After releasing the world’s widest 1:1 macro lens, Venus Optics have announced another pretty unusual lens. Their Laowa 24mm f/14 telescopic macro lens looks quite weird, to say the least. It’s designed not to disturb “shy” subjects, and it was presented at Photokina in 2016. So, it features an almost 2 feet long telescope with makes this lens officially the strangest one I’ve ever seen. The lens is not officially out yet, but Venus Optics has released three sample videos to show off the lens’ capabilities. Looks strange, but it does a pretty good job.
The lens comes with a waterproof attachment, which allows you to place the lens in the water and shoot or film the underwater world. It even features a small LED light for easier focusing and some additional lighting. It allows magnification up to two times, and aperture between f/14 and f/40.
Like in water, you can, of course, film and take photos on land. In this video, there is some land footage, along with the underwater.
Although this lens looks kinda bizarre, it does the job pretty well. Since you are far from the subject, there may be more chance of capturing beetles, tiny birds, fish and whatnot without scaring them away. After all, it’s certainly less scary for them than a human with its huge camera standing a couple of inches from them. The pricing and the official release date are still unknown, but the lens should become available later in 2017, both for Nikon and Canon mount. So, would you consider buying one for your macro shots? [via FStoppers]