China’s Biggest Photography Show Will Feature Many Lens Reveals

The China International Photography Machinery and Imaging Equipment and Technology Expo, better known as China P&E, kicks off later this week in Beijing, and major camera equipment brands are gearing up.

Ever a busy brand, Viltrox is teasing a lot of new gear at China P&E starting on May 15. A new teaser image shows 10 products, including what looks like eight lenses, a single compact flash unit, and another mysterious release.

While it is impossible to say precisely what any of these lenses will be, it is easy to make a few educated guesses based on the silhouettes. To the far left, there is clearly a pancake lens. The lens on the far right also looks very compact, for that matter, although arguably not quite in pancake territory.

The tallest lens in the lineup has a pair of knobs on its barrel, indicating what is most likely a tilt-shift lens, with one knob controlling tilt and the other handling shift.

Viltrox’s AF Pro and Lab lenses have thus far been very impressive, so it would be nice to see more of these hit the market, and more of Viltrox’s lenses launch on L-Mount. Although Viltrox joined the L-Mount Alliance last September, nearly all of its lenses have not yet made the leap to L.

Another major Chinese lens maker, Laowa, has teased some new glass for China P&E. As Asobinet reports, Laowa offered a mysterious look at a trio of new lenses. Asobinet speculates that these lenses appear to be wide-angle, zoom, and macro lenses, and that seems as reasonable a guess as any.

It would be very interesting to see Venus Optics, the maker of Laowa glass, release an autofocus-equipped zoom lens. Thypoch recently released the AF 24-50mm f/2.8, the first Chinese zoom lens with autofocus, and it would be quite something if a competitor encroached upon Thypoch’s newfound territory this quickly.

Chinese lens maker Meike recently teased a new autofocus lens for Fujifilm GFX medium format cameras. As Photo Rumors spotted, Meike shared a simple teaser online that shows different image sensor sizes, including one that is 43.8 x 32.9 millimeters, the same size as the GFX system’s image sensor.

While this is also the same size as Hasselblad’s X System medium-format cameras, very few third-party lenses have made their way to the XCD mount. Maybe Meike will prove the exception to the rule, but GFX is a safer bet at this time, especially given that the lens is autofocus.

The autofocusing capability is especially interesting, as no third-party GFX lens has yet delivered autofocus.

There are many other Chinese lens companies that PetaPixel expects to be at China P&E later this week, including 7Artisans, ZY Optics, TTArtisan, Brightin Star, Songraw, Thypoch, Yongnuo, and more. While there is no guarantee any of them will unveil anything new, Chinese lens companies have historically released new products very quickly, so it’s a safe bet that at least a few will showcase brand-new optics at China’s biggest photography show.

Image credits: Viltrox, Laowa, Meike