After a series of teasers on Chinese social media, Venus Optics has officially revealed its new Laowa CF 12-24mm f/5.6 Zoom Shift lens designed primarily for APS-C mirrorless cameras.
Unlike all the major tilt-shift lenses for DSLRs and mirrorless cameras, the new Laowa CF 12-24mm f/5.6 Zoom Shift can change its focal length. With the APS-C crop factor, the new ultra-wide zoom is equivalent to an 18-36mm lens on a full-frame camera, although it is more like 19-38mm on a Canon APS-C camera. The lens can tilt +/- seven millimeters when used on an APS-C camera. It is fully manual like other tilt-shift lenses (and most other Laowa lenses in general).
The lens includes 15 elements arranged across 11 groups, including a pair of aspherical and three ED lenses. It has a nine-bladed aperture diaphragm with an aperture range of f/5.6 to f/22. The manual focus lens can focus as closely as 0.15 meters (5.9 inches), resulting in a maximum magnification ratio of 0.4x.
The lens weighs 575 grams (1.27 pounds) and is just under 99 millimeters (3.9 inches) long. It accepts 77mm screw-on filters.
So far, the lens has been discussed within the context of APS-C cameras, but it appears to have a full-frame image circle. The catch is that, when used on a full-frame camera, the lens doesn’t support tilt/shift functionality, which significantly undercuts the appeal of the new lens. This lens offers the same functionality as the existing Laowa 12-24mm f/5.6 C-Dreamer Zoom lens when used on a full-frame camera. That’s not a coincidence, either, as it appears to be the same optical formula, albeit in a slightly different chassis with a five-bladed aperture.
It seems that because the Laowa 12-24mm f/5.6 C-Dreamer for full-frame cameras can cover an APS-C sensor and then some, Venus Optics has found a way to shift relevant optics around inside while still covering a sub-full-frame image sensor. It’s an interesting way to repurpose an existing lens formula. And, of course, clever engineering was also involved in designing the lens barrel for tilt-shift functionality. While there’s no way yet to evaluate the new Zoom Shift design, PetaPixel did review the standard Laowa 12-24mm f/5.6 C-Dreamer back in 2022, (https://petapixel.com/2022/08/19/laowa-12-24mm-f-5-6-c-dreamer-review-not-quite-a-dream/) finding the lens to be pleasantly affordable but disappointingly soft at wider apertures.
As for what the Zoom Shift lens promises, the primary reason to use a tilt-shift lens is to keep vertical lines straight, even when shooting at an angle. For example, consider photographing buildings. When the photographer must tilt their camera up, it means that the focal plane is no longer parallel to the building, and it will appear distorted. The photographer can eliminate this perspective distortion by shifting a lens up (or down).
Pricing and Availability
Pricing is not yet available for North America. This article will be updated when the lens is officially unveiled outside of China, which should happen soon. The lens will be available for E, L, RF, X, and Z mount cameras. Again, while the lens can work on a full-frame camera, the tilt-shift functionality is restricted to APS-C cameras due to image circle coverage.
Image credits: Venus Optics / Laowa
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