Laowa is back again with yet another weird and wacky lens. This time it's not one of their bizarre probe lenses, but rather a fisheye lens with a difference: it can zoom. This isn't the first time Laowa has given us such a lens, as it already has the CF 8-15mm f/2.8 FF Zoom Fisheye lens. But where that's a full-frame optic, the new Laowa CF 4.5-10mm F2.8 Zoom Fisheye is for APS-C bodies, hence the incredibly short minimum focal length.
The CF 4.5-10mm will be available for Sony E, Fujifilm X, Nikon Z, Canon RF, Canon EF-M, L-Mount and Micro Four Thirds cameras, and unsurprisingly with so many mount options, it's manual focus only. However, with such a large depth of field when shooting at these extremely short focal lengths, manual focussing will be very forgiving.
The lens is comprised of 13 elements arranged in 9 groups, incorporating 4 extra-low dispersion elements and a single ultra-high refractive index element. At 4.5mm you'll be rewarded with a huge 180-degree angle of view, and we assume this is only possible by capturing a circular fisheye perspective. Whether or not this changes to a diagonal fisheye image when you zoom to 10mm remains to be seen. This is how the recent Canon RF 7-14mm f/2.8-3.5L Fisheye STM works, and it results in a versatile creative tool that's able to give you a range of unique perspectives.
Laowa has managed to keep the new CF 4.5-10mm F2.8 relatively compact, as it measures a manageable 59.3mm in length, with a diameter of 68.9mm. It's also reasonably light at 330g.
Right now we only know that the CF 4.5-10mm F2.8 is coming - there's still no exact release date. Some sources have stated that the lens will be priced at 2780 yuan (approx. $410 / £306), and could have a pre-order price of 2500 yuan (approx. $368 / £275). If true, this would massively undercut the cost of Canon's RF 7-14mm f/2.8-3.5L Fisheye STM, which has an RRP of $1,899 / £1,719. The CF 4.5-10mm would also be significantly less expensive than Laowa's own 8-15mm f/2.8 FF Zoom Fisheye that costs $699 / £699, although both those lenses are full-frame optics.
