The type of photography that you are planning to use is an important decision factor. Here we have evaluated the Venus Laowa 15mm f5 and the Panasonic 12-32mm F3.5-5.6 Mega OIS 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 Laowa 15mm f5 is the longer of the two lenses at 25mm. The Panasonic 12-32mm F3.5-5.6 Mega OIS with a length of 24mm, is 1mm shorter. On the other hand, the Panasonic 12-32mm F3.5-5.6 Mega OIS has a larger diameter of 56mm compared to the Venus Laowa 15mm f5's 53mm 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. Panasonic 12-32mm F3.5-5.6 Mega OIS weighs 70g, 49% (68g) lighter than the Venus Laowa 15mm f5's weight of 138g.
Filter Threads
The Venus Laowa 15mm f5 has a filter size of 39mm whereas the Panasonic 12-32mm F3.5-5.6 Mega OIS has a 37mm diameter. Larger filters are generally more expensive than the smaller ones given all the other features are equal.
Below are links to the 39mm filters that we recommend you to consider for the Venus Laowa 15mm f5:
And these are the 37mm filters that we recommend for the Panasonic 12-32mm F3.5-5.6 Mega OIS:
Lens Mounts
The Venus Laowa 15mm f5 has the Sony E lens mount whereas the Panasonic 12-32mm F3.5-5.6 Mega OIS has the Micro Four Thirds lens mount. Some of the latest released cameras that are compatible with these mounts are Sony FX5, Sony A7R VI and Sony A7 V for the Sony E Mount and OM System OM-3 Astro, OM System OM-5 II and OM System OM-3 for the Micro Four Thirds Mount.
Venus Laowa 15mm f5 is also available in the Nikon Z , Canon RF and Leica L mounts.
Focal Range
Venus Laowa 15mm f5 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 Panasonic 12-32mm F3.5-5.6 Mega OIS has a focal range of 12-32mm and 2.7X zoom ratio which has an effective (full-frame 35mm equivalent) focal range of 24-64mm when used on a FourThirds format camera.
