Laowa 10mm T2.9 Zero-D VV Cine Lens from Venus Optics offers a wider perspective

The Laowa 10mm T2.9 Zero-D VV Cine Lens from Venus Optics offers a fun new perspective for filmmakers and photographers. We spent several days with the Laowa 10mm Cine to see how this ultra-wide rectilinear cinema lens performs in the field. Keep reading to learn more about this lens and how it might contribute to your cinematic toolkit.

What is the Laowa 10mm T2.9 Zero-D VV Cine Lens?

The Laowa 10mm Cine fills a particular niche and does it well. It delivers an ultra-wide 130.3-degree rectilinear perspective with virtually zero distortion, which lets you pull more of the scene into the frame without the fish-eye look that can distract from a story. Its compact, lightweight design also makes it a strong fit for drones and gimbals. Thanks to its versatility, the lens works for extreme close-ups, nature work, architecture and more creative cinematic shots.

Leaning into its cinema lens identity, the Laowa 10mm Cine’s 46.31 mm image circle covers both full-frame 35 mm sensors and the larger VistaVision widescreen format. That means it’s fully compatible with large-sensor cinema cameras from makers like ARRI and RED. Since wide-angle distortion is usually most apparent at the edge of the frame, this larger coverage helps keep the most troublesome areas out of the shot.

The lens also uses precise T-stops instead of F-stops, which strengthens its standing as a true cinema lens. Cinematographers prefer T-stops because they provide more accurate information about the amount of light passing through the lens. While F-stops come from a mathematical equation, T-stops are measured based on how light actually moves through this specific optical design.

Not a fish-eye

The Laowa 10mm Cine is not a fish-eye lens. It’s a rectilinear lens. That means, despite the super wide 130.3° field of view, the lens is designed to resist the extreme fish-eye distortion you might otherwise expect. 

To test this, we went to the local library – highly recommended – and took some shots from within the stacks. Lots of parallel lines there. As Laowa promised, there was little to no distortion in the horizontal lines of the shelves nor the vertical lines of the books, except at the extreme edges of the image. Some shapes still do show obvious distortion, but it’s not the familiar bowing of fish-eye distortion. It’s more of a compression effect.

For instance, in one test photo, a flag pole appears oddly short compared to the experience in real life. Yet despite this compression, the pole is still perfectly straight.

Get closer

With a 4.7-inch minimum focusing distance, the Laowa 10mm Cine allows you to capture small delights with impressive clarity. Combines with the shallow depth of field achieved through the T2.9 maximum aperture, the lens is great for getting super close-up shots of tiny objects, like flowers, textures and trinkets.

We had the most fun with this lens getting up close and personal with our subject matter – mostly plants and bugs. The photos we captured of small objects had a whimsical quality that we quite enjoyed. We also got some awesome shots outside in the library’s flower garden and later in a friend’s vegetable garden, where he was growing grapes and tomatoes. 

As we were photographing the grapes in particular, we realized how little 4.7 inches actually is. Diving under the protective layers of leaves, we felt like the lens was practically touching the fruit before we lost focus. Despite being so close, the wide angle of the shot still provided context for the grapes, allowing them to remain connected to the larger plant and their place nestled within the leaves. Moving on to the tomato plants, the lens even captured the tiny little hairs that grow on the leaves and stems.

On a different excursion, we caught a compelling detail shot of the fuzzy bark on a redwood tree. The shot brought out the bark’s incredible texture and beauty, again, without totally obscuring the surrounding scenery. This grounded the shot in a sense of place.

And of course, cats only get cuter under a wide-angle lens. While not ideal for human portrait photography, it will definitely give you some fun results in the realm of pet portraits. 

Overall, it was inspiring to be able to capture that level of detail at such close proximity. 

Go wide

Wider shots also have their appeal, and the lens could be quite useful from a storytelling perspective. The extreme field of view means more of the scene is visible than feels normal or natural. Even though our field of view as humans roughly matches that of this lens, seeing all of this space condensed into the typical 16:9 aspect ratio creates a surreal effect. 

This effect could be used to impart a dreamy quality to the scene, or to evoke a sense of unease. It would all depend on how you used it. This isn’t your standard all-around lens, but it would be perfect when you need that one special shot.

In small spaces

The Laowa 10mm Cine has the advantage of being both lightweight and wide-angle, making it a good fit for small, confined spaces. Think elevators, small kitchens or tight hallways. If your project includes any of these, a wide-angle lens like this one will make your life much easier. With the ultra-wide-angle view of the Loawa 10mm Cine, you can get closer to your subject in smaller spaces, without excluding the rest of the environment.

No auto-focus

This particular version of the lens does not communicate with the camera, so that adds a couple of annoyances. First of all, our most petty complaint: Every time we turned our camera on, we had to confirm the focal length. Sometimes, we’d hit “Yes” instead of “No.” This told the camera that, yes, we wanted to change the focal length. In fact, we didn’t. Maybe there is a solution for this somewhere in the camera settings, but we didn’t look. This was a minor annoyance, but we could imagine situations where prompt start-up could be more critical.

Another inconvenience is the lack of autofocus. We really wanted to get some cool shots of the bees that kept visiting the flowers we photographed. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to pull focus in time. Our photos always came out just a little bit blurry. However, this is an edge case. If you are taking the time to properly compose and focus your shots, this won’t be an issue for you.

For those using Sony FE or Nikon Z mount cameras, autofocus is available, but it comes with trade-offs. You don’t get the cool aperture ring or manual distance scale, and the aperture feature on 5 blades rather than the standard 14-blade design.

Construction

The Laowa 10mm Cine is built with 15 elements in 9 groups, with two of those being aspherical elements and three being extra-low dispersion (ED). The lens is designed to minimize chromatic aberration. Indeed, we didn’t see any noticeable color fringing. It also features Laowa’s Frog Eye Coating to help repel water droplets.

With a 14-blade aperture and a wide T2.9 max aperture opening, this lens allows for shallow-focus images with clean, round background bokeh. We did notice, however, that the little distortion that’s there is often more apparent in the out-of-focus areas. It’s not unpleasant, though, just something to be aware of.

With an 80 mm front outside diameter, this lens uses 77 mm filter threads. It features a 113-degree focus throw with industry-standard 0.8 gear mod. Focus indicators are written in both Metric and Imperial. The Laowa 10mm Cine’s lightweight design means it can easily mount and balance on drones and gimbals. This makes it ideal for more dynamic video projects.

Finally, the Laowa 10mm Cine is available in a variety of lens mounts. These include ARRI PL and LPL, Canon RF, Leica L, Nikon Z and Sony E. Other variants in the same series from Venus Optics include 9 mm, 12 mm and 14 mm versions of this lens.

The competition

While researching this lens, we realized there aren’t a ton of options when it comes to ultra-wide-angle rectilinear lenses. The Laowa 10mm T2.9 Zero-D VV Cine stands out for its extreme wide angle view, large aperture, lack of distortion and short focusing distance. However, as an alternative, the 7Artisans 9mm f/5.6 Lens is worth a look for its slightly more affordable price point.

Who should buy the Laowa 10mm T2.9 Zero-D VV Cine lens?

If you’re a visual storyteller and you want to experiment with dramatic and unusual compositions, this lens is worth a look. It’s not going to work for every project, but in the right context, it has the power to evoke a sense of dreaminess or dread. It has a unique ability to draw your audience into the action, and it has practical advantages, too. Overall, the Laowa 10mm T2.9 Zero-D VV Cine is a solid lens if you’re looking for that ultra-wide-angle perspective – without looking through a fish bowl.

Venus Optics Laowa 10mm T2.9 Zero-D VV Cine Lens

$1,699.00 at B&H Video

Tech specs