Laowa unveils parfocal super macro and broadcast zoom lenses at NAB 2026

Laowa’s most interesting NAB 2026 move was not the broadcast glass. It was the Axon pair, the Axon 45mm f/2.8 Ultra Macro 1–5x APO and Axon 17.5mm f/1.7 5–10x Ultra Macro APO, which Laowa billed as the world’s first parfocal super macro zoom lenses. For still photographers, the selling point is brutally practical: the lenses hold a fixed working distance as magnification changes, so you are less likely to smash into a subject, kick a light stand, or wreck a painstaking tabletop setup just to change scale.

That is a real problem in product work, scientific imaging, and any close-up setup where the subject cannot move. It is also why these lenses feel more useful to photographers than a lot of “innovation” gear that lives only in demo videos. Laowa already built its reputation on extreme close-up tools, starting with the original 24mm f/14 2x Macro Probe in 2018, and the Axon series looks like a logical next step rather than a stunt. Fixed working distance is the kind of feature that matters the first time a delicate specimen, glossy watch dial, or food scene needs to stay exactly where it is.

The other piece with obvious stills crossover is Laowa’s Probe Zoom line, especially the 15-24mm T8 and 15-35mm T12 Macro Probe Zoom lenses. The 15-35mm T12 had been teased more than a year earlier and was initially expected in the second quarter of 2025, so its NAB appearance gave the launch a long-delayed payoff. PetaPixel described it as the world’s widest macro probe lens with the most expansive zoom range, and the 5mm minimum working distance makes the appeal obvious for product shooters, prop stylists, and anyone chasing that tunnel-vision perspective through glass, fabric, or miniature environments.

Laowa’s broadcast zooms are less likely to end up in a stills kit, but they still matter to hybrid shooters. The Ultima 25-180mm T3.8 FF Broadcast Zoom was described as parfocal with suppressed focus breathing, while the Ultima 25-600mm T4 S35 Broadcast Zoom offered a 24x magnification ratio with low focus breathing. That is the language of sports, wildlife, documentary, and live-event work, not casual photography, but it is exactly the kind of long-range stability that makes a lens useful when framing has to stay locked as focal length changes.

Laowa showed the whole range at NAB Show 2026, which ran April 18-22 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, with exhibits April 19-22. Laowa was listed in Central Hall, Booth #C7335, and the spread of lenses made one thing clear: the company is still chasing the weird, technical optics that photographers remember.