Laowa Expands 8–15mm f/2.8 Fisheye Zoom to Medium Format
Venus Optics has extended the Laowa 8–15mm f/2.8 FF Zoom Fisheye to new mounts, including Fujifilm GFX and Hasselblad XCD medium-format mirrorless systems. Originally released for full-frame cameras such as Sony E, Canon RF, Nikon Z and L-Mount, the lens is one of the few fisheye zooms available on the market.
The 8–15mm f/2.8 offers what the company describes as a “dual fisheye effect”: at 8mm, it produces a circular fisheye image with a 180-degree field of view, while at 15mm it delivers a diagonal fisheye image that fills the frame but retains pronounced distortion. On medium-format cameras, however, the image circle does not fully cover the larger sensor, resulting in circular frames at the wide end and black corners even at 15mm. Despite this limitation, the lens fills a gap in the GFX and XCD ecosystems, which currently lack native fisheye options.
The design allows photographers to experiment with both creative and practical applications: circular fisheye frames can be used for immersive landscapes, architecture and 360-degree-style compositions, while the diagonal fisheye setting offers distorted but full-frame coverage. On medium format, users often crop circular fisheye captures into panoramic formats, such as the 65:24 aspect ratio, taking advantage of the high resolution available on those systems.
Optically, the 8–15mm f/2.8 is built with 13 elements in 9 groups and a nine-blade diaphragm. It maintains a constant f/2.8 aperture across the zoom range and focuses as close as 16 centimeters, achieving a maximum magnification of 0.23x. The lens is manual focus only, with a 70° focus throw and a 75° zoom throw. Weighing about 650 grams, it is relatively compact for a fisheye zoom, but dimensions vary slightly depending on mount, with the GFX version measuring 101.2 mm in length and the XCD version 96.36 mm.
Venus Optics also offers a cinema version of the lens, the Laowa 8–15mm T/2.9 Zoom Fisheye Cine, available in PL mount as well as E, RF, Z and L. This version maintains the same optical construction but is slightly lighter and shorter than the stills variant.
Here are some sample pictures, courtesy of Laowa:
The Laowa 8–15mm f/2.8 FF Zoom Fisheye is priced at $699 across mounts, while the Cine version retails for $1,399. The new GFX and XCD versions are scheduled to become available through Venus Optics website and authorized retailers.
