argus

Laowa Argus 28mm f/1.2: Trash or Treasure? A Little Bit of Both

When I reviewed the Laowa Argus 35mm f/0.95 I was struck by how bad it was, but also how good it could be. Normally, I rate a lens based on how well it handles flare, how sharp it is, and how well it controls chromatic aberrations. Going by the above criteria, the Argus should have failed spectacularly.

Laowa Argus 25mm Review

Laowa Argus 25mm f/0.95 APO Review: Excellent Lens with a Caveat

Venus Optics has introduced yet another unique lens to the market: the Laowa Argus 25mm f/0.95 APO for Micro Four Thirds. As a long-time user of the Micro Four Thirds system, I jumped at the opportunity to test drive this lens after I heard “0.95” and “APO” in the same sentence.

Laowa Argus 45mm f/0.95 FF Review: Unique Focal Length and Unreal Bokeh

In the last few years, Chinese lens manufacturer Venus Optic has released a plethora of versatile, unique, and affordable fast aperture lenses for most camera systems on the market. Today the company has officially launched the latest lens in the Argus lineup, the Laowa Argus 45mm f/0.95 FF -- one of the first full frame 45mm lenses with a maximum aperture of f/0.95.

ARGUS-IS: A 1.8 Gigapixel Drone Camera That Sees Everything and Then Some

What do you get when you combine 368 5MP cellphone cameras into a mosaic and add some other super-secret parts? You get the DARPA-funded Autonomous Real-Time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance Imaging System (or ARGUS-IS), and this puppy can see your house from, well, wherever it darn well pleases.

Altogether, ARGUS-IS is a 1.8 Gigapixel drone-mounted surveillance system that took 30 months and $18.5M to become a reality. The video above is a clip from a new PBS documentary titled "Rise of the Drones". It offers a fascinating peek at what the drone cam is capable of.