Pros & Cons
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- Ultra-wide field of view.
- Full-frame coverage.
- Extreme close focus.
- Includes filter holder.
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- Noticeable barrel distortion.
- Some color fringing visible.
Lomography Naiad 15mm Neptune System Front Lens Specs
| Dimensions | 3.5 by 4.5 inches |
| Full-Frame Equivalent (Wide) | 15 |
| Mount | Canon EF |
| Mount | Fujifilm X |
| Mount | Micro Four Thirds |
| Mount | Nikon F |
| Mount | Pentax K |
| Mount | Sony E |
| Optical Stabilization | None |
Lomography's modular Neptune lens system debuted with three lenses—a 35mm, 50mm, and 80mm—sold together in a hard bundle. The Naiad ($449 and up) adds a 15mm f/3.8 lens for the system, delivering an ultra-wide perspective. It's an affordable, manual focus, wide lens, although you'll want to pair it with a full-frame model to really take advantage of its coverage.
Pricing and Design
The Naiad works with the Neptune lens system, which you can read about in more detail in our full review. Essentially it's a modular lens system for SLRs (Canon, Nikon, and Pentax) and mirrorless cameras (via an adapter). The Naiad's $449 price is for current Neptune owners, as you need the Base Mount to use the lens. If you don't have the full system and are only intersted in the Naiad, it can be bought along with the $299 Base Mount for a discounted $699.
And there are other bundles available, depending on what you want. Every version of the Naiad ships with a square filter holder (the lens itself doesn't support screw-in filters). You can buy a bundle with the Base Mount and four filters (graduated neutral density, standard neutral density, and two temperature filters) for $799. There's also a bundle with the other three Neptune lenses for $1,139, and one with all four lenses and the filters for $1,249.
The Naiad itself is useless without the Base Mount, which connects it to a camera and provides focus and aperture control. The lens measures roughly 3.5 by 4.5 inches (HD), with push-on front and rear plastic caps. The barrel housing the glass is metal, finished in matte black. The front element is bulbous, so you can't use traditional screw-in filters—which is why a filter holder is included. That's a plus, as it's typically a pricey add-on for lenses of this type.
As discussed in our more extensive look at the Neptune system, I'm not a huge fan of the ergonomics of the Base Mount, at least not when paired with an SLR. The focus ring is too close to the body, and the aperture control, without detents, is narrow enough that it's tricky to grip and turn by feel.
The angle of view is wide. Really, really wide, at least on a full-frame camera. If you shoot with a Micro Four Thirds or APS-C body, you are better off skipping this one and going with a lens designed to match the sensor size for wide-angle coverage.
Image Quality
I tested the Naiad with the 45.7MP Nikon D850. Despite this being billed as an artistic lens—that is, one that we wouldn't necessarily expect to pair well with a high-resolution body—the Naiad delivers images that are quite crisp. Even when shooting at f/3.8 you can see strong detail through most of the frame, with only the very edges and corners giving way to blur. Contrast isn't as high as with modern optics, like the Sigma 14mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art, but photos are still pleasing and sharp.
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There is quite a bit of barrel distortion. The Naiad is not a fish-eye—the curve isn't that extreme—but it does draw straight lines with a distinct barrel bulge. It's an effect you can see in wide shots—just look at how the straight flower bed looks in the image above. But it's exacerbated when focusing up close.
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And the lens can focus so, so close. You can almost touch the front element to our subject. It's one of the benefits of the wide design, but you should take some care when doing so. Putting the lens in a person's face is not going to make for a flattering portrait.
The other issue we saw in field testing was purple color fringing, a form of chromatic aberration. It's visible toward the edges of the frame, in high contrast areas. Dark leaves against a bright sky are surrounded by a veil of purple flare. It's visible when viewing an enlarged image on a screen or in a print. Thankfully the effect is pretty easily corrected with software.
Conclusions
Lomography earns points for the boldness of its Neptune system. The look of the 35mm, 50mm, and 80mm lenses included with the Lomography's hard bundled $790 can be found for less by simply shopping around for vintage lenses. Where the Naiad sets itself apart from the pricey starter set is in its angle of view—there aren't as many vintage ultra-wide angle primes out there.
The Naiad delivers good image quality at a price that's quite reasonable. Modern autofocus lenses of similar coverage are significantly more expensive, and will likely not include a filter holder. This assumes you use a full-frame camera. If you have a Micro Four Third system, 15mm isn't even as wide as your typical kit zoom, and it's not that much wider than the 18-55mm starter zoom that's often bundled with APS-C cameras. To get similar shots, look to a lens that's designed with smaller image sensors in mind.
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Further Reading
Final Thoughts
Lomography Naiad 15mm Neptune System Front Lens
The Lomography Naiad 15mm is an ultra-wide lens for the Neptune lens system. It suffers from some distortion, but is an overall strong performer.