Venus Optics Laowa 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 full frame mirrorless lens officially announced

Venus Optics officially announced their Laowa 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 full frame mirrorless manual focus lens. The price of the lens is $849. Pre-orders are now open and the first 50 orders through Venus Optic’s website will get a free 100mm magnetic filter holder system (see the picture at the bottom of this post).

The Canon R and Nikon Z mounts will be released in a few months.

Venus Optics lenses are sold also at Adorama and B&H.

Venus Optics Laowa 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 lens focal length comparison:

Sample photos:

Technical specifications, lens design and MTF charts and press release:

Press release:

Venus Optics announce pricing and availability of the World’s Widest full frame lens, Laowa 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 FE Zoom

Anhui China, Oct 26, 2018 – Venus Optics, the camera lenses manufacturer specializes in making unique camera lenses, unveil the pricing and availability of the world’s widest full frame lens, Laowa 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 FE Zoom lens.

In response to the demand from mirrorless camera shooters of having a compact wide angle zoom, Venus Optics have managed to compress the size of the 10-18mm FE Zoom to the smallest in its class, measuring approximately 3.5 inches (~9cm) long and weighing only 17.5 ounces (<500g) with a lens diameter of 70mm. It is a welcome relief for landscape, adventure or travel photographers that are traveling over long distances and struggling to find a compact wide angle zoom to pair up with their cameras.

In additional to the extreme compact size and lightweight body, the 102° (18mm) to 130° (10mm) FoV provides a great deal of flexibility for photographers to compose landscape or architecture photos with ease. The ultra-wide 130° FoV also realizes many impossible shots.

Sunstar rendering has long been considered as one of the most critical element for UWA lenses. Venus Optics have re-engineered the design of the aperture and incorporated a 5 straight blade aperture to deliver a sharp, clean, well-defined 10-point sunstars. It adds an aesthetic feel into the photos when composing with the sun or other light sources.

Despite having a compact lens body, the 10-18mm FE Zoom still offers an exceptionally high resolution across the frames at all apertures. It houses with 14 elements in 10 groups with 2 aspherical elements & 1 extra-low dispersion element. It also comes with an excellent close up performance. It can focus as close as 15cm (0.5 feet) and deliver a 0.25x magnification for some mini-macro shooting.

Venus Optics truly understands that filter is essential to produce an impressive landscape photo. The new 10-18mm FE Zoom is carefully designed with 2 filter solutions available. A rear filter thread is included at the back of the lens to fit with 37mm UV/ND filter. A custom designed 100mm-wide magnetic filter holder system is developed to fit a maximum of three 100mm-wide filters with no vignetting when rotated at any angles.

The lens also incorporates a switch to toggle the click/clickless aperture for videography usage.
Pricing & Availability

The lens is currently available to pre-order in authorized resellers and in Venus Optics official website (http://www.venuslens.net/). First 50 orders through Venus Optic’s website will get a 100mm Magnetic Filter Holder System for FREE:

The ex-VAT retail price in US is USD 849/pc. Pricing may vary in different countries. First shipment is expected to commence in late November.

Laowa 10mm f/4.5-5.6 in Canon R / Nikon Z mounts will be released in a few months.

About

Anhui ChangGeng Optical Technology Company Limited (Venus Optics) is a new Chinese camera lens manufacturer based in Hefei, Anhui. We currently manufacture and distribute camera lenses under the brand name of ‘Laowa’.

For more information about Anhui ChangGeng Optical Technology Company Limited and our products information, visit http://www.venuslens.net/.