Image: Laowa

Venus Optics is expanding its tilt-shift lens lineup with the 35mm F2.8 Zero-D Tilt-Shift 0.5x Macro lens. The new manual focus offering is designed for full-frame cameras, with versions available for Z, E, RF and L mounts. It is also compatible with the GFX and XCD medium-format systems. As the name suggests, it offers a wide-angle perspective with tilt-shift control and macro capabilities.

Laowa's 35mm F2.8 Zero-D Tilt-Shift 0.5x Macro lens is part of its Zero-D line, which, according to the company, results in virtually no optical distortion. The lens also uses an apochromatic design to minimize chromatic aberration and provide improved edge-to-edge sharpness. The optical design comprises 14 elements in 12 groups, and it features a 15-blade aperture diaphragm.

While not a true macro lens by the standard definition (which requires 1x magnification), it offers a 0.5x maximum magnification. It can focus as close as 22.8 cm (9"), which Laowa says is the closest in its class for tilt-shift lenses. On full-frame cameras, the lens offers ±10° of tilt and ±12mm of shift, whereas on medium-format cameras, it is limited to ±8mm of shift, while maintaining the same level of tilt.

The lens also offers practical design features, such as a 77mm filter thread and integrated Arca-Swiss support. The tripod collar will be especially useful since it's by no means a lightweight lens, coming in at 1,350g (3lbs).

The Laowa 35mm F2.8 Zero-D Tilt-Shift 0.5x Macro lens is available for purchase starting today for $1249.

The Canon EOS R6 III promises 33MP resolution and decently fast readout speeds from an FSI CMOS sensor. Photo: Mitchell Clark

We've received a production standard Canon EOS R6 III and have put it through our standard studio tests. As we work on our final reviews of 2025, the Canon looks likely to be the last camera we'll be able to complete testing on.

Our test scene is designed to simulate a variety of textures, colors, and detail types you'll encounter in the real world. It also has two illumination modes, full even light and low directional light, to see the effect of different lighting conditions.

As you might hope, the Canon captures more detail than its 24MP rivals, and comparable amounts to its 33MP Sony peer, while also matching the color response of the EOS R6 II. The slightly richer, more yellowy pinks than the Sony and Nikon suggest it'll give the skin tone response that many Canon users have come to enjoy.

The detail difference is more apparent in the processed Raws, where the Canon and Sony present the horizontal lines in the doorway in a similar manner, whereas the R6 II and Nikon Z6III can't. Interestingly, the Nikon presents a convincing but completely spurious representation of the vertical lines above the door, while the EOS R6 II represents similar thick lines horizontally: both the result of aliasing.

At mid-to-high ISO there's little to choose between any of these cameras in terms of noise. As you creep towards the very highest ISOs the gap starts to open up, but it's only in the camera's extended 102,400 setting that the difference becomes clear. Even then, this is unlikely to be the difference between the images from some of these cameras being usable and others not: they're all going to be pretty hard to salvage.

Dynamic Range

In terms of dynamic range it peforms exactly as we might expect. There's plenty of scope to lift the shadows with all these cameras. There's a tiny bit more read noise coming from the Canon, which makes itself known if you delve really deep into the files.

It's also worth noting that the noise that is visible appears slightly smeared, rather than as individual points, which could be indicative of noise reduction. Our scene has plenty of fine detail, much of it with low contrast, if you want to download the files and see if you think it'll have any impact when processed with your preferred workflow.

Switching to electronic shutter mode sees the camera drop to 12-bit sensor readout, which has the predictable effect of curtailing the dynamic range of the Raws (the reduction in available values to encode the shadows presents as quantization noise).

Our ISO Invariance test suggests this is a dual gain sensor that switches to its higher gain step around ISO 800. There's very little benefit to raising ISO above that point, but opportunity to keep ISO down to protect highlights.

Overall, there's no sign of any nasty surprises to undermine the R6 III's performance promises.

Image: Panasonic

Panasonic has announced new firmware for its Lumix S1RII (Ver. 1.3), S1II (Ver. 1.2 ) and S1IIE (Ver. 1.2) cameras. The updated firmware promises an improved shooting experience and enhanced functionality with changes to autofocus performance, thermal control and more.

The most notable change Panasonic is bringing to its full-frame S1 series cameras is improved autofocus features. Panasonic states that the new firmware for all three models will provide enhanced autofocus tracking stability in their generic tracking modes due to algorithm improvements.

On the left is how Panasonic has handled the display for eye detection autofocus. On the right is the new option, which uses a rectangle over the eye. Screenshots: Mitchell Clark

The updates add an option to only display the autofocus frame on your selected subject, rather than on it and every other possible subject in the frame, providing a cleaner UI. Panasonic has also added an option to change how the autofocus frame is displayed when tracking a human eye, letting you choose to use a standard rectangle outline. Previously, the camera would place a square over the entire face with a target over the eye. That option is still available for those who like it, but the update makes the eye recognition AF display more similar to what other brands do.

Another important update comes from an improved thermal control algorithm. Panasonic says the update makes the camera react less to environmental factors, such as direct sunlight or a sudden swing in temperature, like you may see when moving from an indoor to an outdoor location. The company says the cameras should be able to achieve longer record times in their most demanding modes; for example, you can now expect double the record time when shooting DCI 4K in 120p, recording to a CFexpress card, and an even bigger increase when recording to an SD card.

The company has also made it so that the front-plate record button won't do anything in photo mode.

There's a healthy list of other changes, too. Panasonic added a lower-speed burst option to its electronic shutter burst mode (SH burst shooting) on the S1RII (20 fps) and S1II (30 fps). All three cameras get MP4(Lite), a low-bitrate video format that records 3:2 Open Gate at 30p or 25p with a 50 Mbps data rate. It promises to deliver files that are approximately 41% smaller than standard MP4 clips at similar settings. The company has also made it so that, by default, the front-plate record button won't do anything in photo mode, which should cut down on the number of accidental clips people take. (If you've already reassigned the button, don't worry; your setting should be preserved through the update.)

The company has also included a few new options to help manage your ISO. You can now set one of your dials to switch directly between manual and auto ISO mode, when previously you had to scroll through the entire range to get back to auto mode. If you prefer, you can also assign a button to toggle between auto and manual ISO as well. The ISO display for video mode also gets an update that makes it clear when your camera is using its sensor's low or high gain step, if you have it set to switch between them automatically.

If your ISO is in the blue region, it uses the low-gain step, and if it's in the red region, it uses the high-gain step. It's a useful indicator, given that different color modes, such as Log or Cinelike A2, will have different base ISOs.

Alongside the firmware updates, Panasonic has also released Version 1.4 of the Lumix Flow app, which is designed for creators shooting video and filmmakers. It brings changes that the company says have been requested by the app's users, including support for LUT live view within the app, the ability to carry over frame markers from the camera to the app and improved AF frame display.

All of the firmware updates are available for download as of November 25, 2025, at 8:00 pm EST / November 26, 2025, at 1:00 am UTC.