It's funny how when showing Tarantino examples of parfocal zoom shots that they used the one from Kill Bill where it goes MASSIVELY out of focus lol 4:57
Excellent review as always CVP! I really wish one of these companies would just go and make the actual 24-70mm t2.9 Cine Zoom a lot of us are waiting for. 28mm is too tight for run and gun / docs in my opinion
My thoughts straight away , 28 ? no .. have to wonder do they ever ask working DOP,s , obviously not , its just a cost point ,wide enough , I guess. As you say , every fx9 /6 owner , now accounting for 90% of all doc , corp ,event shoots , just want ,at very least 24 on the wide , maybe 120 on the end, bonus f2.8 I would rather have 20-100 TBH, the fx9 s35 crop gives you 150 still in 4K.. Any other company besides Sony :) would have re done the ancient and useless in s35 28-135 , to a new 24-120 lens , but they are probably still deciding where to have the meeting to even talk about it . I wonder why they are making these PL and not native E mount TBH, I really doubt many / any Venice shoots will be using these budget lenses .
Just saying that the reason I buy through you guys is this. Keep these videos going. I’ve never seen such good content from any company. I love you guys.
It is the color shift between lenses that I can't stomach. My primary purpose would be for two camera interviews and I want to be able to trust that the lenses are consistent. Is that a 200 Kelvin difference at 6000K or 3000K, and is it generally noticeable on the Ranger? The difference in the Catta lenses is very noticeable.
I just went with the Sigma Art 24-70 instead for my FX9. Much cheaper, sharper and lighter. Got two rings for zoom and focus from 3Dfocus. You really can't find a more capable and compact full frame zoom than that.
I recently switched to the Tamron 35-150 and am much happier as I almost never went below 24mm (and when I needed to, 24 was not wide enough so I’ll be getting the new Viltrox 16mm 1.8 for those occasions) and couldn’t be happier than that.
@@kevinforget549 Actually I still use my old Tokina 11-16. S35 I know but I just switch the FX9 to S35 mode when needed. I just got the 35mm F 1.2 Art, that's a crazy lens. The best prime I've ever had.
As a DZO Catta owner, I can attest to the fact that DZO cannot make a zoom that is colour matched at all with other lenses in its set. In fact, even the same Catta Zoom focal will vary greatly between DZO shipping batch. Its very frustrating as I honestly think the Cattas offer a nicer overall image than the Laowa. Laowa have definitely done a great job when it comes to Focal range and size. A 200 degree kelvin shift between the two lenses is pretty minor considering how cheap these cine zooms are.
6:06 The chromatic aberration is really visible at the long end of the lenses. Look at the blue/red fringing on the numbers. Same here: 6:13. Yowza. That would be borderline unusable for certain scenarios like product work.
To be honest I was expecting more. I didn't love the color (the Cattas were better, but their inconsistency is a deal breaker), and it seems very soft and prone to CA at the longer ends, making effective range smaller. I'll still be looking out for the 16-30, if it's good I might get one, it's hard finding wide cine lenses for FF
How are lenses that are cinema grade so comparatively non-precise compared to so many photography lenses even at a third of the price? If I’m paying three grand for a lens, I expect to be able to use the full range on serious productions despite high contrast areas. Forget the better housing and the typical “it’s just has character” copium that this genre of “budget” lenses begs for. That CA is ass even compared to $500 glass.
Or the full SURFING edit here. First time I used it. Featuring the 75 to 180 mm Laowa Ranger Cine lens. Im still get used to the pulling focus set up via the water housing. ua-cam.com/video/kGj5RG8eb8U/v-deo.html PS - I think i am in love.
Had trouble getting them to be parfocal on the Komodo X with the canon focal reducer. Let me know if you're able to achieve any good results with this!
I'm relatively new to all this, so please help me understand what I might be missing with cinema lenses like this. Take the Laowa 28-75 at circa £3.3k. What is the compelling reason to buy vs say the Sony GM 24-70mm f2.8 mk ii which is significantly cheaper? Ditto the tele version. OK they do come in a very nice 'Peli' style case - but that alone can't justify the asking wedge? As a photographer primarily, now venturing into video work, I bought the Sony GM mkii lens which is pretty sharp, benefits from great AF and is over £1k cheaper. Focus breathing is effectively a non issue on my new FX3 (very mild crop) given the firmware update for FX3 (also available on most new Sony bodies post the A1). So what am I missing? I'm happy to keep an open mind and learn but I'm puzzled why there is a market for something like a Laowa ranger at a premium to GM glass? I also understand that until Sony really upped their game on AF that manual focus was pretty much de rigour for video - even if it meant hiring a separate focus puller. I get that the Laowa is rated in more accurate 'T' stops and has external gearing. But the GM will be within a 1/10 stop in all likelihood, is exceptionally well corrected, can easily be fitted with rubber gear cogs (eg from Tilta) if wishing to pull focus either manually or motorised (eg Tilta Nucleus - other options are also available). My GM also benefits from being usefully wider (24mm) and is a lot less than 18cm long (at 24mm). About the only downside I can see is that my Sony GM extends when zoomed - which might be a problem on some rigs if needing a matte box fitted to support rails. Even then there are workarounds with smaller lightweight matte boxes (eg Tilta Mirage) that hardly need supporting. The same arguments apply equally to Sony's excellent GM 70-200 f2.8 mk.ii except that GM additionally benefits from an internal zoom (same as with Laowa Ranger). It's also got more reach i.e. 200mm than the Laowa. From what I can see, both my GM zooms outperform the Laowa IMO, at significantly less cost (still not cheap, but to my mind apparently better value). Also both much better suited to stills photography too. So what am I missing?
It's going to take some time for perceptions to catch up to technology. Cinema lenses are primarily purchased for their parfocal zoom peformance, suitability for use with a follow-focus, and their lack of focus breathing. The better Sony native lenses, like the 24, 35, and 24-70 GM (which you need to take advantage of the focus breathing comp) look better, and offer more speed for the dollar, but aren't par focal, and don't offer hard stops on the focus ring, making them difficult or impossible to use with a follow-focus. Yes they'll work, but they are not consistent and repeatable, which you need for narrative cinematic work. The lenses that offer the same (or better) optical quality to the GMs and Sigma Art lenses add in parfocal zoom ability, and hard-stop focus for significant cost. You could probably get away with using autofocus for most shots, but not all. For larger productions, the risk simply isn't worth it. "Sorry, can you reset the huge explosion, the camera was focusing on John's ass. Thanks" When you absolutely have to nail focus, you need a guy, with a measuring tape, hard stops, and a remote follow focus.
I absolutely love the 24-70 gm ii, but prefer the look of the laowa 27-75 for product and fashion. The wireless control of zoom and focus allow for expensive looking shots. It’s a very sharp lens with a swirly funky bokeh. Love it. My other favorite rental are the cooke sp3s for narrative work
I jsut bought the Tokina 25-75 cine zoom. I have the 50-135 and 11-20. And they're parfocal with changeable mounts. They also make an adaptor from EF to PL that allows them to be used on full frame to VV.
I'm a little disappointed in the execution of this review because it feels a bit rushed. Parts of the comparison test footage are cut up so quickly that there's barely enough time to really look at what's being shown. Your other views have been great tho, not sure what's up with this review.. But thanks for making it!
I dont get why we can't have a sigma 24-70 DG DN art but in a cine housing. It performs much better than this 28-75 and honestly I expected more. People dropping 5-10k on cine lenses don't want just ok, they expect nothing but excellent as you can get that for around 1k in the non cine lens market it doesn't make sense to switch.
Thank you for very detailed review. These lenses seem to be very underwhelming, especially with that white balance shift and a lot of CA. Close up performance is very poor. Just look at that softness and CA at 6:10 min.
Loved this one, watched it twice to actually digest the data (that’s lie, I’m still clueless) but loved your the new actors, i sense more audience coming your way cuz of them :))
VOCAS, but if you are in the market for one I would suggest looking at the KipperTie Adapta or Metabones Cine instead as they feature better internal reflection handling than this one. Jake
Great content, thank you for demystifying these new lenses. On the Sony rigs, would you share what that red ring is for and who makes it? Assume it's an adapter.
I feel like the DZOs offer more character and they are built with matching zoom, aperture and focus rings. IDK MANNNNNNNNNN Can't go wrong either way but I'm leaning dzo for the character
I've been waiting for these to become available for a while! Laowa is absolutely killing it these days. In your opinion, do you find the CA in the Laowas less pronounced than in the DZOs?
The dark corners you see is actually medium format coverage. Please look at the yellow frame line. You wont get dark corners even at 3:2 OG on Alexa LF/Venice. V-Raptor has a slightly wider sensor (40.9mm) than standard 17:9 crop from 36x24 sensor. Still there is no dark corners
Let us know what you think of the Laowa Ranger down below!
It's funny how when showing Tarantino examples of parfocal zoom shots that they used the one from Kill Bill where it goes MASSIVELY out of focus lol 4:57
Yeah we only noticed this after rendering!!
Excellent review as always CVP! I really wish one of these companies would just go and make the actual 24-70mm t2.9 Cine Zoom a lot of us are waiting for. 28mm is too tight for run and gun / docs in my opinion
My thoughts straight away , 28 ? no .. have to wonder do they ever ask working DOP,s , obviously not , its just a cost point ,wide enough , I guess. As you say , every fx9 /6 owner , now accounting for 90% of all doc , corp ,event shoots , just want ,at very least 24 on the wide , maybe 120 on the end, bonus f2.8 I would rather have 20-100 TBH, the fx9 s35 crop gives you 150 still in 4K.. Any other company besides Sony :) would have re done the ancient and useless in s35 28-135 , to a new 24-120 lens , but they are probably still deciding where to have the meeting to even talk about it . I wonder why they are making these PL and not native E mount TBH, I really doubt many / any Venice shoots will be using these budget lenses .
Just saying that the reason I buy through you guys is this. Keep these videos going. I’ve never seen such good content from any company. I love you guys.
yup, i'm in the US, so it doesn't make sense for me to buy from them ofc, but their work's second to none
i'd be very interested in a revew of the laowa proteus!
kind regards from vienna
Same here. Waiting!
It is the color shift between lenses that I can't stomach. My primary purpose would be for two camera interviews and I want to be able to trust that the lenses are consistent. Is that a 200 Kelvin difference at 6000K or 3000K, and is it generally noticeable on the Ranger? The difference in the Catta lenses is very noticeable.
I just went with the Sigma Art 24-70 instead for my FX9. Much cheaper, sharper and lighter. Got two rings for zoom and focus from 3Dfocus. You really can't find a more capable and compact full frame zoom than that.
I recently switched to the Tamron 35-150 and am much happier as I almost never went below 24mm (and when I needed to, 24 was not wide enough so I’ll be getting the new Viltrox 16mm 1.8 for those occasions) and couldn’t be happier than that.
I like the Tamron. Get a 16-35 or a fast wide angle prime and you have the entire range in only two lenses.
@@kevinforget549 Actually I still use my old Tokina 11-16. S35 I know but I just switch the FX9 to S35 mode when needed. I just got the 35mm F 1.2 Art, that's a crazy lens. The best prime I've ever had.
As a DZO Catta owner, I can attest to the fact that DZO cannot make a zoom that is colour matched at all with other lenses in its set. In fact, even the same Catta Zoom focal will vary greatly between DZO shipping batch. Its very frustrating as I honestly think the Cattas offer a nicer overall image than the Laowa. Laowa have definitely done a great job when it comes to Focal range and size. A 200 degree kelvin shift between the two lenses is pretty minor considering how cheap these cine zooms are.
I think I prefer the character of tokina 25-75
6:06 The chromatic aberration is really visible at the long end of the lenses. Look at the blue/red fringing on the numbers. Same here: 6:13. Yowza. That would be borderline unusable for certain scenarios like product work.
The longitudinal chromatic aberration is really bad. So bad that it is pretty disturbing in most of real life usage cases, as far as I can imagine.
I shot for years with the fujinon mk lenses and have been praying for something similar for full frame. These look decent 👌
To be honest I was expecting more. I didn't love the color (the Cattas were better, but their inconsistency is a deal breaker), and it seems very soft and prone to CA at the longer ends, making effective range smaller. I'll still be looking out for the 16-30, if it's good I might get one, it's hard finding wide cine lenses for FF
How are lenses that are cinema grade so comparatively non-precise compared to so many photography lenses even at a third of the price? If I’m paying three grand for a lens, I expect to be able to use the full range on serious productions despite high contrast areas. Forget the better housing and the typical “it’s just has character” copium that this genre of “budget” lenses begs for. That CA is ass even compared to $500 glass.
Or the full SURFING edit here. First time I used it. Featuring the 75 to 180 mm Laowa Ranger Cine lens. Im still get used to the pulling focus set up via the water housing. ua-cam.com/video/kGj5RG8eb8U/v-deo.html PS - I think i am in love.
Had trouble getting them to be parfocal on the Komodo X with the canon focal reducer. Let me know if you're able to achieve any good results with this!
What issues did you have? Was the shimming process particularly difficult?
I'm relatively new to all this, so please help me understand what I might be missing with cinema lenses like this. Take the Laowa 28-75 at circa £3.3k. What is the compelling reason to buy vs say the Sony GM 24-70mm f2.8 mk ii which is significantly cheaper? Ditto the tele version. OK they do come in a very nice 'Peli' style case - but that alone can't justify the asking wedge?
As a photographer primarily, now venturing into video work, I bought the Sony GM mkii lens which is pretty sharp, benefits from great AF and is over £1k cheaper. Focus breathing is effectively a non issue on my new FX3 (very mild crop) given the firmware update for FX3 (also available on most new Sony bodies post the A1). So what am I missing? I'm happy to keep an open mind and learn but I'm puzzled why there is a market for something like a Laowa ranger at a premium to GM glass? I also understand that until Sony really upped their game on AF that manual focus was pretty much de rigour for video - even if it meant hiring a separate focus puller.
I get that the Laowa is rated in more accurate 'T' stops and has external gearing. But the GM will be within a 1/10 stop in all likelihood, is exceptionally well corrected, can easily be fitted with rubber gear cogs (eg from Tilta) if wishing to pull focus either manually or motorised (eg Tilta Nucleus - other options are also available). My GM also benefits from being usefully wider (24mm) and is a lot less than 18cm long (at 24mm). About the only downside I can see is that my Sony GM extends when zoomed - which might be a problem on some rigs if needing a matte box fitted to support rails. Even then there are workarounds with smaller lightweight matte boxes (eg Tilta Mirage) that hardly need supporting.
The same arguments apply equally to Sony's excellent GM 70-200 f2.8 mk.ii except that GM additionally benefits from an internal zoom (same as with Laowa Ranger). It's also got more reach i.e. 200mm than the Laowa. From what I can see, both my GM zooms outperform the Laowa IMO, at significantly less cost (still not cheap, but to my mind apparently better value). Also both much better suited to stills photography too. So what am I missing?
It's going to take some time for perceptions to catch up to technology. Cinema lenses are primarily purchased for their parfocal zoom peformance, suitability for use with a follow-focus, and their lack of focus breathing. The better Sony native lenses, like the 24, 35, and 24-70 GM (which you need to take advantage of the focus breathing comp) look better, and offer more speed for the dollar, but aren't par focal, and don't offer hard stops on the focus ring, making them difficult or impossible to use with a follow-focus. Yes they'll work, but they are not consistent and repeatable, which you need for narrative cinematic work. The lenses that offer the same (or better) optical quality to the GMs and Sigma Art lenses add in parfocal zoom ability, and hard-stop focus for significant cost. You could probably get away with using autofocus for most shots, but not all. For larger productions, the risk simply isn't worth it. "Sorry, can you reset the huge explosion, the camera was focusing on John's ass. Thanks" When you absolutely have to nail focus, you need a guy, with a measuring tape, hard stops, and a remote follow focus.
I absolutely love the 24-70 gm ii, but prefer the look of the laowa 27-75 for product and fashion. The wireless control of zoom and focus allow for expensive looking shots. It’s a very sharp lens with a swirly funky bokeh. Love it. My other favorite rental are the cooke sp3s for narrative work
I jsut bought the Tokina 25-75 cine zoom. I have the 50-135 and 11-20. And they're parfocal with changeable mounts. They also make an adaptor from EF to PL that allows them to be used on full frame to VV.
I'm a little disappointed in the execution of this review because it feels a bit rushed. Parts of the comparison test footage are cut up so quickly that there's barely enough time to really look at what's being shown. Your other views have been great tho, not sure what's up with this review.. But thanks for making it!
Will you be reviewing the Venus Optics Laowa Ranger LITE ?
for a super 35mm camera like the C70, would you recommend these over the Fujinon MKs?
I dont get why we can't have a sigma 24-70 DG DN art but in a cine housing. It performs much better than this 28-75 and honestly I expected more. People dropping 5-10k on cine lenses don't want just ok, they expect nothing but excellent as you can get that for around 1k in the non cine lens market it doesn't make sense to switch.
Bro there is one lens which has the same range ‘ZEISS 28-80mm T2.9 Compact Zoom CZ.2 Lens’
What! No Ted Lasso.
Yet again I find myself enjoying your content.
Thank you.
Thank you for very detailed review.
These lenses seem to be very underwhelming, especially with that white balance shift and a lot of CA.
Close up performance is very poor. Just look at that softness and CA at 6:10 min.
informative new video Thanks CVP
Do you think there is too much character on the Laowa lenses for use on a green screen?
Waiting for the review of the Laowa Skaterscope😂
Loved this one, watched it twice to actually digest the data (that’s lie, I’m still clueless) but loved your the new actors, i sense more audience coming your way cuz of them :))
Hey do they make a servo version?
CA is my arch enemy, I can't stand it at all
Great info, Thanks!!
Solid review as always! Thanks guys glad I found your channel.
Wow. Who is that handsome guy at 12:20 ???
Not sure but he sure look like he enjoyed that cupcake!
What a gr8 channel! Thank u
What about Catta Ace?
What PL to E mount adapter is pictured? It has that characteristic red ring. Thanks.
VOCAS, but if you are in the market for one I would suggest looking at the KipperTie Adapta or Metabones Cine instead as they feature better internal reflection handling than this one. Jake
First comment and like ..i love the techinal knowledge you guys are sharing with us since long time
Is a Nisi Athena review coming soon? & if so, please use an Ursa 12k for one of the cameras.
Yes it’s in production now! Jake
@@CVPTV 🙌🏾
Great content, thank you for demystifying these new lenses. On the Sony rigs, would you share what that red ring is for and who makes it? Assume it's an adapter.
It's the Vocas PL-E adapter
@@alex-stone Thanks Alex!
I feel like the DZOs offer more character and they are built with matching zoom, aperture and focus rings. IDK MANNNNNNNNNN Can't go wrong either way but I'm leaning dzo for the character
More character but a huge colour shift between focals unfortunately.
@@joelawryDOP Oh no really? Like if I zoom to 50mm it's different than at 25?
@@Goodsidestudios no I mean between the 3 different Catta zooms
@@joelawryDOP Oh that's not as bad. the only one I know doesn't match well is the 14-30 but I was looking at getting the set with the 12
@@Goodsidestudios it sounds like the no dzo zooms actually match the more I dig into this subject.
are these similar to the fuji MK's ?
I've been waiting for these to become available for a while! Laowa is absolutely killing it these days. In your opinion, do you find the CA in the Laowas less pronounced than in the DZOs?
DZO cattas have zero CA.
@@joelawryDOP Every review I've watched the Cattas have a good deal of CA. Maybe you just got lucky with your own set.
@@williamsnyder4361 this test was shot with a rental set. I later bought my own and they are the same. ua-cam.com/video/BYTD6XZDZUQ/v-deo.html
@@joelawryDOP What about the CA at close focus?
What’s the allen key size for the back focus? The key that came with mine is super tiny and the one you pictured seemed like an easier option.
Thank you
That vignetting is really bad. Dark corners are kind of a "cheap" look for cinema and not acceptable on most productions. VERY disappointing.
You say that, but it's not. Compare it to other FF zooms on our tool, even ones much much more expensive, and performance is pretty comparable. Jake
@@CVPTV - your samples look poor. Thank you for sharing.
The dark corners you see is actually medium format coverage. Please look at the yellow frame line. You wont get dark corners even at 3:2 OG on Alexa LF/Venice. V-Raptor has a slightly wider sensor (40.9mm) than standard 17:9 crop from 36x24 sensor. Still there is no dark corners
did you run into the great @philipbloom while you were out in Richmond?