Venus Optics announces the world’s widest shift lens for Full Frame Cameras: The Laowa 15mm f/4.5 W-Dreamer shift FE

You can now preorder the new Laowa 15mm f/4.5 W-Dreamer shift lens for Sony Full Frame E-mount at Venusoptics (worldwide shipment).

Press Release

Venus Optics announce the new Laowa 15mm f/4.5 Zero-D Shift Lens – World’s Widest Shift Lens for Full Frame Cameras

Anhui China, Oct 30, 2020 – Venus Optics, the manufacturer specialized in making unique camera lenses, pioneered Laowa 15mm f/4.5 Zero-D Shift, the widest shift lens for full-frame cameras and medium format cameras. Giving credits to a ±11mm shift amount (±8mm on the medium format), this ultra-wide shift lens breaks through the industry level and bringing the wide-angle lens standard to the next level.
Image quality is guaranteed with high image sharpness and nearly no optical distortion (Zero- D). The 15mm f/4.5 Zero-D Shift enriches the diversity of Laowa’s extensive wide-angle lens collection by giving photographers more control on the perspective in their images.

World’s widest shift lens for Full Frame Cameras
15mm f/4.5 Shift is the widest shift lens for a full frame camera. The angle of view is 110°,
and it covers a huge ⌀ 65mm image circle. The wider perspective offers great deal of flexibility for photographers to capture architecture and interior shots when space is limited.

±11mm Shift Amount
The maximum possible shift amount of the lens is ±11mm for full frame camera and ±8mm for medium format camera (e.g. Fujifilm GFX / Hasselblad X1D). The shift capability allows photographers to capture straight architecture with ease. 15mm f/4.5 Zero-D Shift straightens the lines that appear to converge in the distance. Crooked images can be corrected by changing the perspective of the lens. Perspective distortion is being eliminated to create the reality-like image.

The ±11mm shift amount also allows photographers to expand the angle of view by stitching multiple images. It gives an extraordinary image perspective and rooms for special compositions.

Large Image Circle
With a huge ⌀65mm image circle, the lens not only works with the full-frame format but also
covers the medium format sensors. This makes it currently the World’s Widest lens covering Fujifilm GFX sensor with no vignetting.

Zero Distortion
15mm f/4.5 Zero-D Shift is composed of 17 elements in 11 groups with 2pcs of aspherical elements. It suppresses the distortion to nearly Zero level from corner to corner. Perfect for architecture photography as any straight lines will be retained.

Impressive Image Quality
15mm f/4.5 Zero-D Shift is coupled with a new lens coating. A significant improvement on the chromatic aberration, flaring and ghosting control.

Extremely Close Focusing Distance
15mm f/4.5 Zero-D Shift is an ultra wide shift lens coupled with 20cm closest focusing distance. Macro-like photos can now be created easily. The Functionality of the lens is diverse. Wide angle macro image can be easily captured with this lens.

Stunning 10-point Sunstar
The 5-bladed aperture creates stunning 10-point sunstar rendering.

360° Rotation
The rotation function enables photographers to change the direction of the shift easily by
pressing the silver unlock button. This gives photographers more flexibility in composing the image (in both landscape and portrait orientation). The lens barrel can be rotated through 360° and it clicks every 15°.

Shift Lens Support
A lens support is specially designed for 15mm f/4.5 Zero-D Shift. Perfect for panorama stitching as the optic axis remains unchanged..

Zeiss ZX1 officially announced!

You can now preorder the new Zeiss ZX1 camera at BHphoto and Fotokoch. There are also a ton of ZX1 accessories (listed at BH).

Press text:

Innovative Camera Concept from ZEISS: Full-Frame and Full Connectivity for Creative Photography Workflow on the go
The ZEISS ZX1 is now available in the United States and Germany

  • Hardware and software for a seamless creative process “Shoot. Edit. Share.”
  • Newly developed ZEISS Distagon 35 mm lens with perfectly matched ZEISS sensor for maximum image quality – without any compromises in the photographic process
  • Combination of new camera technology and Adobe Photoshop LightroomTM features built right in
  • Multi-award-winning ergonomic design allows high photo and video quality and the intuitive photo editing and publishing of smartphones

Read more

Surprise: Sony raises full-year forecast as gaming thrives under COVID

Sony released the full Q2 financial report. Nikkei writes:

Sony said it expects full-year net profit to grow 37% to $7.6bn after a strong second quarter, improving from its previous forecast of a slight decline, as pandemic-related demand boosted gaming revenue.

When it comes to camera sales Sony says there was a “decrease in unit sales of broadcast and professional use products and digital cameras.“. Interesting to note that in the Sensor business they forecast  an “increase in sales of image sensors for digital cameras

Probably means they expect camera sales to recover from now on.

Sony Tidbits…


Sony FE 90mm F2.8 G Macro OSS Review

Best Cameras for the Beach (Explora).
Samyang 85mm F1.2 XP Lens Review | John Sison
Sony ToF Sensor Use Cases (Image Sensor World).
In-body Image Stabilisation (IBIS) Test – Panasonic Lumix S5 vs Lumix S1H vs Sony A7III vs Nikon Z6 (Richard Wong).
WeMacro Automatic focus stacking rail (SonyAlphaBlog).
13 recommended E-mount lenses by Fujiablog.
Heliar 75mm f/1.8 tested by Mapcamera.

Personal photos and tests from SAR Admin Andrea on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and 500px.

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