I have to admit that I haven't given enough time to review the many, many lenses that are coming to us out of China. The only thing harder than knowing which Chinese camera companies belong to which other camera companies is knowing how to pronounce the often strange naming conventions given to the brands.
Venus Optics, maker of Laowa photo and cinema lenses, has announced two new anamorphic zoom lenses, the Laowa Nanomorph 1.5X Anamorphic 28-55mm T2.9 and 50-100mm T2.9.
Venus Optics has announced its first autofocus lens ever, the Laowa 10mm f/2.8 Zero-D FF. The full-frame lens weighs just 0.93 pounds (420 grams) and is available for multiple mirrorless camera systems, including Canon RF, L-Mount, Nikon Z, and Sony E-mount.
Venus Optics has announced the Laowa 8-16mm f/3.5-5 Zoom CF lens for APS-C cameras.
Venus Optics announced the Laowa Aurogon 10-50x Supermicro APO lens set this summer, although details were extremely scarce at the time. Now Venus Optics has completely revealed the lens, including full specs and many incredible sample images.
Cinema lens maker DZOFilm announced its Pavo 2x Anamorphic Prime Series of lenses earlier this year at NAB 2023. At last week's IBC 2023 in Amsterdam, the company released more information about them including details on pricing and availability.
Venus Optics and Keslow Camera have jointly announced an interchangeable flare version of the Laowa Proteus 2X Anamorphic Lens series, the Proteus Flex.
Jens Braun of the YouTube channel Another Perspective offers a disturbing close-up look at mosquito larvae in his latest video.
Venus Optics has launched a pair of new compact Laowa Nanomorph anamorphic lenses on Indiegogo.
Ahead of today's announcement, I tried the Laowa 24mm T8 2x Pro2be lens alongside a Panasonic S1R full-frame camera. The unusual macro lens is challenging but rewarding to use.
Venus Optics has announced the Laowa 24mm T8 2x Pro2be lens set designed for distinct cinematic and photographic applications. It takes the weird look of tube lenses and goes even further into the unusual.
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.
Venus Optics has announced the Laowa Ranger Series of compact, full-frame cinema zoom lenses. The series currently includes the 28-75mm and 75-280mm T2.9 lenses, with the promise of a 16-30mm T2.9 coming next.
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.
Venus Optics launched its new line of high-end Laowa Proteus 2x Anamorphic lenses in January with 35mm, 45mm, 60mm, and 85mm T2 primes. The company has now announced another quartet of Proteus 2X lenses, adding 20mm, 28mm, 100mm, and 135mm focal lengths to its cinema lens series.
Venus Optics has announced the Laowa 15mm f/2 Zero-D LM lens for Leica M mount users. The manual focus lens includes rangefinder coupling and promises excellent results for landscape, architecture, interior, street, and astrophotography.
Venus Optics has announced a new Laowa Argus 28mm f/1.2 prime lens for full-frame cameras. Billed as the fastest 28mm for full-frame on the market, the new lens is available for Leica L, Nikon Z, Sony E, and Canon RF mounts.
Venus Optics is aiming at professional filmmaking production with the launch of the Proteus line of anamorphic lenses, what it is calling the most accessible professional anamorphic lenses with a constant 2x squeeze ratio for Super35 sensors.
Venus Optics has announced the Laowa 6mm f/2 Zero-D MFT rectilinear lens, the "Photo Version" of the previously released 6mm T2.1 Cine Lens that offers the same image quality as the cine version but finally adds electronic components for in-camera controls and proper EXIF information recording.
Venus Optics has announced the Laowa 19mm f/2.8 Zero-D GFX, a manual-focus prime lens for Fujifilm's medium format camera system that promises a 110-degree field of view with close to no distortion.
AstrHori has announced a new 28mm f/13 2X macro probe lens that sure looks a lot like the Laowa-branded one Venus Optics originally released in 2018.
Venus Optics today announced two new ultra-fast Laowa lenses in the Argus lineup. They are the Laowa Argus 18mm f/0.95 APO lens for Micro Four Thirds cameras and the Laowa Argus 25mm f/0.95 APO lens for APS-C crop sensor cameras.
Venus Optics has announced two new macro cinema lenses, the Laowa 65mm T2.9 2X Macro APO Cine and Laowa 100mm T2.9 2X Macro APO Cine, which it claims are the first cinema lenses with 2x magnification.
Hot off of the heels of the 90mm f/2.8 2x Macro APO lens, Venus Optics has released another Laowa macro lens for mirrorless cameras in the 58mm f/2.8 2x Ultra Macro APO, which is arguably more versatile and therefore more appealing to general shooters.
Canon has ordered lens manufacturer Viltrox to stop selling RF mount products, according to a leaked customer chat text.
Venus Optics has continued to expand on an already extensive list of ultra-wide-angle lenses with the addition of the Laowa 12-24mm f/5.6 C-Dreamer for full-frame mirrorless systems. Where many ultra-wide lenses can be big, bulky, and incredibly pricey, this new "slow" lens becomes even more impressive with its relatively small $649 price.
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.
Venus Optics recently released the $299 Laowa 10mm f/4 "Cookie" lens, a super-compact prime for APS-C cameras that is practically small enough to fit in your pocket even when mounted on a camera.
Venus Optics has announced a new ultra-compact 10mm f/4 pancake lens for APS-C camera platforms. The company says that the new Laowa 10mm f/4 makes an APS-C camera compact enough to be kept in a pocket without sacrificing performance.
Venus Optics has announced the 12-24mm f/5.6 compact zoom lens for full-frame cameras. The $650 fixed-aperture, manual focus lens is available for Canon RF, Sony E, Nikon Z, and Leica M mounts.
Venus Optics has announced the Laowa 90mm f/2.8 2x Ultra Macro APO for Canon RF, Nikon Z, Sony E, and Leica L mount full-frame cameras.
Venus Optics has announced a new "red ring" version of its Laowa 15mm lens. Called the 15mm f/4.5R Zero-D Shift lens, it more than doubles the number of aperture blades of the "blue ring" version but doesn't raise the price.
Venus Optics has announced the Laowa 0.7x Focal Reducer for its 24mm f/14 2x Macro Probe lens that reduces the crop factor when using it on APS-C, Super35, or Micro Four Thirds, which helps retain the lens's perspective.
Venus Optics's new Laowa 20mm f/4 Zero-D Shift lens adds a second option to the company's shift lens line and provides zero distortion at a wider maximum aperture in exchange for a slightly less wide angle of view.
Venus Optics has announced the Laowa 20mm f/4 Zero-D Shift lens that provides a plus or minus 11mm shift on full-frame cameras and gives architectural photographers the ability to have more control over perspective.
Venus Optics has announced the new Laowa Argus 25mm f/0.95 MFT APO lens for Micro Four Thirds cameras. The company says that the shallow depth of field creates "dreamy" background defocus and the APO design limits color fringing.
Venus Optics has announced that the Laowa 85mm f/5.6 2x Ultra Macro APO it launched last year for Nikon Z, Canon RF, Sony E, and Leica M mounts is being released for Leica L-Mount.
Interested in the inner workings of musical instruments, photographer Charles Brooks created a photo series that shows the inner structures of pianos, cellos, flutes, and other instruments from an entirely new perspective.
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.
Venus Optics has announced the second full-frame lens in its Argus lineup: the Laowa Argus 45mm f/0.95 FF. The lens follows in the footsteps of the Laowa Argus 35mm f/0.95 announced back in September, which was billed as the world's fastest full-frame lens.