Following on from my recent post about the Laowa 9mm, I used it on a commercial job for the first time just over a week ago, shooting in Leicester Square on the X-H2…
The job was a 15 minute shoot as new graphic artwork was unveiled on the Odeon..
“25th Frightfest Monster Graphics seen on Friday 12 April 2024 on the ODEON Luxe Leicester Square, London. Pigeon Shrine FrightFest 2024 is the 25th Frightfest and this anniversary year is being held at the “Home of Premieres” in Leicester Square having moved from the Cineworld.”
With the graphics scheduled to be visible for a maximum of 15 minutes, I had to ensure I made images from a wide selection of viewpoints, moving around the square quite quickly.
These were shot in RAW and run through DXO PureRAW as seems to be my standard workflow now for jobs like these.
Whilst the sharpness of the lens stacks up on a 20-26MP sensor of the H2S and X-T3, the 40MP X-H2 shows its limitations at 1:1. The extreme contrasts on this job pushing the sensor of the H2 as well as the lens. However at the resolutions required for the delivery of this job (downsizing the images), the sharpness is more than adequate.
In my last post I mentioned that the aperture ring worked in the reverse direction, suggesting that with the way I work it would not be a problem. Ok I was wrong, it caught me out and I shot a few for at F16 (working aperture priority with the exposure compensation dial), meaning too slow shutter speeds and soft images…
We live and learn..
So would I recommend this lens? It is not as good as their 17mm for the GFX, however it is a worthwhile addition to the kit for super-wide images, especially if, like me, you do not like ultra-wide angle zooms.
Until the next time..
Julie Edwards-X 