Venus Optics has released the Laowa 7.5mm T2.9 Zero-D S35 Cine lens. It’s a new wide-angle cine lens designed for Super 35 or APS-C sensors. It’s available in Canon RF, Nikon Z, FUJIFILM X and Sony E mount options.
Zero distortion
The “Zero-D” in the name of the Laowa 7.5mm T2.9 Zero-D S35 Cine lens means zero distortion. Venus Optics state that the lens produces high-quality images with zero distortion and minimal chromatic aberration. The company also claims it is the widest rectilinear prime lens available in the Super 35 market. The optical properties of most wide-angle lenses mean that straight features, such as the edges of walls of buildings, appear to be curved in your images. However, rectilinear lenses do not exhibit this distortion and so are great for shooting architectural, aerial and indoor footage.
Low light
The Laowa 7.5mm T2.9 Zero-D S35 Cine lens has a 123-degree angle of view. It also has a large maximum aperture of T2.9. This makes the lens ideal for filming under low light conditions. It will also allow you to control the depth of field. The minimum close focus distance is only 9.84 inches, making it ideal for focusing on close subjects with a strong background bokeh effect.
Optical design
The optical design of the Laowa 7.5mm T2.9 Zero-D S35 Cine lens contains 16 elements in 10 groups. This includes two extra-low dispersion lenses and two aspherical lenses that keep chromatic aberration to the minimum. The non-dome-shaped front element of the lens allows you to use screw-in filters, which is unusual for such a wide-angle lens. The filter size is 77 mm.
Compact and lightweight
The Laowa 7.5mm T2.9 Zero-D S35 Cine lens has a compact body, measuring only 3.17 inches in length. It is also lightweight, weighing less than 1.4 pounds. The size and weight of the lens mean that it is ideal for use with stabilizations systems such as handheld gimbals. The lens has industry standard 0.8 pitch gears on both the aperture and focus rings. The focus ring also has both imperial and metric measurements. In addition, the aperture ring is stepless, which means you can adjust the exposure smoothly while shooting.
Pricing and availability
The Laowa 7.5mm T2.9 Zero-D S35 Cine lens is supplied in a weather-sealed hard case. It is available to buy now for $699.
