Venus Optics’ New Lenses

credits: Venus Optics

Venus Optics’ new Laowa 17mm f/4 Zero-D Tilt-Shift and Laowa 17mm f/4 Zero-D Shift ultra-wide lenses are here Both are designed for full-frame and medium-format mirrorless cameras and are meant for photographers who work with architecture, interiors, or landscapes where perspective control matters. While Canon and Nikon both produced tilt-shift lenses for their DSLR systems, neither company has introduced equivalent lenses for their mirrorless mounts. That gap has opened the door for third-party manufacturers like Venus Optics to step in with alternatives.

Technically, the two lenses share the same core optical design. Each features 18 elements arranged in 12 groups, a 14-blade aperture, and a 104-degree field of view. The lenses can focus as close as 25 centimetres (9.8 inches) and, as expected for this type of lens, they are manual focus only. They are also very similar in size and build. The Tilt-Shift version weighs about 810 grams, while the Shift-only version weighs 770 grams. Both lenses measure 111mm in length, use 86mm front filters, and include a tripod foot with Arca-Swiss support. The tripod collar can rotate a full 360 degrees with click stops every 15 degrees.

The Tilt-Shift model offers ±10 degrees of tilt and ±12mm of shift, allowing you to control the plane of focus or correct perspective distortion when photographing buildings. The Shift version skips the tilt mechanism and offers 11mm of shift instead. Both lenses are available for Sony E, Canon RF, Nikon Z, L-Mount, Fujifilm GFX, and Hasselblad XCD cameras, although medium-format users will be limited to 8mm of shift due to the image circle. Pricing is $1,249 for the Tilt-Shift lens and $999 for the Shift version.