Venus Optics Releases New Zero-D Tilt-Shift Macro Lens

2025.11.29

Venus Optics just added a new Tilt-Shift lens to their lineup. The company is one of the few third-party makers that produces Tilt-Shift lenses, unique advanced lenses that are ideal for architectural photography. Only three of the major camera manufacturers still make such lenses and, so, third-party Tilt-Shift lenses are the only available option for a large number of digital cameras.

The new lens launched earlier this week is the Laowa 35mm F/2.8 Zero-D Tilt-Shift 0.5X Macro. There is a lot of information just in its name to unpack. A 35mm F/2.8 focal-length and aperture combination is fairly standard is considered slight wide. The F/2.8 maximum aperture is bright which is generally used for creative effects with a tilt-shift lens. Most common, this is used to produce a miniature effect. A Zero-D label signifies that the lens has been designed to produce virtually no optical distortion, some which is crucial for architecture photography.

Venus Optics named this new prime lens as a 0.5X Macro. This signifies that a maximum magnification of 0.5X is possible when this lens is focused at its closest 23cm focus-distance. This is not quite a true macro yet capable of close-up photography. With modern high-resolution sensors, one can often crop to get a tighter framing.

©2025 Wo Ho - Image Courtesy of Venus Optics

This brings us to the Tilt-Shift capabilities of the Laowa 35mm F/2.8 Zero-D Tilt-Shift 0.5X Macro. This specialty lens offers both tilt and shift motions along axis that can be rotated 360° each. Tilt can be adjusted ±12mm when mounted on a Full-Frame Mirrorless Digital Camera or ±10mm on Medium-Format. Similarly, shift has a ±10° range on Full-Frame and ±8° on Medium-Format.

The Laowa 35mm F/2.8 Zero-D Tilt-Shift 0.5X Macro is a fully manual lens, as are all Tilt-Shift lenses. It is very difficult to focus automatically with such lenses as they degrees of freedom are too high and most be creatively chosen. Unlike first-party lenses though, it does not communicate with the attached camera. This is a relatively large lens, measuring 10.5cm in diameter and 15cm in length. It also weighs a hefty 1.35kg! It is rather difficult to use any tilt-shift lens without a tripod, so its weight is only an issue for transport.

Six lens mounts are supported by Venus Optics with this lens. For Full-Frame mirrorless systems, these are Canon RF, Leica L, Nikon Z and Sony E. Venus Optics notes that the Leica L-mount version is incompatible with quite a few Panasonic cameras, specifically the Panasonic S5 II, S1 II, S1R II, S1 IIE, S5 IIX. The reason is not specified but it could be a problem with the huge lens barrel interfering with attachment. The lens is also made for two Medium-Format mounts: Fujifilm G-Mount and Hasselblad XCD Mount.

This new lens is available directly from Venus Optics and can be preorders from various stores. Follow the links above for each mount to see purchasing options. All versions are being launched for $1250 USD.

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