Laowa 7.5mm F/2 MFT Now with Automatic Aperture

Lens News

by Jeff LochJune 14^th, 2021

Laowa has just released a new version of its Laowa 7.5mm f/2 MFT ultra-wide-angle lens for Micro Four Thirds cameras with automatic aperture. In short, you’ll now have aperture control of the lens over your Panasonic/Olympus/Blackmagic Design camera, as well as EXIF data. Let’s take a closer look at it!

Venus Optics, the company behind Laowa, continues to expand its lineup of lenses quickly. Indeed, earlier this year, they released the Laowa Argus lineup of lenses, four new L-Mount lenses, and the Laowa 11mm F/4.5 FF RL in Canon RF-Mount.

The company just announced the launch of the Laowa 7.5mm f/2 MFT with automatic aperture. This lens is still one of the widest prime lenses for MFT cameras on the market, even though the fully manual version already came out in 2017.

Laowa 7.5mm F/2 MFT Automatic Aperture – features

The Laowa 7.5mm f/2 MFT Automatic Aperture is the third MFT lens by Venus Optics with a CPU chip and motor, after the Laowa 10mm f/2 Zero-D MFT and 50mm f/2.8 2x Ultra Macro APO. These “technological” add-ons give you access to several new benefits, including:

• The focus magnifier will be triggered when rotating the focus ring.
• You can adjust the aperture via the camera body.
• Access to EXIF metadata.
• For DJI Inspire users, it’ll make your life easier without having to land your drone each time you want to adjust the aperture of the lens.

Other than that, this new 7.5mm F/2 MFT automatic aperture has many similarities with its manual brother. The field of view is similar at 110°, the lens design consists of 13 elements in 9 groups, and the front filter diameter is 46mm.

However, the automatic aperture version also has some small differences compared to the standard version. For example, the Laowa 7.5mm f/2 MFT automatic aperture is slightly lighter at 5.29oz/150g compared to 6oz/170g for the manual version. Also, the new version is 48mm long only compared to 55mm for the regular one.

Last but not least, the 7.5mm F/2 MFT automatic aperture has 5 aperture blades compared to 7 for the standard version, which will give you 10-point starburst lens flares.

Price and availability

The Laowa 7.5mm f/2 MFT Automatic Aperture is available now for $549.00. As a comparison, the fully manual version retails for $499.00.

For more information, please visit Laowa’s website here.

What do you think about this new automatic aperture version? Do you think it is worth the upgrade? What is your favorite wide-angle lens for MFT cameras? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments down below!