Laowa has announced its brand-new Zero-D Shift Cine 20mm T4.1 and 15mm T4.8 lenses.
These are wide-angle shift lenses for full-frame and larger sensor-sized cameras and they feature an all-metal construction. Shift lenses are fairly niche, but they certainly can be very useful depending on what you are shooting.
I have been lucky enough to get the 20mm T4.1 on loan from Laowa to put through its paces. Laowa also has a 15mm T4.8 Shift Cine lens as well.
Why would you need to use a Shift Lens?
Shift lenses enable users to correct perspective distortion when capturing tall buildings or interiors, keeping vertical lines straight without tilting the camera. They help maintain balance and symmetry in complex scenes, including reflections and overlapping planes. The main reason you want to do this is to help eliminate most of the distortion to ensure straight lines are preserved from corner to corner.
You can ‘Shift’ the angle of view up to 117°.
Shift lenses also allow users to shoot in a 9×16 vertical format with minimal cropping, preserving most of the resolution. This is very handy if you need to shoot high-quality social media content.
You can also do shots closer to the ground by ‘shifting’ the lens down.
It is important to know that a Shift lens is different from a Tilt Shift lens and you shouldn’t confuse the two.
Image Circle Coverage
The image circle of the 20mm T4.1 is Ø65.2 mm to accommodate the shift function. This lens serves as a new and compelling option for large-format camera users. It covers RED V-Raptor 8K Vista Vision 17:9 (Ø46.31mm), Blackmagic URSA Cine 17K 65 (Ø65mm) & ARRI Alexa 65 (Ø59.86mm).
Close Focus Ability
The lens features a good close-focusing ability of 25cm / 9.94″ allowing you to shoot subjects up close. You could use this lens for some macro-style shots.
Optical Construction
The optical construction of the lens consists of 16 elements in 11 groups (2 aspherical glass elements, and 3 ED glass elements). There are 14 aperture blades.
Build Quality
The Shift Cine 20mm T4.1 is reasonably well made. The entire enclosure of the lens is made out of aluminum alloy.
Laowa has done a pretty good job when it comes to the build quilty, however, the release/lock dial that you use to adjust the Shift angle could be a little better. It is quite fiddly to use and operate.
The focus, iris, and Shift rings are reasonably well-weighted and they all feature industry-standard 0.8-pitch gears.
Covers Vista Vision Sensors
The lens will cover a massive 65.2mm image circle. This allows cinematographers to not only use the lens on full-frame sensors but also on Vista Vision sensors such as the ARRI Alexa LF (open-gate 44.7mm). I tried the lens on a Kinefinity MAVO LF in 6K Open Gate and I had no issues with any vignetting. It will also work without issues with cameras like the ARRI 265.
The lens is also ideal for Super35-sized camera owners. It is certainly a lens that you can use today and in the future if you decide to buy a camera with a larger sensor.
If you are going to buy a lens you really want it to last a long time and be able to use it on a multitude of cameras. What I like about PL mount lenses is that you can adapt them to just about any other mount that is out there.
As this is a manual focus lens, for me personally, it makes far more sense to buy this lens in PL mount regardless of what mount your camera is (unless it is Canon EF). It is easy to buy a PL adapter for most camera systems and then you can use this lens on more than just one camera platform.
Weight & Size
The lens weighs 1170g / 2.57′. This makes it usable on a wide array of different-sized cameras, from mirrorless hybrids to large digital cinema cameras.
Above you can see what it looks like on a small-sized digital cinema camera and a larger one.
Interchangeable Mounts
Designed for versatility, the Laowa 20mm T4.1 Shift Cine lens features interchangeable mounts, including EF, RF, E, Z, and L mounts. This ensures seamless compatibility with a wide range of camera systems, making it a versatile tool for any cinematographer.
Markings
The markings all line up pretty well. There are markings in feet on the operator’s side and meter markings on the non-operator side.
The Shift marking scale is easy to see.
How do you ‘Shift’ the lens?
Once you have loosened the securing dial on the lens you can then shift it by moving the ring closest to the lens that is located behind the aperture ring. You can shift the lens up and down and side to side.
There is also a a small lever that you engage to change the degrees.
Distortion
People tend to steer clear of using ultra-wide-angle lenses because of the extreme optical distortion they usually create. A good wide-angle lens should have no more than 2-4% distortion. The Zero-D Shift Cine 20mm T4.1 features a rectilinear design, which is claimed to render subjects with minimal distortion.
Laowa claims that they have been able to compress the distortion to very low levels.
With a good ultra-wide-angle lens, straight lines should remain straight. This doesn’t mean you won’t get what is called ‘perspective distortion’, but straight lines shouldn’t warp.
I was keen to do some tests to see just how little distortion there was. While you are always going to get ‘perspective distortion’ with ultra-wide lenses because of the extreme angle of view, you want to make sure that straight lines remain completely straight. Below in the Real World Performance section, you can see how the lens keeps straight lines straight.
It’s a specialty lens
Shift lenses are specialty lenses, and they really shouldn’t be overused. They are more for architecture, interiors, etc.
Perspective Distortion can actually be worse than bending lines if you don’t carefully compose and plan your shots. If objects or people are too close to the lens or too far out towards the edges of frame, you will get seriously bad ‘perspective distortion’.
If you angle your lens down or up too much, or if you are doing a tilt up or down you need to consider how much ‘perspective distortion’ you will introduce.
If you want the least amount of ‘perspective distortion’ possible, then you need to keep the lens perpendicular to your environment.
Sharpness
I set up a small test with the lens shooting full frame 6016 x 3172 on the Kinefinity MAVO LF. This was done to test center and edge sharpness at various T stops. The lens is reasonably sharp when used wide open at T4.1, but it gets slightly better if you stop it down to T5.6/T8.
The edge sharpness was a little softer when the lens was used wide open. This wasn’t of any real concern considering what the lens will be primarily used for.
Usability
Usability is a key component of any product, regardless of what it is. I was keen to see just how easy the lens was to use and if I experienced any operational issues.
The adjustments for making the shift can be a little fiddly to use as I mentioned previously, but given this is such a niche lens, I don’t think that is a deal breaker.
The focus and iris are nicely weighted and easy to use.
Real World Performance
I went out and got a few shots with the lens. I was just interested in seeing how much perspective distortion there was and if straight lines stayed straight, how the lens reacted to flare, and what I could and couldn’t use the lens for.
I shot open gate 4.6K on the ARRI Alexa 35.
The lens is pretty sharp, and straight lines do stay relatively straight. This is such a niche lens and that does make it somewhat hard to review.
It would work well for anyone who shoots in tight spaces where you can’t physically place your camera in a position that you want.
Other mounts available
The lens is available in PL mount (interchangeable to EF, RF, Z, L, & E)
Price
The Laowa Zero-D Shift Cine 20mm T4.1 retails for $1,999 USD.
Conclusion
This is a very niche lens, and it is only going to be of interest to certain shooters. It is good to see Laowa continue to make lenses that are different and a little unique.
Specifications
