Anhui, China—Venus Optics released the Laowa 10mm F4 Cookie lens for APS-C mirrorless cameras. It is an ultrawide-angle rectilinear pancake lens that is “cookie size.” The lens measures 25mm (0.98 inches) in length and weighs 130g (0.29 lb).
Moreover, the lens differs from other wide-angle pancake lenses that are either fisheye or pinhole with barrel distortion. Instead, the Laowa Cookie lens is said to offer super-low distortion and optimized image quality.
“The Laowa 10mm f/4 Cookie is a fun and mighty option for day-to-day content creators to carry around without burden; ideal for street, urban, landscape photography; as well as everyday snapshots,” the company announced.
Laowa 10mm F4 Cookie Lens Key Features
The discreet pancake-style lens is specifically for APS-C mirrorless cameras. Due to its compact design and light weight, photographers can use it with gimbals. They can also use it to shoot handheld. 
In addition, the lens boasts a 109.3° angle of view, making it one of the widest rectilinear pancake lenses for APS-C-format cameras. Moreover, it offers the advantages of an ultrawide perspective with pocket-size weight for everyday use.
What’s more, the lens provides optimized control of optical distortion. The horizontal and vertical straight lines are retained from corner to corner. With an ultrawide-angle lens, this is a benefit not only to reduce the post-editing time but also to expand the range of genres the lens can capture; from street and outdoor photography to shape-edged architectures and landscapes.
The lens is constructed with 12 elements in 8 groups, including two aspherical and four extra-low dispersion elements. As a result, chromatic aberration, flaring and ghosting effects are minimized to support day and night snapshots.
Furthermore, the lens uses five aperture blades to create 10-point “sunstars” and has a minimum focusing distance of 4 inches. Consequently, photographers can get very close to the subjects to create wide-angle macro-like shots with separation between the object and background. There is also a built-in 37mm filter thread to directly use screw-in filters.
The Venus Optics Laowa 10mm f/4 Cookie lens is currently available in both black and silver version in the following mounts: Canon RF, Nikon Z, Sony E, Leica L and Fujifilm X. It has a suggested retail price of $299.
