Review on Laowa 9mm f/2.8 Zero-D SLR Ultra-Wide Lens - Ultimate Wide-Angle Photography with Sony E Mount by Zachary Spaulding

Update September 16, 2019: Not sure why my photos didn't make it into my original review, but only for in case it was the size, I downsized it and reposted it. If it was because our guide, Dylan, wasn't shirtless, I posted a photo of everyone fully dressed for Revane's humble police force. Obviously scaled down images lose some precision, but I'm just trying to give a general indication of how to find and set the correct infinity setting and the fact that this is definitely NOT zero distortion. However, it was cheap (even) and if I can set and mark the right focus to infinity - it's still going to be great and I'll keep it. See how incredibly small the Sony a5100 with Laowa (no lens hood) is compared to an 8oz hotel coffee mug! Forget background blur again at f/2.8. This lens is too wide. It is designed for hyperfocal photography. I just need to find the right infinity sign. Hope that helps! First Review: I bought this lens and the Sony a5100 just to have a small enough quality ultra wide setup to toss in my bag without thinking too much. I wanted the lens and body to stay together at all times (I have other Sony bodies and lenses that can be used for other purposes). The way I wanted to use this setting was to stop at f/8-f/11, set it to hyperfocal, set shutter priority with Auto ISO and forget about it. At f/11 everything from 10" to infinity should (should) be sharp. On a bright day (like yesterday's photo) I just adjust the shutter speed until I see the ISO rise above baseline. Well that was the plan. First, well - the package is really small. As a bonus, it even accepts 49mm filters. I don't know of any other SUCH WIDE lens that uses conventional filters. I should mention that I threw in a cheap circular polarizer for yesterday's shoot, but due to the a5100's lack of viewfinder it was almost unusable (couldn't tell if it worked so I removed it after a couple of shots. Also, the lens hood makes it very difficult (but not impossible) to rotate the polarizer. I'll add a 49mm slit later just to protect the front element. No need to worry about autofocus (or ANY focus), is also a huge plus for these types of shots! Everything I shot was definitely between 10" and infinity (read: in focus). Everything looked fine on the boat. Now for the cons. I guess I have to tinkering with the infinity shot because it's clearly not marked accurately.The city in the background of the sample photo (Hollywood, Florida, btw) isn't enough but concentrated, IMO me was f/11 @ 1/500s, auto ISO. To be fair, in the post I cropped, leveled the horizon, maybe corrected the exposure slightly and only shot in jpg, but. Still. The whole point (for me) was to drop the caution and not worry about focus. This can probably be "fixed" by finding and marking the correct infinity point - I'll play around and update this review later. In addition, the aperture ring is too easy to knock out of the correct setting. In any case, I check the hyperfocal setting every time, so it's not a big deal, but be aware that the 'clicks' on the aperture ring are very, very light. The lens hood doesn't snap into place either. I LOVE that it's removable and reversible for storage, but it's just held in place by friction - and that's not enough in my opinion. At yesterday's shooting he somehow got away from me unnoticed. I later found it on the boat - right next to one of the drain holes that drain all that fish blood and salt water! It was tight because I'm pretty sure it would fit through the drain hole. Finally, I don't believe the "Zero Distortion" claim. As you can see from the buildings (out of focus!) at the edges of my example image, they are clearly heavily distorted. I know it doesn't have to be perfect, but if I wanted a fish eye. Subjectively, I have to say that the images don't look as "wide" as I had hoped. I also took my Samsung Galaxy S10 with me on the trip and the images from its ultra-wide lens (12mm FF equivalent!) are stunning! And - he's always with me and shoots a solid 16MP). If I can't solve the infinity focus issue on Laowa, or if it's a lens resolution issue, I think this option will come back. Which sucks because that was my apology for the Sony a5100 too!