Laowa 10mm Zero-D: Ultra-Wide for Large Format
Laowa & Cine Visuals Present: Laowa 10mm Zero-D VV
Cinematic Heritage
Laowa is the brand name of the lenses crafted by Venus Optics. Founded in 2013, the team at Venus Optics had a vision – providing cinema-quality lenses in an ergonomic package at an affordable price. Solving the age-old balance of quality, ergonomics, and affordability. One of their areas of focus? Ultra wide-angle lenses.
By 2016, Venus Optics had developed the Laowa 12mm Zero-D lens. This lens was compact and brought wide angle coverage to Full Frame right at the beginning of its rise to prominence. By 2020, Laowa had standardized this into a cinema-version, right as Full Frame for cinema was beginning to take off. Zero-D refers to the promise of “Zero Distortion” and Venus Optics’ commitment to rectilinear ultra wide-angle lenses. Though not 100% without distortion, the straight line rendition is truly a scientific marvel, opening the doors for filmmakers to expand their horizons.
Yet, Venus Optics is known for their R&D and their determination to bring innovation to filmmakers. In the last six years since the Laowa 12mm Zero-D was made for motion picture filmmaking, Venus Optics keeps pushing the boundaries. In March 2025, Venus Optics announced their designs for the most compact rectilinear 10mm Full Frame lens on the market – the Laowa 10mm T2.9 Zero-D VV Cine. While lenses this wide had come out before, they were bulkier, heavier, and longer. True to their vision, they brought forth something even more wide and compact than the previous Laowa 12mm. The same “Zero Distortion” commitment for Full Frame cinematography was brought to a 10mm focal length – an incredible feat.
Image Fidelity & Focus
Venus Optics is committed to bringing sharp lenses that are precise and yet cinematic into the modern world for filmmakers. The Laowa 10mm is able to achieve high resolution and clarity in an ultra-wide angle that completely covers full frame in a small package. The image has edge-to-edge sharpness. With aspherical elements put into an incredibly lightweight design, the Laowa is able to mitigate edge distortion and keep lines straight throughout. Hence, these lenses are considered some of the most advanced accessible rectilinear ultra-wide lenses in the world. Often, with lenses that cover this wide of an image, the edges of the frame begin to bend and distort. Think ‘90s “fisheye” music video style. While that look certainly works for some projects, many projects call for a more realistic appearance. This lens, dubbed part of the “Zero-D” line, stand up to their namesake. Zero-D referring to “Zero Distortion” the lens has nearly no distortion, with straight lines remaining straight from edge-to-edge of the frame. Speaking of zero distortion, the lens uses coatings to mitigate chromatic aberrations and has excellent color rendition. Despite its wide angle, the focus remains sharp across the frame, allowing for full usage of the width of the image, not just the center. And, Venus Optics made sure the Laowa 10mm Zero-D VV gave ultimate flexibility to cinematographers, with a T2.9 the lens reacts well to light and works well in a wide range of lighting scenarios. Powerful lens in a small package.
Handling & Adaptability
Despite their outstanding ultra-wide angle performance for Full Frame, Venus Optics has made this lens incredibly light – a breezy 1.20 lbs. With a total length of 3.34 inches, the Laowa 10mm Zero-D is made to fit in even the tightest of corners, and still provide ultra-wide coverage for filmmakers. With a 80mm front diameter and 113 degree focus throw, camera assistants will love the ease of use for these lenses. Focus will be precise and any mattebox or filtration changes will be quick. For even the tightest of spaces, the lens has a 77mm thread for screw-on filtration. The lightweight physically compact design gives camera operators the flexibility on-set they need to capture the image without compromising any image quality for the cinematographer and staying true to the vision of the project. Just what a lens should be.
Initially, the lens was made available in ARRI LPL, Sony E, Nikon Z, Canon RF, and L-Mount. But that wasn’t enough. Knowing that the industry demands are ever-changing with filmmakers pulling vintage and legacy filmmaking from the past while always pushing to the future, in July 2025 they released a PL-mount version of the lens, bringing optimal compatibility to the table. As PL-mount remains the most standard and compatible option across cinema cameras, Cine Visuals carries the Laowa 10mm T2.9 Zero-D VV Cine PL Mount edition that pairs well with the PL adaptor on the Fujifilm Eterna 55 (also available for rent at Cine Visuals) along with a multitude of other cameras. Something to note is that the PL mount design has a rear protrusion that does not fit the ARRI Alexa Mini’s compact design, as well as some mirrorless cameras. However, the PL-mount design fits great with the ARRI Alexa XT, Alexa Mini LF, Alexa LF, Alexa35, Amira, Sony Venice 1 & 2, the RED Raptor VV, the Fujifilm Eterna 55, and many traditional film cameras such as the ARRI 435.
Image Circle
Utilizing 15 elements in 9 groups, Venus Optics set out to make a 10mm lens that could truly cover a Full Frame plane. The name, Laowa 10mm T2.9 Zero-D VV Cine has the increasingly more common usage of “VV”. VV stands for “VistaVision” referring to horizontally exposed 8-perf 35mm film. Full frame cameras are based on this legacy film shooting style, which recent movies such as “The Brutalist” and “One Battle After Another” have been shot on. In order to cover true full frame or “VV”, Venus Optics embedded the lenses with a large image circle of 46.31mm. That’s more than enough to cover any S35mm sensor, and easily covers the ARRI Alexa Mini LF, Sony Venice, true VistaVision 8-Perf 35mm film, and nearly covers the Fujifilm Eterna 55’s medium format sensor, which can be set to a slightly smaller coverage to accommodate and pairs perfectly.
Flare & Bokeh
As with Venus Optics commitment to precision, the Laowa 10mm Zero-D VV lens has been crafted with this in store. In order to preserve the image clarity in such a wide format, flaring is kept to a minimum. With multi-coating layers, flares don’t overwhelm the frame and are contained. Yet, they still maintain an elegance with a slight halation around lights. While the lenses have a natural deep space due to their ultra wide-angle, with a 14-blade aperture when the bokeh is present it shines in beautiful circles that maintain their shape stopped down, with some starring occurring that adds to their cinematic character.
These lenses are available for rent at Cine Visuals. For inquiries or testing appointments email info@cinevisuals.com or call (323) 244-2552.
