The Venus Optics Laowa Aurogon is a 10-50x Microscope Lens
Venus Optics has announced a new Laowa super macro lens for a diverse range of full-frame cameras. The Aurogon FF 10-50x NA0.5 Supermicro APO lens has thus far only been announced in China, so information comes from translated sources, primarily information shared by Venus Optics on the Chinese social media network Weibo.
The Aurogon FF 10-50x NA0.5 Supermicro APO comprises a base optical element that attaches to the camera and four tube lenses that attach to the optic to change the magnification. The different tubes offer 10x, 20x, 35x, and 50x magnifications.
Unlike typical lenses, microscope optics often use “numerical aperture” (NA), which describes the “acceptance cone of an objective.” For a microscope optic, the NA reflects the resolving power of a lens rather than anything about light-gathering capabilities. The larger a numerical aperture, the better an optic can visualize finer details. Venus Optics states that its new Supermicro APO lens has NA values ranging from 0.15 to 0.5.
The manual focus lens has a remarkably close working distance of just 20 millimeters (0.79 inches). This means that to achieve maximum magnification with one of the tubes, the subject must be 20mm from the end of the lens.
The objective lens is 167mm (6.6 inches) long and the tube lenses range from 112mm (4.4 inches) to 253mm (10 inches) in length. The objective lens is 447g (15.8 ounces), and the tube lenses weigh from 370g (13.1 ounces) to 465g (16.4 ounces).
Venus Optics is no stranger to macro lenses, including numerous distinct macro lenses such as various 2x macro lenses and a pair of wide-angle probe macro lenses. However, the new Aurogon microscope set is quite different, offering significantly more magnification which will undoubtedly result in an extremely shallow depth of field.
Pricing and Availability
The Laowa Aurogon 10-50x is available in many mounts, including Canon EF and RF, Nikon F and Z, Sony E, L-mount, Fujifilm GF, and PL. The set of the objective lens and four tube lenses is priced at 8,999 Yuan, which is around $1,250. That said, official pricing and availability have yet to be announced outside of China.
Image credits: Venus Optics
