Venus Launches 25mm F/0.95 Micro Four-Thirds Lens

2022.03.16

Today Venus Optics expanded their series of extremely bright prime lenses with a new normal entry for Micro Four-Thirds. This latest Argus lens has a maximum F/0.95 aperture, currently the widest in production by any lens company.

The Laowa Argus 25mm F/0.95 MFT is the first Venus Optics offering for the platform. On a Micro Four-Thirds camera it produces the same field-of-view as a normal lens or 50mm in Full-Frame terms. Its huge aperture lets it capture razor-thin depth-of-field equivlent to an F/1.8 lens. Expect this lens to be usable for portrait and low-light photography.

With its shallow depth-of-field, controlling focus is critical which can only be done manually, as always for a lens faster than F/1.2. To facilitate this, Venus implemented a 300° focus-throw with a broad focus-ring. The lens uses an internal focusing mechanism to minimize focus-breathing and shifting the balance of the lens. The group can focus down to 25cm which gives the Argus 25mm F/0.95 MFT a maximum 0.17X magnification.

To render edges very sharp without fringing, Venus Optics employs apochromatic and ultra-high refraction glass elements. The lens barrel is entirely made of metal to ensure tight tolerances. Even though its maximum aperture makes for generally heavy lenses, the Micro Four-Thirds imaging-circle it projects allowed Venus Optics to make it weigh 570g.

This specialty lens is available directly from Venus Optics website for $400 USD.

• Lens