting Instagram users, likely in an attempt to then get access to the victim’s banking accounts and other, more sensitive accounts. Acquired information would likely be used for identity theft and/or financial fraud.
Instagram users should ignore any copyright violation messages that are delivered from random accounts in DMs and that encourage the user to visit a third-party website to resolve the matter. On Instagram’s help website, it explains how it handles copyright infringement, including the official method copyright holders, must use to contact the company over stolen content.
UPDATE: The North Face has confirmed to DPR that its Instagram account was hijacked by scammers:
The official Instagram account for The North Face Chile (@thenorthfacechile) was hijacked by hackers on Friday, June 26th, and we currently do not have access to the account. We took immediate action to activate security protocol by changing the passwords to all of our social network accounts and have reported the problem to Facebook and Instagram support teams. We are currently waiting on further information and direction from their teams.
ON1 has announced that the new version of ON1 Photo RAW 2020 is available now. ON1 Photo RAW 2020.1 includes new user interface updates, new features, performance enhancements, and new camera and lens support.
For photo editing improvements, ON1 Photo RAW 2020.1 includes improved highlight recovery. The software utilizes a new algorithm, which promises better recovery in highlight areas while maintaining more accurate hues. Further, ON1 Photo RAW 2020.1 now includes the ability to quickly edit a single image. You can drag the photo onto the application to edit a single image, with results saved non-destructively. A finished file is then ready to share without any fuss.
ON1 Photo RAW 2020.1 includes a new highlight recovery algorithm. The algorithm has been designed to deliver better highlight recovery with more natural colors.
If you enjoy using focus stacking techniques, ON1 Photo RAW 2020.1 includes a new focus stacking algorithm. The focus stacking tool also provides users with additional options to control the output.
The user interface has seen numerous improvements. There is a new and improved map view, which incorporates higher quality maps and improved search results. In the metadata pane in the new version of Photo RAW 2020, there is now a location tab and users can sync location metadata across multiple selected photos.
Inside the Browse section of the user interface, fast browse mode and cataloged folders mode now have their own tabs. There is also a new Copy to Catalog Folders option, which works like a quick import function to copy your photos from one location to another.
To help you find your images faster than ever before, ON1 Photo RAW 2020.1 has enhanced search features. There is now a simple search at the top of the Browse section. Users can now choose which cataloged folders to search as well, rather than searching all of them simultaneously.
Browsing large folders of images, such as hundreds or thousands of images from a single shoot, should be quicker in ON1 Photo RAW 2020.1. It is now faster to scroll through large groups of thumbnails images, rather than needing to wait for the thumbnails to appear on your screen.
Other speed improvements include a much simpler and quicker initial setup for first-time ON1 Photo RAW users. There’s also a new ‘getting started’ dialogue that guides new users through the process of finding images and making the first edit.
ON1 Photo RAW 2020.1 adds support for a number of new cameras and lenses. Newly supported cameras include the Fujifilm X-T4, Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III, Nikon D780, Nikon Z50, Canon EOS 1D X Mark III, Panasonic Lumix S1H, Sony A9 II and more. New lenses from Canon, Fujifilm, Leica, Meike, Minolta, Nikon, Panasonic, Sigma, Sony, Voigtlander and Zeiss are now supported as well. To view the full list of new cameras and lenses supported in ON1 Photo RAW 2020.1, click here.
To celebrate the launch of ON1 Photo RAW 2020.1, ON1 is offering a special promotional 20 percent discount for new users. Upgrades from prior versions of ON1 Photo RAW can be purchased for $ 63.99 USD. New users can buy ON1 Photo RAW 2020.1 for $ 79.99. If you already have ON1 Photo RAW 2020, the latest 2020.1 update is available for free. Release notes and download links are available here. For more information on ON1 Photo RAW 2020.1, visit ON1.
The post Your Guide to Photography User Agreements appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darina Kopcok.
Copyright and image usage can be a complex and confusing arena even for experienced photographers.
When you shoot for a client, you not only need a contract outlining the deliverables, but you also need a user or licensing agreement. You also need a user agreement if a brand or organization comes across one of your images on the Internet and wants to use it in some way.
So what exactly is a user agreement and why do you need one?
A user agreement is a type of contract in which you as the photographer grant specific usage rights to a client or collaborator. They may only use the image within the bounds of this agreement.
Under most copyright laws, photography is as protected as any other artwork. In photography, you’re not “selling” your image or giving up your copyright. You’re giving someone a license to use the images for a specific purpose and time frame. In effect, you’re the “lender,” and they are the “borrower.” This is basically what happens when someone purchases stock photography.
The two types of licenses
There are two types of licenses: exclusive and non-exclusive.
An exclusive license does not allow the photographer to license the image or images to other third parties during the duration of the agreement.
A non-exclusive license allows the photographer to license the same image to other third parties under separate agreements during the same time frame.
Clients often want an exclusive license to ensure the images created for their brand don’t appear elsewhere. In some cases, so they don’t end up being used by their competitors.
However, be aware that they should be required to pay a premium for this exclusivity. This is why usage rates can go very high, depending on the client and their visibility in the marketplace.
When you give exclusivity to a client, it prohibits you from earning more income from your images by licensing it to other third parties, or through stock photography.
For example, I license my images through Offset, a division of Shutterstock. They offer high-quality stock photography for a much higher price point than microstock agencies.
I make a decent side income from being a contributor with them, without having the thousands of images required by other agencies to make stock photography worthwhile. Since most of my commissioned clients want exclusive usage, I don’t submit the images I license to them to stock also. Instead, I submit non-similar rejects from the shoot and even shoot specifically for my stock portfolio.
What should go in the user agreement?
When you’re writing up a user agreement and setting your price, it’s crucial you consider the end use of the image and the visibility of the brand using it.
Licensing an image to a nationwide restaurant chain should have a different price and terms than the mom-and-pop taco joint down the street.
One example of how the details of a user agreement can become critical is when you’re dealing with a start-up or a growing small business.
If you provide licensing for several years or in perpetuity (forever ongoing), what happens if that business suddenly takes off and gains extensive exposure? Your image will become worth a lot more, but you won’t see an extra penny if you’ve given perpetual usage away.
The rule for user agreements is the wider the audience for the image, the more the image is worth to the brand.
When faced with a client who has good prospects to grow, keep your licensing period shorter and track when it expires via a spreadsheet.
The user agreement should also specify whether the license is exclusive or non-exclusive, and describe its intended use.
I don’t recommend granting unlimited use for an image; otherwise, a brand can use it across every conceivable platform – in advertising, on billboards and for product licensing.
Be very specific about how they can use your images. More and more clients are asking for universal and unlimited rights. If this is the case, they should be prepared to pay for it.
Specify the time frame in which the licensee is allowed to use the image. If they want to use the image beyond this time frame, they will have to purchase another license from you.
Another important tip is don’t provide a user agreement until the images have been paid for in full. Let the client know this policy and state on your invoice that the images cannot be used publicly until you have received payment in full.
Educate your clients
As with other types of contracts, a user agreement protects you as the creator of an image. It also prevents misunderstandings between you and a client that can lead to bad feelings and legal hassles if someone feels their expectations haven’t been met.
Unless a client has worked with photographers before, they may not understand the ins-and-outs of copyright law or why they need to sign a user agreement. Educating the client is vital.
If someone is questioning your contracts, they likely are not understanding the process. A local small business or startup brand may need your help in understanding the transaction.
Conclusion
When negotiating a user agreement, it’s important to communicate with self-confidence and to recognize your work has value to your clients.
At the same time, remaining respectful and professional can lead to building a mutually beneficial relationship – with more opportunities and income down the line.
If you have any other licensing and user agreement info you’d like to share, please do so in the comments section.
The post Your Guide to Photography User Agreements appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darina Kopcok.
Following reports of a bug on Twitter, Google has temporarily disabled the Photos feature on Android TV. The decision was made in light of complaints from some Android TV users who say hundreds of strangers appeared under the platform’s ‘Linked Accounts’ menu. Though those users’ photos weren’t accessible, impacted Android TV owners could view their names and profile pictures.
The issue was first reported by Android Police, which points to a video shared by Twitter user ‘Prashanth.’ In the video, hundreds of Google Photos accounts are listed under the Google Home app’s Ambient Mode, which allows users to display a feed of their Google Photos images on an Android TV or Chromecast.
When I access my Vu Android TV through the @Google Home app, and check the linked accounts, it basically lists what I imagine is every single person who owns this television. This is shocking incompetence. pic.twitter.com/5DGwrArsco
— prashanth (@wothadei) March 3, 2019
As part of the Ambient Mode feature, Google makes (made) it possible to enable displaying images from other Google Photos users by linking their accounts. This feature was intended to be used with other known users — friends and family, for example — but this surprise bug had apparently linked hundreds of unknown accounts.
Android Police has identified complaints related to the Vu LED TV 55SU134, which has Android TV built-in, as well as another related to the iFFalcon 32F2A Android TV from a TCL subsidiary. Prashanth told the site that he wasn’t able to replicate the bug on a Xiaomi Mi Box 3 running Android 8 Oreo; the Vu TV was still running the older Android 7 software.
The problem may only impact older hardware that hasn’t received the latest security updates.
Though he was able to view users’ names and profile pictures under Linked Accounts and the Ambient Mode feature, Prashanth did say in a tweet that wasn’t able to view the other users’ actual Google Photos images. Google is expected to bring back the feature with a bug fix in the future.
Facebook is shuttering its image sharing app Moments, the company announced on Thursday. The product, which was announced in June 2015, allows multiple Facebook users to privately share images they’ve taken with the people who are featured in them. The app transforms Facebook’s facial recognition technology into a convenient tool, but few users are actually using the service.
The premise behind Facebook Moments is simple: many people snap images at a gathering. Those images can be manually shared with other individuals who attended the same event, but there’s a chance someone may miss out on photos they were featured in.
By using its facial recognition tech, Facebook is able to scan the user’s camera roll, identify other Moments users in the images, and issue an alert suggesting the user share those particular images with the other people featured in them. Google Photos offers a similar feature.
Moments was launched as a standalone app, and it’ll be officially shuttered on February 25, according to an email Facebook has sent to users. CNET reports that Facebook Moments’ demise is partly due to a lack of interest from users.
In addition to the email, users were given an alert within the Moments app, and any Facebook user who utilized the service within the last year will see an alert about the closure within the main Facebook app. Facebook Moments will be inaccessible starting on February 25. Users who wish to keep their images can use Facebook’s new ‘Export Your Moments’ tool to save them.
Instagram has introduced redesigned user profiles that will be rolling out to users over the next several weeks. The company describes the rollout as a test that retains common profile elements, but rearranges them to provide a new look emphasizing bios and taking the focus away from follower counts.
Though user content posted to the grid remains unchanged, Instagram has repositioned buttons, icons, and other profile elements. User bios are given the most focus with a prominent right placement, whereas follower counts are now listed in small text beneath both the bio and links. Total post counts have been eliminated.
The company hopes its redesigned profiles offer easier navigation and a cleaner look. Testing will take place in multiple phases and “combinations,” Instagram said last week. User feedback on the new look will help shape the experiment and potentially the final design. It’s unclear how many users will see the new profile.
Earlier today, Adobe announced new Creative Cloud educational pricing for K-12 schools (meaning primary and secondary schools, for those outside the US), slashing the price for individual schools and school districts to just $ 5 per license per year with a minimum purchase of 500 licenses for a school, or 2,500 licenses for a school district. Additional licenses can be purchased for $ 50 per 250.
Adobe says the move “underscores Adobe’s commitment to providing students and teachers with the world’s leading digital creative tools and skills,” and is the company’s way of “nurturing creativity and creative problem solving,” both of which, research shows, will be key skills in tomorrow’s job market.
The plans give students access to all of the Creative Cloud applications and 2GB of cloud storage each. But best of all, students won’t have to be in the classroom to use the apps—named user licensing allows students to log in to and install Creative Cloud applications at home or on their mobile devices as well.
“Making Creative Cloud available at $ 4.99 per year, per license—with access in schools and at home—is going to be a game changer, providing students and teachers access to apps that will unlock their inherent creativity in new and exciting ways,” says Adobe’s Mala Sharma, VP and GM of Creative Cloud Product, Marketing, and Community. “Making Creative Cloud affordable is just one of many actions we’re taking to reduce the barriers to teaching these skills in today’s classrooms.”
There is one thing Sharma forgot to mention: providing students with access to the Adobe CC suite starting as early as Kindergarten and Elementary School will also create a whole new generation of Adobe addicts who complain about the subscription costs but are willing to keep paying them anyway… welcome to the club kids.
For more information on the new pricing and Adobe’s other Creative Cloud offers for educators, students, K-12 schools and beyond, click here.
Press Release
Adobe Empowers Educators with New Creative Cloud Offering for K-12
A new offer on Creative Cloud exclusively for K-12 schools and districts underscores Adobe’s commitment to providing students and teachers with the world’s leading digital creative tools and skills
SAN JOSE, Calif. — May 2, 2018— Adobe announced today that, beginning May 15, 2018, Adobe Creative Cloud will be available to K-12 schools for $ 4.99 per license, per year, with a minimum purchase quantity of 500 user licenses for a single school, or 2,500 licenses for a school district. This offer includes unprecedented access for educators and students to all Creative Cloud applications at school, at home and on any device. Adobe is committed to delivering the best tools and resources for nurturing creativity and creative problem-solving skills into the hands of educators and students. This new pricing and licensing, as well as new professional development offerings and lesson plans focused on Adobe Spark and Creative Cloud (details below), and recent release of Spark for Education with premium features free of charge for K-12 students are prime examples of that commitment.
“Strengthening the ‘A’ in STEAM, and making art and creativity core to the student learning experience is Adobe’s responsibility. Digital storytelling is a critical skill for all students, and enabling them to start creating videos, editing photos and publishing websites by grade 6 and earlier is key,” said Mala Sharma, VP & GM of Creative Cloud Product, Marketing and Community, Adobe. “Making Creative Cloud available at $ 4.99 per year, per license—with access in schools and at home—is going to be a game changer, providing students and teachers access to apps that will unlock their inherent creativity in new and exciting ways. Making Creative Cloud affordable is just one of many actions we’re taking to reduce the barriers to teaching these skills in today’s classrooms.”
Creative Cloud for K-12 Lowers Access and Cost Barriers Associated with Teaching Creativity and Creative Problem Solving to Students
A recent study conducted by Adobe, and several other third-party studies, show that jobs of the future will demand both creativity and creative problem-solving skills – two different capabilities that nearly all educators recognize as being essential for students to learn in school. However, research also shows that the biggest barriers educators currently face to nurturing these skills are the lack of access to necessary tools and technologies, and the costs associated with new technologies.
As part of Adobe’s commitment to providing educators with access to the tools and support they need to address these barriers, affordable access to Creative Cloud will encourage educators to develop new projects and lesson plans that bring out the creative skills in their students. Students will have access to all Creative Cloud applications, many Creative Cloud services and 2GB of storage. Adobe has also introduced named user licensing, which allows students to log into their accounts and work on Creative Cloud projects from any location on any device, be it their homes, the library or on the go. These licenses can be deployed by K-12 schools in a way that is consistent with data privacy laws under COPPA—the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
New K-12 Professional Development Offerings Make Adobe Spark a Great Project Tool in Every Class
Adobe is partnering with educators who use Adobe Spark in their classrooms, and will be sponsoring over 100 Edcamps taking place across the United States over the summer until back-to-school 2018. Edcamp leads educator-driven professional development grouped sessions, where educators drive and determine the topics of conversation. In addition, Adobe will be sending Spark experts to a select number of Edcamps over the summer. For more details on Adobe Spark sponsored Edcamps, please visit https://www.edcamp.org/edcamp-locations .
Educators can find new free professional development courses, lesson plans and a complete guide to using Creative Cloud in the classroom on the Education Exchange, Adobe’s free platform where educators can access courses taught by their peers and share teaching materials and curriculum.
Availability and Pricing
This offering is available for purchase starting on May 15, 2018 and will initially be available in the US, Europe, Japan, New Zealand, and India. In the US, school sites are eligible for the offer starting at $ 2,495 per year, which includes 500 user licenses for students and teachers ($ 4.99 per user license), and school districts are eligible for the offer starting at $ 12,475 per year, which includes 2,500 user licenses. Also in the US, additional purchases can be made in increments of 50 user licenses starting at $ 250. Pricing and minimums vary by region.
For more information and to purchase Creative Cloud for their K-12 classrooms, K-12 schools and districts can contact their Authorized Adobe Resellers, and for general information, please visit www.adobe.com/education/k12.html.
Venus Optics, a Chinese lens manufacturer established in 2013, has released several interesting manual focus lenses, but perhaps none as intriguing as the Laowa 15mm F2 FE Zero-D. This lens, for Sony Full Frame E-mount cameras, strikes a unique balance with its small size, wide field of view (110 degrees) and fast aperture. Even more impressive is its promise of almost zero distortion. Venus Optics claims that it is ‘the world’s fastest 15mm rectilinear lens for full-frame.’
See our Laowa 15mm F2 FE Zero-D gallery
At $ 850 MSRP, it’s also priced competitively. So how does it hold up in the field? Read on.
Handling
The build quality of this lens is very good. At 500 g (17.6 oz) it’s not too heavy but has some heft to balance out the weight of the camera (I shot mostly with a Sony a7R II). The body and lens mount are all made of metal, as is the accessory lens hood. In hand, it has a reassuringly dense and sturdy feel to it.
‘It has a reassuringly dense and sturdy feel to it.’
The focus ring is slightly stiffer than I’d expected, but still rotates smoothly. Perhaps with a little use, it will loosen up. A focus scale is helpful for hyperfocal focusing, but for absolute accuracy you’ll want to use the camera’s focus magnifier. I programed a button on our a7R II to this function. The focus rings turns slightly past infinity but on our copy, infinity lined up pretty closely with the center of the infinity symbol on the lens.
The Venus 15mm F2 is a nice complimentary size and weight to the a7r II.
The Venus 15mm F2 has a 72mm filter thread, which is a nice feature, especially for videographers who might want to attach a neutral density filter. Speaking of video, the lens has a toggle switch to turn on/off the click stops on the aperture ring.
Only full stop apertures are marked on the ring and there are no click stops for third stops. However, you can still set the aperture in between the full stops. One major drawback of this lens is the lack of electronic contacts, meaning no EXIF data is communicated to the camera. Whereas some manual focus lenses will automatically bring up focus assist when the ring is turned, this 15mm will not.
Image quality
Distortion is very well-controlled.
As the name would suggest, distortion on this lens is VERY well controlled, though not quite ‘zero’ as there is a tiny bit of barrel distortion. Still, this is an excellent choice for architectural or interior photography. It also focuses quite close: 15cm (6 in).
Even when shooting wide open, this lens is impressively sharp dead center. And by F4-5.6 it’s sharp throughout the whole field of view. In general, I found it to offer the best results between F4-8 ; as we’d expect, diffraction becomes an issue at F11 and beyond.
The 7-blade aperture results in sun stars like the one above.
Flare is well controlled and while lateral chromatic aberration is present in some of the sample photos, it’s easily correctable. The Venus 15mm uses a 7-blade aperture resulting in sun stars that look pretty good – see the example above.
If you’re planning to use this lens predominantly for landscape work, it’s worth noting there is moderate vignetting throughout the aperture range. You can see an example of this in our aperture progression at the end of the sample gallery.
As well as stills work, this is an excellent lens for videographers, thanks again to its almost non-existent barrel distortion and the versatility of its fast maximum aperture of F2.
Takeaway
The Venus Laowa 15mm F2 FE Zero-D is a great lens for a variety of applications, if you don’t mind manual focus and the lack of electronic communication with your camera. Sharp, fast, light and wide, it is capable of outstanding results, especially once stopped down a little.
You must be logged in to post a comment.