Spirit Lab has announced its new Zoom 70-300mm T3.2 full-frame cinema lens. This beast covers an image circle of up to 50 mm and characterized by its zero breathing and distortion capabilities. Let’s have a glimpse.

Large format cinema zooms

The world of the large format cine glass is pretty wild and contains many options at various prices. However, there are not many cinema options that can cover full-frame and have a zoom range like the new 70-300mm. Indeed, the design of this high-range zoom combines with a 50 mm image circle, has led to a huge piece of glass, as you can see in the pictures. This lens was made from scratch by the Chinese optic manufacturer named Spirit Lab. According to the company, it has an in-house lens research department in order to develop high-quality lenses for filmmakers and video producers in the cinematographic industry.

Spirit Lab Zoom 70-300mm T3.2

The Spirit Lab Zoom 70-300mm T3.2 lens joins the company’s Cine Zoom 20-50mm T3.2 and Cine Prime Series, which cover full-frame sensors as well. According to Spirit Lab, these are the main characteristics of the new zoom:

1. Full frame covering: Spirit Lab sees themselves as pioneers in the industry, by bringing the cine zoom as the age of full-frame filming comes, with the goal of providing cinematographers another reliable choice of easy shooting. The company names it “飒 (Sa)”, which means fierce wind in Chinese.
2. No distortion: Zero distortion all through the zoom range even when the shooting distance changes.
3. No breathing: The less is equipped with a “Leading technology of breathing control”. Spirit Lab claims of implementing advanced technologies such as floating compensation and displacement compensation to effectively control the breathing effect to an imperceptible level.
4. High resolution: Super high resolution kept from the center to the edge
5. Anti-glare: Glare is suppressed to produce optimal imagery. The lens was designed to reduce ghosting, and contrast degradation caused by reflection and structural design when the light comes in. Sprit Lab says that the solid and precise coating allows the “neutralization of color that helps to work well with other lenses”.

Spirit Lab sees themselves as pioneers in the industry, by bringing the cine zoom as the age of full-frame filming comes, with the goal of providing cinematographers another reliable choice of easy shooting. The company names it “飒 (Sa)”, which means fierce wind in Chinese.

For more technical specifications of the Spirit Lab cine-zoom 70-300 mm, find the table below:

Final thoughts

There is no official word yet on price nor availability. Although this is a Chinese product, don’t expect it to be cheap. By judging from the specs and the dry data, this piece of glass has a huge potential and it can give a fight even to major lens manufacturers. However, there is no sample footage to be examined. The company should release some so we can see what this beat is capable of. Once we can some footage, we’ll update the article accordingly.

Update:

We got an email from Spirit Lab that elaborates on the price. According to them: “The 70-300mm is delivered with Spirit Lab Cine Zoom 20-50mm announced earlier this year. The two lenses as a set are priced at around EUR 35,000, two Pelican cases included”.