Our Fujifilm GFX Owners Group got the news that the Laowa 17mm f/4 GFX Zero-D for the GFX was coming out soon a few weeks ago. So I reached out to the Laowa representative in our group who confirmed it was coming and he put me in touch with someone that could send me a sample for testing. I then created an ambitious shooting schedule that included many 10-15 mile days walking around Miami and Deerfield Beach, Florida, to test Laowa’s latest lens as quickly and extremely as possible given the amount of time that I had. I will continue posting photos from the Laowa 17mm to 500px and Instagram in the weeks to come so be sure to follow me there if you want to see more samples.
Build Quality
My initial impressions were very good and the lens felt great once the focus ring loosened up a bit. The Laowa 17mm f/4 feels nothing like a Fujifilm GF lenses but it reminds me a lot of Zeiss manual lenses, only larger and proportionally lighter. I have always been a big fan of Zeiss glass and I generally prefer character over more clinical lenses if the resolution is similar, so I had high expectations.
I was a little surprised that the Laowa 17mm did not come with a lens hood. It could use a well-designed hood to control flare, which you can read about below. This might be challenging though since the only way to attach a hood to the front of the lens is by using the 86mm front filter thread that I haven’t had a chance to test yet.
Nowhere in the marketing is the lens listed as being weather sealed so take it in the rain at your own risk. I had no choice but to expose my copy to rain during multiple days of shooting to get a good understanding of how the lens works for this review. In fact, the weather has been so unseasonably bad that I unintentionally captured lightning strikes in multiple single-shot photos.
Metal manual lenses have a very distinct feel that some love. If you are one of those photographers, then you will love the Laowa 17mm since it does not use plastic on the exterior of the lens. I imagine there might be some plastic internally because the lens feels a little lighter then I would anticipate, but maybe the feeling comes from me handling a lot of heavy brass lenses.
The Laowa 17mm is well balanced on the Fujifilm GFX100 and probably feels balanced on the GFX50S from what I recall, but I think it might be a bit large and heavy for the GFX50R. Most GF lenses are on the large side for the GFX50R, so it is not a complaint, and if you own one you are likely used to lenses feeling front heavy. Read More
