Laowa OOOM 25-100mm T/2.9 Cine Zoom – Interview and First Footage

by Adam PlowdenSeptember 28^th, 2018

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The Laowa OOOM 25-100mm T/2.9 is the brands first venture into the super 35 cine-zoom arena, with parfocal zoom and fixed wide aperture.

Laowa is well known for innovative lenses (we recently reviewed their 24mm Macro Probe Lens), and this cine zoom lens is no different. It is the first lens of its kind from the brand, and it seems that lots of thought has gone into its features and performance. We checked out the lens at Photokina and shot some sample footage with it too, however, the lens is still a prototype at this stage. But first, the name. OOOM stands for ‘Out Of Our Minds’, which, according to Laowa, is representing a new direction into innovative lenses from the brand.

Stay Bright With a Constant T/2.9 Aperture

For cinematography, having a constant wide aperture across the zoom range is desired, and something only found in considerably higher end (and more expensive) cine zooms. There are 9 aperture blades in the OOOM 25-100mm T/2.9, resulting in a soft, round bokeh, while retaining sharpness wide open. The closest competitor lenses are from FUJINON (MK series) and ZEISS ( LWZ.3 21-100).

The focus, zoom and iris rings all have standard 0.8 mod/32 pitch gears, so they can be controlled independently using a manual or remote system. This means the lens can be fully integrated into existing cine lens setups. The focus barrel has a rotation of 270 degrees, an average rotation resulting in smooth pull focuses, but of course that means a follow focus system is required.

The Laowa OOOM lens will be available in PL and Canon EF mount, but this didn’t stop us using a PL to E-mount adapter to film the footage with a Sony a7 III. PL lenses can be adapted easily using 3rd party adapters like a Metabones EF-E, so although the lens will only be made in PL and EF mount for now, it does make the lens somewhat camera mount agnostic.

As expected, with the 20 elements in 16 groups, the lens was heavy (2.6kg in weight), it’s not exactly light enough for run and gun style shooting, but it could be used for that kind of filming when supported and rigged correctly.

Here are the specs of the Laowa OOOM 25-100mm T/2.9 cine zoom lens:

• Super 35 sensor coverage
• Maximum aperture of T/2.9
• Minimum aperture of T/22
• Minimum focus distance of 2 feet/70cm.
• Angle of view of 64 degrees to 18 degrees.
• 9 aperture blades.
• Available in PL and Canon EF mounts.
• 20 elements in 16 groups
• Weighing 2.6kg/5.7lbs

The Laowa OOOM 25-100mm T/2.9 lens is still in its prototype stage, so at present there isn’t any information on pricing. However, unlike the 24mm snorkel macro lens that was crowdfunded, this will be available to purchase through retailers.

If the Laowa OOOM 25-100mm T/2.9 cine zoom is at the right price, would you consider investing in the lens? What other lenses would you like to see in the OOOM lineup from Laowa? Let us know in the comments.