The type of photography that you are planning to use is an important decision factor. Here we have evaluated the Venus 15mm f4.5 and the Venus Laowa 4mm F2.8 E for their suitability to various photography scenarios:
Size and Weight Comparison
The size of a lens is a crucial factor to consider when comparing two lenses. Venus 15mm f4.5 is the longer of the two lenses at 48mm. The Venus Laowa 4mm F2.8 E with a length of 26mm, is 22mm shorter. Besides being longer, the Venus 15mm f4.5 also has a larger diameter of 70mm compared to the Venus Laowa 4mm F2.8 E's 61mm diameter.
The weight of a lens is equally significant as its external dimensions, particularly if you intend to handhold your camera and lens combination for extended periods. Venus Laowa 4mm F2.8 E weighs 135g, 56% (173g) lighter than the Venus 15mm f4.5's weight of 308g.
Below you can find the dimension and weight table of the Wideangle Prime Lenses in Sony E Mount for size comparison purposes.
Ultra-Wideangle Lenses in Sony E Mount for Size Comparison
Lens Mounts
Both the Venus 15mm f4.5 and the Venus Laowa 4mm F2.8 E has the same Sony E lens mount. Some of the latest released cameras that are compatible with the Sony E lenses are Sony FX5, Sony A7R VI and Sony A7 V.
Venus 15mm f4.5 is also available in the Nikon Z , Canon RF and Leica L mounts.
Focal Range
Venus 15mm f4.5 is a prime lens with fixed focal lenght of 15mm. When it is mounted on an APS-C sensor camera with 1.5x crop, it provides a 35mm (FF) equivalent of
22.5mm.
On the other hand, the Venus Laowa 4mm F2.8 E is a prime lens with fixed focal lenght of 4mm which has an effective (full-frame 35mm equivalent) focal range of 6mm when used on a APS-C / DX format camera.
