LaowaVenus Optics 11mm f/4.5 FF RL Lens for Sony E

This full frame lens fits my needs just fine. I like to shoot long exposure scenes of waterfalls and beaches but don't want to carry around another big lens. The Laowa 11mm is compact and made of metal, even the lens cap is metal. Despite that, it isn't as heavy as I was expecting of this metal lens. It weighs much less compared to lenses of similar size, say a Mitakon 35mm F 0.95 lens. I'm ok with it being manual focus. The Sony focus peaking function compensates for the lack of autofocus. I'm also not shooting astronomy, so F 4.5 is fast enough. Being a full frame FE mount lens, I can use it on my Sony A7R4 without image cropping. And in a pinch, I can still adequately use it on my older APS-C sensor Sony A6000, which uses an E mount.The one thing that sets this lens apart from others is that it will accept a standard 62mm filter directly on the lens barrel. You can attach a UV filter to protect the lens glass front from debris and you can screw on a ND filter for long exposure shots. Most other lenses in this range force you to either attach a bulky front square adapter or install a rear lens filter. Note: If you try to use both UV and ND filters at once on this lens, you'll likely get some image vignetting.While on the topic of filters, I'll get to the reason why I'm deducting 1 star from an otherwise great lens. It's difficult and tedious to put on and take off a filter. The metal sun shade is attached permanently and prevents you from getting a good grip on a filter to install or remove. For me, I have to use a fingernail to rotate the filter by its inner lip in order to quickly screw or unscrew it. Otherwise, it's a frustratingly slow process. Also, filters that have extra grip studs to help you tighten or loosen the filter won't be installable on this lens due to the sun shade blocking most of the 360-degree rotation around the filter.If you like to use ND filters like me, I recommend getting the magnetic ND filters from K&F. They allow you to quickly remove the ND filter for scene composition, and then quickly attach it to take the shot. Long exposure photography by its nature is time consuming, so anything that helps speed things up is appreciated.I haven't had much time playing with this lens yet and will update this review after I get some shooting time with it.