The Chinese 2026 Trade Show held in Beijing from May 15 -18 saw an aggressive wave of new launches from Chinese manufacturers including Viltrox, Meike, Thypoch, 7 Artisan, TT Artisan, Laowa, Youngnuo and SG-image. The new launches ranged from compact primes to autofocus mirrorless lenses. Compact pancake lenses, tilt and shift lenses, specialty fisheye designs as well as cine lenses were on show. Viltrox, for example, has launched everything from full frame lenses, APS-C lenses to MFT lenses in series which they call PRO or EVO. Drawing a lot of attention was the new tilt and shift 35 mm F 2.8 lens, which was an indicator of Chinese manufacturers moving into specialised optics. Mounts on offer included Sony’s E mount, Nikon’s Z mount as well as Panasonic’s L mount.
For the consumer, it means a huge source of competitively priced lenses of rapidly improving quality. As of now, no one is complaining.
H. S. Billimoria