Venus Optics is quickly making a name for themselves in the macro photography world with some unique offerings, and they continued that trend today with the announcement of their new Laowa 15mm f/4 Wide Angle Macro Lens.

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The new 15mm F/4 is currently the world’s widest 1:1 macro lens, allowing for photographers to get super close for some rather unique points of view. Optically, the lens is made up of 12 elements in 9 groups and even includes a shift mechanism for +/- 6mm, making this also a great lens for landscape and architectural photography. The lens also features 14 aperture blades for an incredibly circular aperture for appealing out of focus areas.

Made completely of metal, the Venus Optics Laowa 15mm f/4 will be available for $479 USD, and come in Canon EF, Nikon F, Sony Alpha, Sony FE and Pentax K mounts. You can pre-order the lens now from Venus Optics Directly. The lens is expected to begin shipping in late July.

Venus Optics Laowa 15mm f/4 Sample Images

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Some things to note about such a wide angle macro lens are that you will HAVE to be extremely close to your subject in order to get the sort of shots that you see above. This means that you will need to get creative with your lighting as to not cast a shadow on your subject.

While there are some unique challenges to using a macro lens of this type, as you can see from the images, it is a very unique and in some cases, amazing perspective to take your macro photography.

As I mentioned, the 15mm F/4 from Venus Optics will be available in late July for $479 and you can pre-order yours now from the Venus website here.

What are your thoughts on this unique lens? Is this something you would see yourself picking up to experiment with? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think!