The Laowa 10mm T2.9 Zero-D VV Cine Lens from Venus Optics affords a enjoyable new perspective for filmmakers and photographers. We spent a number of days with the Laowa 10mm Cine to see how this ultra-wide rectilinear cinema lens performs within the discipline. Preserve studying to study extra about this lens and the way it may contribute to your cinematic toolkit.
What’s the Laowa 10mm T2.9 Zero-D VV Cine Lens?
The Laowa 10mm Cine fills a selected area of interest and does it effectively. It delivers an ultra-wide 130.3-degree rectilinear perspective with just about zero distortion, which helps you to pull extra of the scene into the body with out the fish-eye look that may distract from a narrative. Its compact, light-weight design additionally makes it a powerful match for drones and gimbals. Due to its versatility, the lens works for excessive close-ups, nature work, structure and extra artistic cinematic pictures.
Leaning into its cinema lens id, the Laowa 10mm Cine’s 46.31 mm picture circle covers each full-frame 35 mm sensors and the bigger VistaVision widescreen format. Meaning it’s absolutely appropriate with large-sensor cinema cameras from makers like ARRI and RED. Since wide-angle distortion is normally most obvious on the fringe of the body, this bigger protection helps maintain probably the most areas of difficulty out of the shot.
The lens additionally makes use of exact T-stops as a substitute of F-stops, which strengthens its standing as a real cinema lens. Cinematographers choose T-stops as a result of they supply extra correct details about the quantity of sunshine passing by means of the lens. Whereas F-stops come from a mathematical equation, T-stops are measured based mostly on how gentle truly strikes by means of this particular optical design.
Not a fish-eye
The Laowa 10mm Cine shouldn’t be a fish-eye lens. It’s a rectilinear lens. Meaning, regardless of the tremendous vast 130.3° discipline of view, the lens is designed to withstand the acute fish-eye distortion you may in any other case count on.
To check this, we went to the native library – extremely really helpful – and took some pictures from inside the stacks. Numerous parallel traces there. As Laowa promised, there was little to no distortion within the horizontal traces of the cabinets nor the vertical traces of the books, besides on the excessive edges of the picture. Some shapes nonetheless do present apparent distortion, however it’s not the acquainted bowing of fish-eye distortion. It’s extra of a compression impact.
For example, in a single check picture, a flag pole seems oddly quick in comparison with the expertise in actual life. But regardless of this compression, the pole continues to be completely straight.
Get nearer
With a 4.7-inch minimal focusing distance, the Laowa 10mm Cine means that you can seize small delights with spectacular readability. Combines with the shallow depth of discipline achieved by means of the T2.9 most aperture, the lens is nice for getting tremendous close-up pictures of tiny objects, like flowers, textures and trinkets.
We had probably the most enjoyable with this lens getting up shut and private with our subject material – principally crops and bugs. The photographs we captured of small objects had a whimsical high quality that we fairly loved. We additionally bought some superior pictures outdoors within the library’s flower backyard and later in a buddy’s vegetable backyard, the place he was rising grapes and tomatoes.
As we have been photographing the grapes specifically, we realized how little 4.7 inches truly is. Diving below the protecting layers of leaves, we felt just like the lens was virtually touching the fruit earlier than we misplaced focus. Regardless of being so shut, the vast angle of the shot nonetheless supplied context for the grapes, permitting them to stay linked to the bigger plant and their place nestled inside the leaves. Transferring on to the tomato crops, the lens even captured the tiny little hairs that develop on the leaves and stems.
On a unique tour, we caught a compelling element shot of the fuzzy bark on a redwood tree. The shot introduced out the bark’s unimaginable texture and wonder, once more, with out completely obscuring the encircling surroundings. This grounded the shot in a way of place.
And naturally, cats solely get cuter below a wide-angle lens. Whereas not splendid for human portrait pictures, it would positively offer you some enjoyable ends in the realm of pet portraits.
Total, it was inspiring to have the ability to seize that stage of element at such shut proximity.
Go vast
Wider pictures even have their enchantment, and the lens may very well be fairly helpful from a storytelling perspective. The intense discipline of view means extra of the scene is seen than feels regular or pure. Regardless that our discipline of view as people roughly matches that of this lens, seeing all of this area condensed into the standard 16:9 facet ratio creates a surreal impact.
This impact may very well be used to impart a dreamy high quality to the scene, or to evoke a way of unease. It will all depend upon the way you used it. This isn’t your customary all-around lens, however it will be excellent whenever you want that one particular shot.
In small areas
The Laowa 10mm Cine has the benefit of being each light-weight and wide-angle, making it match for small, confined areas. Assume elevators, small kitchens or tight hallways. In case your undertaking contains any of those, a wide-angle lens like this one will make your life a lot simpler. With the ultra-wide-angle view of the Loawa 10mm Cine, you will get nearer to your topic in smaller areas, with out excluding the remainder of the setting.
No auto-focus
This explicit model of the lens doesn’t talk with the digital camera, in order that provides a few annoyances. Initially, our most petty grievance: Each time we turned our digital camera on, we needed to affirm the focal size. Typically, we’d hit “Sure” as a substitute of “No.” This instructed the digital camera that, sure, we wished to alter the focal size. Actually, we didn’t. Possibly there’s a resolution for this someplace within the digital camera settings, however we didn’t look. This was a minor annoyance, however we might think about conditions the place immediate start-up may very well be extra essential.
One other inconvenience is the shortage of autofocus. We actually wished to get some cool pictures of the bees that saved visiting the flowers we photographed. Sadly, we weren’t capable of pull focus in time. Our photographs all the time got here out just a bit bit blurry. Nonetheless, that is an edge case. If you’re taking the time to correctly compose and focus your pictures, this gained’t be a difficulty for you.
For these utilizing Sony FE or Nikon Z mount cameras, autofocus is offered, however it comes with trade-offs. You don’t get the cool aperture ring or handbook distance scale, and the aperture characteristic on 5 blades somewhat than the usual 14-blade design.
Development
The Laowa 10mm Cine is constructed with 15 components in 9 teams, with two of these being aspherical components and three being extra-low dispersion (ED). The lens is designed to reduce chromatic aberration. Certainly, we didn’t see any noticeable coloration fringing. It additionally options Laowa’s Frog Eye Coating to assist repel water droplets.
With a 14-blade aperture and a large T2.9 max aperture opening, this lens permits for shallow-focus photos with clear, spherical background bokeh. We did discover, nonetheless, that the little distortion that’s there’s usually extra obvious within the out-of-focus areas. It’s not disagreeable, although, simply one thing to pay attention to.
With an 80 mm entrance outdoors diameter, this lens makes use of 77 mm filter threads. It incorporates a 113-degree focus throw with industry-standard 0.8 gear mod. Focus indicators are written in each Metric and Imperial. The Laowa 10mm Cine’s light-weight design means it might probably simply mount and stability on drones and gimbals. This makes it splendid for extra dynamic video tasks.
Lastly, the Laowa 10mm Cine is offered in quite a lot of lens mounts. These embody ARRI PL and LPL, Canon RF, Leica L, Nikon Z and Sony E. Different variants in the identical sequence from Venus Optics embody 9 mm, 12 mm and 14 mm variations of this lens.
The competitors
Whereas researching this lens, we realized there aren’t a ton of choices in the case of ultra-wide-angle rectilinear lenses. The Laowa 10mm T2.9 Zero-D VV Cine stands out for its excessive vast angle view, massive aperture, lack of distortion and quick focusing distance. Nonetheless, in its place, the 7Artisans 9mm f/5.6 Lens is price a search for its barely extra reasonably priced value level.
Who can buy the Laowa 10mm T2.9 Zero-D VV Cine lens?
If you happen to’re a visible storyteller and also you need to experiment with dramatic and weird compositions, this lens is price a glance. It’s not going to work for each undertaking, however in the best context, it has the facility to evoke a way of dreaminess or dread. It has a singular potential to attract your viewers into the motion, and it has sensible benefits, too. Total, the Laowa 10mm T2.9 Zero-D VV Cine is a stable lens when you’re searching for that ultra-wide-angle perspective – with out wanting by means of a fish bowl.
Strengths
Extremely-wide 130° discipline of view with minimal distortion
Sharp close-ups with a 4.7-inch minimal focus distance
Light-weight construct works nice on drones and gimbals
Correct T-stops and cinema-ready design
Weaknesses
Guide focus solely; no digital communication with digital camera
Some edge compression distortion
Not splendid for portraits or quick-moving topics
Guide setup can decelerate spontaneous capturing
Tech specs
FormatFull-frameFocal distance10 mmAperture rangef/2.8-22Angle of view130.4″Lens structure15 components in 9 teams (2 aspherical glasses, 3 ED glasses)Aperture blades5 blades / 14 bladesMin. capturing distance4.72″ / 12 cmMax. magnification0.24XFocusing systemAF (E, Z)/ MFFilter threadØ77 mmDimensionsØ3.23” x 2.79”/ Ø82 x 70.8 mmWeight0.925 lbs / 420 gMounts (auto-focus)Sony E / Nikon Z (5 blades)Mounts (manual-focus)Canon RF/ L Mount (5 blades)A 14-blade variant (with a diminished sunstar impact) will be ordered upon request and shall be delivered at a later date.Sony E/ Canon RF/ Nikon Z/ L mount (14blades)
