| Venus Optics | |
| Native Name: | Anhui ChangGeng Optics Technology Co., Ltd. |
| Type: | Private |
| Founded: | 2013 |
| Founder: | Dayong Li |
| Location: | Hefei, Anhui |
| Key People: | Dayong Li |
| Products: | Camera lenses |
| Num Employees: | 131 (2019)[1] |
Venus Optics (Anhui ChangGeng Optics Technology Co., Ltd.) is a Chinese manufacturer of photographic lenses, specialized in the design of innovative macro, wide angle, shift and f/0.95 lenses. Headquarters and production are in Hefei, while sales and marketing office is located in Hong Kong and the USA. They are currently marketing the lenses using the brand 'Laowa'.
Venus Optics was founded in 2013. Founder, managing director [2] and chief developer is Dayong Li [3] who graduated in opto-electronic engineering from the Beijing Institute of Technology.[4]
The company develops and produces innovative[5] [6] photographic lenses under the brand name Laowa ('old frog').
Laowa's optics designer, Dayong Li, is believed to be the optics designer of Tamron, the reputable camera lens manufacturer from Japan. He was heavily involved in numerous Tamron's project development including the popular 24-70mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/2.8. [7]
The first lens was the 60 mm f/2.8 2 x Ultra Macro, a full frame lens with a magnification factor of 2:1 that could also be focused to infinity which is unique.[8] In the same year, Venus Optics released the widest angle macro lens to offer a 1:1 magnification ratio, the 15 mm f/4 Wide Angle Macro. The small focal length allows to include the background details (e.g., where and how the subject lives) in the photo. Due to physical reasons, the working distance in the macro range is rather short (at 1:1, focusing distance is 12.2 cm resulting in a working distance of only 4.7 mm).[9] [10] [11] In the meantime, Venus Optics have released unique lenses mainly in the fields of ultra macro and rectilinear and/or fast ultra wide angle lenses for full frame, APS-C, MFT, and Fujifilm G-Mount (see table).
| Focal length [mm] | Max. aperture | Image sensor format | Focal length, full frame equivalent [mm] | Name | Year of introduction | Unique feature at date of introduction | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | f/2.8 | MFT | 8 | Fisheye MFT | 2019 | Smallest focal length for MFT. Ultracompact and thus suited for drone photography.[12] | |
| 7.5 | f/2 | MFT | 15 | MFT C-Dreamer | 2017 | Combination of fast lens, ultra wide angle lens, and rectilinear projection for MFT. An ultra light version is available for drone photography.[13] | |
| 9 | f/2.8 | APS-C | 13.5 | Zero-D (C-Dreamer, C&D-Dreamer) | 2018 | Combination of fast lens, ultra wide angle lens, and rectilinear projection w/ negligible distortion for APS-C. Ultracompact construction. A MFT version is available.[14] | |
| 9 | t/2.9 | APS-C | 13.5 | Zero-D Cine | 2020 | Ultra wide angle cine lens with rectilinear projection and negligible distortion for APS-C. | |
| 9 | f/5.6 | Full frame | 9 | Zero-D (W-Dreamer) | 2020 | Widest angle rectilinear full frame lens with negligible distortion. | |
| 10-18 | f/4.5-5.6 | Full frame | 10-18 | C-Dreamer | 2018 | Greatest zoom factor of a full frame wide angle lens.[15] | |
| 12 | f/2.8 | Full frame | 12 | Zero-D (D-Dreamer) | 2016 | Combination of fast lens, ultra wide angle lens, and rectilinear projection w/ negligible distortion for full frame format.[16] | |
| 12 | t/2.9 | Full frame | 12 | Zero-D Cine | 2020 | Cine version of the 12 mm f/2.8 Zero-D. Field of view is 122°. Close to being distortion-free. Compact and relatively light for a cine lens. Minimum focusing distance is 7" (18 cm).[17] | |
| 15 | t/2.1 | Full frame | 15 | Zero-D Cine | 2020 | Wide angle cine lens with rectilinear projection and negligible distortion. | |
| 15 | f/4 | Full frame | 15 | Wide Angle Macro (W-Dreamer) | 2015 | Widest angle macro lens. Shift function for landscsape format.[18] | |
| 15 | f/4.5 | Full frame | 15 | Zero-D | 2020 | World's Widest shift lens for full frame. +/-11mm shift capability. | |
| 15 | f/2 | Full frame | 15 | Zero-D (D-Dreamer) | 2017 | Fastest 15 mm lens for full frame. Rectilinear projection, minimum distortion.[19] | |
| 17 | f/1.8 | MFT | 34 | C-Dreamer | 2019 | Very compact and light weight lens (172 g) and thus also suited for aerial photography. Small minimum focus distance of 5.9″ (15 cm) enables close-up shots.[20] | |
| 17 | f/4 | Fujifilm GFX | 13.5 | Ultra-Wide GFX Zero-D | 2019 | Widest angle lens for Fujifilm G-Mount. Rectilinear projection, minimum distortion.[21] [22] | |
| 24 | f/14 | Full frame | 25 | 2x Macro Probe | 2018 | Novel concept. Allows for large distance between photographer and object. Can be immersed in aqueous media.[23] | |
| 25 | f/2.8 | Full frame | 25 | 2.5-5x Ultra Macro | 2018 | Most compact construction in this class with approximately 4 cm working distance (cf. Mitakon Zhongyi 20 mm f/2 4.5x Super Macro Lens and Canon MP-E 65 mm f/2.8 1–5x Macro).[24] | |
| 60 | f/2.8 | Full frame | 60 | 2x Ultra Macro | 2015 | First 2x macro lens that can be focused at infinity. | |
| 65 | f/2.8 | APS-C | 97.5 | 2x Ultra Macro APO | 2020 | Apochromatic lens. Compact and lightweight APS-C version of the 100 mm 2x Ultra Macro f/2.8. Can also be focused at infinity. | |
| 100 | f/2.8 | Full frame | 100 | 2x Ultra Macro APO | 2019 | Apochromatic lens. Laowa's second 2x macro lens after the 60 mm f/2.8 that can be focused at infinity. Minimum chromatic aberration.[25] | |
| 105 | f/2 (t/3.2) | Full frame | 105 | Smooth Trans Focus (STF) | 2016 | Built in apodization element for creative photography.[26] |
Most Laowa lenses (an exception is e.g., the 100 mm f/2,8 2x Ultra Macro APO) are purely manual lenses. There is no communication between the camera body and the lens, hence, no transfer of Exif data, no autofocus function, no lens-based image stabilization (OIS), and no automatic aperture control. However, autofocus plays a minor role in macro and wide angle photography. Auto focus bracketing is not possible with manual lenses. The company does not exclude the development of more lenses with electronics in them.
Since 2017, Laowa had organised multiple international marketing campaigns bearing its slogan "New Idea, New Fun".[27]
Laowa has used competition as an advertising vehicle to encourage its users to share their image. The company first started organising Laowa Photo Competition in 2017. Initially focusing on photos from its own lenses, and later it also allow images taken with other brand's lenses. As of 2021, there are other brands collaborate in the 5th Laowa Photo Competition and sponsored prize for the event.[28]
Laowa Video Marathon is an invitation-only program launched by Laowa in 2021.[29] It has gathered 10 videographers and YouTubers, including Motoaki(Aki from Japan), Jason Morris, Helena Gudkova(cameragirlhelena), Yeyoph and more. The program consists of 10 one-minute long short films. Each video's beginning would match the ending shot from the last video.
In early 2021, Laowa interviewed multiple up-and-coming photographers and introduced them as "Laowagrapher". It consists group of photographers from all over the world.[30]