Venus Optics Laowa 12mm f/2.8 Zero-D Lens Underwater

Laowa 12mm f/2.8 Zero-D Lens for Canon EF

Underwater Housing © Shawn Miller

The Laowa D-Dreamer 12mm lens is a technical lens with great optics. The specialized lens is manual focus and manual aperture selection. I decided to see what it could do underwater.

The lens was used in combination with a Canon 70d DSLR, mounted in an Ikelite housing with an eight-inch dome port. For all the underwater shots, I preset the aperture to f11 before I locked it in the underwater housing. I tested it under ambient light, with the use of modeling lights and underwater strobes. I only had time to test it four times underwater due to bad weather and family obligations. It was challenging for sure. By the fourth dive, I started getting the hang of using this manual lens underwater.

1st issue – Reflection when shooting into the sunlight. (see the bottom right corner)

Venus 12mm underwater reflection © Shawn Miller

I made an anti-reflection lens ring cover to reduce reflection and eliminate the letters and numbers in my image.

Anti-reflection lens cover © Shawn Miller

Anti-reflection lens cover attached to the lens. (Nice and simple)

Anti reflection lens cover Anti-reflection lens cover

Anti-reflection lens covering © Shawn Miller

2nd issue – Locking on focus. Many of my images were soft due to user error and malfunctions. The focus ring kept slipping off. I adapted with some orange nonstick stretch tape to prevent it from slipping again.

Underwater setup by Shawn Miller © Shawn Miller

If you plan to use this lens underwater I would recommend a camera body that has focus peaking. I tested it without the function and had some difficulty underwater. Below are some of my favorite photographs using the Laowa D-Dreamer 12mm lens underwater. Okinawa, Japan

Light & Motion Sola 3800 © Shawn Miller

Saddleback anemonefish, Okinawa © Shawn Miller

Longfin snake eel © Shawn Miller

Teira batfish, Maeda point © Shawn Miller

Bleached coral and prism © Shawn Miller

Underwater sunburst © Shawn Miller

To be expected the Laowa 12mm f/2.8 Zero-D lens was a lot easier to use on land. Below are some of my documentation photographs of the marine debris washed ashore on local beaches.

I hope these photographs will inspire people to care more about nature and make difference in the environment