Venus Optics has announced the release of four cine lenses. However, the most interesting one is the Laowa 6mm T2.1 Zero-D MFT Cine, which allows cinematographers to shoot ultra-wide in their MFT cameras, plus with zero distortion and even produce some bokeh.
Laowa expands its cine lens series for Micro Four Thirds
Venus Optics has just introduced four new lenses for MFT mounts. We usually don’t write about small sensor cameras, however, with the launch of the LUMIX GH6, we thought this might be a valid opportunity to discuss a bit on these special and affordable lenses. The new lenses are:
- Laowa 6mm T2.1 Zero-D MFT Cine
- Laowa 10mm T2.1 Zero-D MFT Cine
- Laowa 17mm T1.9 MFT Cine
- Laowa 50mm T2.9 Macro APO MFT Cine
These lenses are considered very affordable (price range of $400-$700 USD). They’re all interesting in some way, nevertheless, we’ve decided to focus on the most intriguing one, and that’s the super-wide 6mm lens.
Laowa 6mm T2.1 Zero-D MFT Cine: The widest for MFT
According to Venus Options, the Laowa 6mm T2.1 Zero-D MFT is the widest rectilinear lens you can find in the Micro Four Thirds market and was exclusively designed for MFT cameras. With a 121.9° angle of view and maximum T2.1 t-stop, you can obtain a unique-to-your-eye perspective even under a low-light environment.
This lens is also designed as “Zero-D” to deliver undistorted imagery, which is very important to this focal length. Moreover, its tiny size and 58mm filter thread design make it more convenient and handy to use.
121.9° angle of view and zero distortion
The lens is named “Zero-D”. The newly devised optical design contains 13 elements in 3 groups with two aspherical glasses, delivering optimal image quality with minimal distortion. The close-to-zero distortion (Zero-D) design is extremely useful when shooting architectural, aerial, and indoor footage.
Bokeh capabilities
The closest focusing distance i.e. 9cm/ 3.54” creates a stronger background bokeh effect. This characteristic allows utilizing the 6mm T2.1 in very close shots, which can be wide and cinematic (due to the bokeh). Moreover, it has a 58mm filter thread for use with standard screw-in filters, Industry-standard 0.8 mod gears on both aperture and focus rings, and stepless aperture ring that offers smooth iris control. Check out the slide below for more specs:
Price and availability
The Venus Optics Laowa Zero-D Cine 6mm T2.1 lens costs only $700 USD and can be preordered from authorized dealers. See the Product List at the end of the article.
Final thoughts
Is MFT back in the game? Not so fast. But some of us are still love shooting with MFT cameras, and the anticipated GH6 which caused some excitement among filmmakers is proof the MFT is a relevant format. Anyway, the Laowa 6mm T2.1 Zero-D MFT Cine seems like an affordable choice and a pretty interesting lens to play with. Ultra-wide, undistorted, and the ability to produced bokeh due to very low focusing distance packed at an affordable price, can be a solid deal for MFT shooters. For the image quality, you can explore the sample footage below:
What are your thoughts on the imagery of the Laowa 6mm T2.1 Zero-D MFT Cine? Does it satisfy you as an MFT shooter?
Product List
Here’re the products mentioned in the article, and the links to purchase them from authorized dealers.
- Laowa 6mm T2.1 Zero-D MFT Cine lens
- Panasonic LUMIX GH6
These videos (especially the one from Laowa) are really bad and look like it was taken from a mobile phone.
They should be presenting “slow” cinematic image, with quality grading.