Venus Launches 33mm F/0.95 APS-C Prime Lens

2021.05.03

This morning Venus Optics took the wraps off the first member of their second family of lenses, joining the Laowa family for all Venus Optics lenses so far is Laowa Argus. This promises to be a series of extremely bright optics for multiple mounts.

The first lens in this new lineup is the Venus Laowa Argus 33mm F/0.95 CF APO for cameras with an APS-C sensor. With its 33mm focal-length, this prime is equivalent to a 50mm normal lens on a Full-Frame camera. Its extremely bright F/0.95 maximum aperture allows it to capture images in low-light with a razor-thin depth-of-field. Like all lenses made by Venus Optics, the Argus 33mm F/0.95 is a completely manual-lens. Focus is provided by a mechanical ring with a long through to obtain the precision needed by such thin depth-of-field. The 9-blade iris in this lens is controlled by a stepless aperture-ring with range from F/0.95 to F/11.

This lens achieves a minimal focus distance of 35cm and has a fixed 46° field-of-view. The front accepts a filter with 62mm diameter and a removable rectangular lens-hood. The optical formulation of this lens allows it to have minimal focus-breathing thanks to an internal focusing group that keeps the lens length constant.

Bright lenses are necessarily heavier but by limiting coverage to an APS-C image-circle, Venus Optics manage to avoid producing an extremely heavy lens. Still, the Laowa Argus 33mm F/0.95 CF APO weighs 590g despite being relatively compact at 83mm long and 72mm in diameter. Compared to mirrorless cameras it is intended for, it appears fairly sizable.

© Alex Cheng

With an extremely bright F/0.95 maximum aperture, this new prime lens is capable of blurring any background, no matter how crowded. Keep in mind that it takes time to precisely adjust focus with such a lens and so it is more suitable to posed portraits and still-life shots than street photography. As one can see in the sample photo above, kindly provided by Venus Optics, the depth-of-field is so shallow that only the eye and a few eyelashes are in focus on the model. Althoigh fast shutter-speeds can freeze motion, subjects have to be quite still to wait for precise focus to be achieved.

Venus is preparing to ship the Laowa Argus 33mm F/0.95 CF APO in four mounts this month. Both the Fujifilm X-mount and Sony E-mount variant are expected shortly, while Nikon Z and Canon RF versions are set to ship in a few weeks. All mounts will be priced at $500 USD. Interestingly, Canon has yet to announce and APS-C camera with the RF-mount which could be a sign that such mirrorless is coming soon.

© WenTai DaShu

The new Venus Laowa Argus 33mm F/0.95 CF APO is a promising lens for creative work, capturing abstracts and scenes that can be used as backgrounds for graphic design. Its 9-blade aperture renders smooth bokeh that really makes a subject stand out. Apochromatic lens elements inside this prime lens ensure that colors are all rendered faithfully and without chromatic aberrations.

Fujifilm APS-C mirrorless cameras are certainly going to be the most popular to pair with the new Argus 33mm F/0.95, as they are currently the only high-end APS-C mirrorless on the market. Sony has several aging APS-C offerings but has not emphasized that series as they managed to miniaturize their Full-Frame Mirrorless Digital Cameras to the point where they are roughly the same size as the Fujifilm X-series. Nikon only has a single entry level mirrorless with an APS-C sensor and Canon has none yet.

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