They leveraged their smartphone optics/camera supply chain and adapted it to bigger image sensor mirrorless brands like Sony, Nikon, Canon, Fuji, etc.
To reduce R&D cost they use expired lens optical formula patents from 1930s to 1950s. They made some quality of life improvements to them to better work with image sensors rather than film.
In short. I'm amazed by how they expanded.
Would not be surprised if China's DJI will release a APS-C or full frame mirrorless system (body + lens + accessories) within 12 months.
p.1 #2 · Chinese branded lenses on M, E, Z, X, RF, etc mirrorless systems
Some of the Chinese brands are actually pionnering optical design with very high performance lenses or special lenses, say, Laowa (Venus Optics)’s 35mm and 45mm f0.95 lenses for full frame, 10mm f2.8 AF lens, 24mm t8 macro probe lens (which is very popular among creative and nature photographers, and they are even releasing a zoom macro probe lens), and Viltrox’s 16mm f1.8, 35mm 1.2, and 135mm 1.8 to name a few. Unfortunately, Canon hasn’t been particular open to third-party lens makers, particularly those who haven’t acquired liscense for RF-mount. Most of the high quality Chinese lenses are available for Sony E mount though.
Mar 23, 2026 at 05:24 AM
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p.1 #3 · Chinese branded lenses on M, E, Z, X, RF, etc mirrorless systems
dolina wrote:
I haven't looked at dSLR or mirrorless hardware since 2019 and in 2026 I am surprised by how many Chinese branded lenses are out there.
They're manual focus for Canon's mirrorless system but I'm amazed that they're nearly 1 dozen of them.
They leveraged their smartphone optics/camera supply chain and adapted it to bigger image sensor mirrorless brands like Sony, Nikon, Canon, Fuji, etc.
To reduce R&D cost they use expired lens optical formula patents from 1930s to 1950s. They made some quality of life improvements to them to better work with image sensors rather than film.
In short. I'm amazed by how they expanded.
Would not be surprised if China's DJI will release a APS-C or full frame mirrorless system (body + lens + accessories) within 12 months....Show more →
One thing to keep an eye on with these lenses is that the manual focus ones do not have focus confirmation available on Canon. This may or may not matter to you. And for the autofocus lenses, they are not available in RF mount. Laowa (i.e., Venus Options) does offer some of their AF lenses in EF mount that can be adapted using the Canon EF to RF mount adapter, but I think they are the only AF lenses that can be used on Canon RF cameras. I would not be surprised, however, if other manufacturers adopt that strategy as well in time.
Shoten has also made an adapter for M lenses that let's you do focus confirmation with Leica M mount lenses. Some of the above lenses (e.g., Thypoch) are available in Leica M mount and could be adapted with the Shoten adapter to have focus confirmation.
I expect in time with Canon RF mount that most manual focus lenses will be released in Leica M mount and those will work with adapters like the Shoten to have focus confirmation, and most auto focus lenses will be released in EF mount and those will be available for Canon RF via the Canon EF to RF adapters.
As to whether DJI will release an APS-C camera, I am a bit sceptical. It is a big venure and I think if they release a camera they will go big and try to disrupt the market and they might well release a Hasselblad FF camera system that competes well with the major players for the FF and especially the cine market. I suppose it might be a Super 35 size sensor for cine that could be APS-C for stills, but I think it will more likely be a larger format like RED's 46mm diagonal sensor. A sensor around that size that was offered at a price below the cost of current FF camera could change the market considerably.
p.1 #4 · Chinese branded lenses on M, E, Z, X, RF, etc mirrorless systems
Steve Spencer wrote:
As to whether DJI will release an APS-C camera, I am a bit sceptical. It is a big venure and I think if they release a camera they will go big and try to disrupt the market and they might well release a Hasselblad FF camera system that competes well with the major players for the FF and especially the cine market. I suppose it might be a Super 35 size sensor for cine that could be APS-C for stills, but I think it will more likely be a larger format like RED's 46mm diagonal sensor. A sensor around that size that was offered at a price below the cost of current FF camera could change the market considerably....Show more →
Purely speculation, but I wouldn't be surprised to see in upcoming years a Chinese-branded counterfeit to the M EV-1 series for actually full frame and not just APS-C. I give this a much higher likelihood than first coming with an even larger sensor for cine applications.
Mar 23, 2026 at 06:29 AM
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p.1 #5 · Chinese branded lenses on M, E, Z, X, RF, etc mirrorless systems
retrofocus wrote:
Purely speculation, but I wouldn't be surprised to see in upcoming years a Chinese-branded counterfeit to the M EV-1 series for actually full frame and not just APS-C. I give this a much higher likelihood than first coming with an even larger sensor for cine applications.
Could well be, but keep in mind that DJI now owns Hasselblad, so they are well acquainted with large sensors and I think, but could be wrong, that the market is moving to cater to cine and video as the place where the real money is. If you put those two things together a high end large sensor cine camera may make sense, but it is of course pure speculation on my part. DJI also is very big in the drone market and smaller formats, so they might just as easily go that direction too.
p.1 #6 · Chinese branded lenses on M, E, Z, X, RF, etc mirrorless systems
Steve Spencer wrote:
I expect in time with Canon RF mount that most manual focus lenses will be released in Leica M mount and those will work with adapters like the Shoten to have focus confirmation, and most auto focus lenses will be released in EF mount and those will be available for Canon RF via the Canon EF to RF adapters.
Theoretically it wouldn't have to be M mount as it should be possible to chip most adapters to work with Canon's manual focus assist features. I think it's currently M mount because it's a good (perhaps only?) established 'bridge' mount with a flange distance between current mirrorless systems and legacy SLR (and other) mounts and also has a large choice of native M mount lenses. The question in my mind is: do adapter makers think there would be enough demand to release other chipped adapters for RF? As it stands now, RF mount appears to be a distant third in terms of apparent third party interest with respect to the 'alt' lens market.
Without doubt Canon's tight control over who releases AF-capable RF mount lenses is a huge reason for the lack of lenses currently available in other mounts. The workaround by releasing an EF mount version that can be adapted with Canon's own EF-RF adapter won't be a universal one because of the physical requirements this imposes and the need for potentially unique optical designs relative to other mirrorless versions of a given lens. It worked for the Laowa 200/2, likely because the optical design allowed it (and they chose to design for this option). Theoretically Sigma could have done it with their version, or especially the 300-600/4, but for whatever reason, they chose not to. Actually I'm pretty surprised about the 300-600 not appearing in EF mount because it effectively eliminated that lens from a potentially large established Canon super-tele user base looking for alternatives to Canon's own >$10K lenses. But if the Laowa 200/2 is at least relatively popular in EF mount, hopefully it will inspire them to release other telephoto options that people seem to want for Canon, such as ~f/5.6 500 or 600mm...
p.1 #7 · Chinese branded lenses on M, E, Z, X, RF, etc mirrorless systems
Viltrox; Meike; LLL; Sirui; Mr. Ding, Funleader, Pergear, and the upcoming Vistilen. I do think you sell them seriously short in your explainer, but I understand it takes time. Canon? Now there is a trip down memory lane for you. Here is a decent coverage of Chinese lenses from an impartial and balanced writer, as at Nov 2025:
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p.1 #8 · Chinese branded lenses on M, E, Z, X, RF, etc mirrorless systems
rscheffler wrote:
Theoretically it wouldn't have to be M mount as it should be possible to chip most adapters to work with Canon's manual focus assist features. I think it's currently M mount because it's a good (perhaps only?) established 'bridge' mount with a flange distance between current mirrorless systems and legacy SLR (and other) mounts and also has a large choice of native M mount lenses. The question in my mind is: do adapter makers think there would be enough demand to release other chipped adapters for RF? As it stands now, RF mount appears to be a distant third in terms of apparent third party interest with respect to the 'alt' lens market.
Without doubt Canon's tight control over who releases AF-capable RF mount lenses is a huge reason for the lack of lenses currently available in other mounts. The workaround by releasing an EF mount version that can be adapted with Canon's own EF-RF adapter won't be a universal one because of the physical requirements this imposes and the need for potentially unique optical designs relative to other mirrorless versions of a given lens. It worked for the Laowa 200/2, likely because the optical design allowed it (and they chose to design for this option). Theoretically Sigma could have done it with their version, or especially the 300-600/4, but for whatever reason, they chose not to. Actually I'm pretty surprised about the 300-600 not appearing in EF mount because it effectively eliminated that lens from a potentially large established Canon super-tele user base looking for alternatives to Canon's own >$10K lenses. But if the Laowa 200/2 is at least relatively popular in EF mount, hopefully it will inspire them to release other telephoto options that people seem to want for Canon, such as ~f/5.6 500 or 600mm......Show more →
Laowa has three relatively new lenses that are available in EF mount with AF. The 100 f/2.8 2X APO macro, the 180 f/4.5 1.5X APO Macro and the 200 f/2. I think it is an interesting strategy that others might adopt with longer lenses. I think most lenses 100mm and longer could be made to use on Canon RF cameras this way and compete with the offerings that Canon provides. All you would need is the EF to RF converter.
It will be interesting whether Sigma adopts this strategy as they have a number of interesting recent long lenses. The 135 f/1.4, the 200 f/2, the 500 f/5.6, and the 300-600 f/4 I think could all be interesting on Canon in an EF mount. Right now Sigma only makes lenses for their own L mount and Sony E mount, where the lenses are restricted to prevent teleconverter use and a max of 15 fps. They might like having these lenses have more capability on their own mount, but there is a real opportunity for sales in Canon EF (and potentially Nikon F) that could easily be adapted for mirrorless by either mount and I am pretty sure these long lenses could be made to work that way. It is just a matter of whether Sigma wants to do it.
I could see Viltrox potentially adopting this strategy as well for a lens like their 135 f/1.8 LAB and for any longer lens they make. In time I do expect them to make some longer lenses and some zooms and they have made some pretty compelling lenses. Canon has shut them out, and Nikon is trying to do so, but this strategy might be a way to make an end run on those efforts at least for longer lenses.
I don't think Canon is going to open up their RF mount, but for manual focus lenses that can be made in Leica M mount (or in a mount that can be adapted to Leica M) the Shoten adapter (and likely others to follow) will allow full focus confirmation and for lenses that can be made in EF mount with the EF to RF converter the mount will at least be partially open. For me personally that allows quite a few lenses that I am interested in to be used. I am happy with the manual focus lenses that are available and I think the potential for more AF lenses in EF mount is could be a good thing.
p.1 #9 · Chinese branded lenses on M, E, Z, X, RF, etc mirrorless systems
I agree there's certainly a niche to be addressed! This also appears to be the best workaround for Canon and Nikon's mirrorless mount restrictions. That said, Nikon users can adapt FE to Z mount, so it's really Canon users that are locked out without EF options.
Some of the recent mirrorless mount high speed tele lenses appear to have rear elements quite close to the mount flange. I believe the Sigma 135/1.4 is like this. Possibly also their 200/2. My Canon RF 135/1.8 is like this and also isn't TC compatible as a result. For EF (and/or Nikon F) compatibility, Sigma would have to make this a design intent from the beginning that would lengthen the overall physical size of mirrorless versions, which from a Sony or L-mount mirrorless user's perspective, would be undesirable, at least for a lens like the 135/1.4, which appears to be quite short for what it is.
It doesn't seem like Sigma is currently interested in doing this, which as a Canon user, I think it a bit shortsighted given the percentage of Canon users in the overall ILC market. I definitely applaud Laowa taking up the cause and hope that they will improve the AF performance of their lenses with faster focusing motors. Feedback about the 200/2 suggests that AF is rather slow, which for this kind of lens is not desirable for the kind of work I would potentially do with it.
