The Laowa Sword Cine FF Macro Series features an extremely close focusing distance and a high level of magnification.
Laowa first showed a prototype of its Sword Cine FF Macro Series at IBC 2024 back in September.
There are 6 focal lengths in the series and they all feature a constant T2.9 aperture, except for the 180mm which is a T4.6
- 15mm T2.9
- 25mm T2.9
- 35mm T2.9
- 60mm T2.9
- 100mm T2.9
- 180mm T4.6
These are dedicated macro lenses and while a set is perhaps a little niche, they make a lot of sense if you are doing certain types of work at their price.
All of the lenses cover image circles of up to 43.2mm and are available in the following mounts:
- ARRI PL
- Canon EF
- Canon RF
- Sony E
- Nikon Z
- Leica L
Laowa also offers additional EF, E, Z, RF, and L mount bayonets for purchase separately.
For this review, I will just be looking at the 25mm T2.9 and the 180mm T4.6.
Macro Functionality
What makes the SWORD series reasonably unique is that, at least to my knowledge, they are one of only a handful of affordable sets of cine prime lenses with macro capabilities on the market.
Now, the caveat with most specialized macro lenses is that while you can use them as normal prime lenses, they often don’t perform well in that capacity.
Close Focus Ability
All of the focal lengths were designed to be able to focus fairly close to your subject. The magnification varies depending on the focal length.
Here are the magnification ratios for the lenses:
| MAGINFICATION | |
| 15mm T2.9 | 1:1 |
| 25mm T2.9 | 1:1 |
| 35mm T2.9 | 1:1 |
| 60mm T2.9 | 2:1 |
| 100mm T2.9 | 2:1 |
| 180mm T4.6 | 1.5:1 |
Below you can see what the minimum focusing distance is for each lens.
| CLOSEST FOCUSING DISTANCE | |
| 15mm T2.9 | 4.72″ / 12cm |
| 25mm T2.9 | 6.61″ / 16.8cm |
| 35mm T2.9 | 7.01″ / 17.8cm |
| 60mm T2.9 | 8.27″ / 21cm |
| 100mm T2.9 | 9.72″ / 24.7cm |
| 180mm T4.6 | 12.05″ / 30.6cm |
The lenses have extremely good close-focus ability.
Above you can see how close they can focus.
Below you can see a MOD comparison between the Laowa SWORD 25mm T2.9 and the CHIOPT SLASHER 24mm T2, Sirui Jupiter 24mm T2 Macro Cine lens, and DZOFilm Gnosis Macro Prime 24mm T2.8. I have also included the ARRI Ensō as another comparison.
| MOD | |
| Laowa SWORD 25mm T2.9 | 6.61″ / 16.8cm |
| CHIOPT SLASHER 24mm T2 | 9.05″ / 23cm |
| Sirui Jupiter 24mm T2 | 9.4″ / 23.87cm |
| DZOFilm Gnosis 24mm T2.8 | 6.1″ / 15.5cm |
| ARRI Ensō 24mm T2.1 | 9″ / 23cm |
Optical Construction
Below you can see what the optical construction is for all of the focal lengths.
| OPTICAL CONSTRUCTION | |
| 15mm T2.9 | 12 elements in 9 groups |
| 25mm T2.9 | 13 elements in 10 groups |
| 35mm T2.9 | 13 elements in 10 groups |
| 60mm T2.9 | 14 elements in 11 groups |
| 100mm T2.9 | 12 elements in 10 groups |
| 180mm T4.6 | 12 elements in 9 groups |
Weight & Size
The weight ranges from 640g / 1.41 lb to 957g / 2.10 lb depending on the focal length. This makes them pretty lightweight for cine lenses that cover full-frame sensors.
| WEIGHT | |
| 15mm T2.9 | 640g / 1.41 lb |
| 25mm T2.9 | 755g / 1.66 lb |
| 35mm T2.9 | 750g / 1.65 lb |
| 60mm T2.9 | 736g / 1.62 lb |
| 100mm T2.9 | 957g / 2.17 lb |
| 180mm T4.6 | 734g / 1.61 lb |
The lenses are small and light enough hat they could be used on anything from mirrorless hybrids all the way up to mid to larger-sized digital cinema cameras.
Below you can see how that weight compares to the CHIOPT SLASHER Macro lenses.
| WEIGHT | |
| CHIOPT SLASHER 24mm T2 | 1.2 kg / 2.64 lb |
| Laowa SWORD 25mm T2.9 | 755g / 1.66 lb |
| CHIOPT SLASHER 35mm T2 | 1.2 kg / 2.64 lb |
| Laowa SWORD 35mm T2.9 | 750g / 1.65 lb |
| CHIOPT SLASHER 50mm T2 | 1.2 kg / 2.64 lb |
| Laowa SWORD 60mm T2.9 | 736g / 1.62 lb |
| CHIOPT SLASHER 100mm T2.8 | 1.9kg / 4.18 lb |
| Laowa SWORD 100mm T2.9 | 957g / 2.17 lb |
Below you can see how that weight compares to the Sirui Jupiter T2 Macro Cine Prime Lenses.
| WEIGHT | |
| Laowa SWORD 24mm T2.9 | 755g / 1.66 lb |
| Sirui Jupiter 24mm T2 | 1.25 kg / 2.75 lb |
| Laowa SWORD 35mm T2.9 | 750g / 1.65 lb |
| Sirui Jupiter 35mm T2 | 1.15kg / 2.53 lb |
| Laowa SWORD 60mm T2.9 | 736g / 1.62 lb |
| Sirui Jupiter 50mm T2 | 1.06 kg / 2.33 lb |
Below you can see how that weight compares to the DZOFilm Gnosis Macro Prime Lenses.
| WEIGHT | |
| Laowa SWORD 24mm T2.9 | 755g / 1.66 lb |
| DZOFilm Gnosis 24mm T2.8 | 1.26 kg / 2.78 lb |
| Laowa SWORD 35mm T2.9 | 750g / 1.65 lb |
| DZOFilm Gnosis 32mm T2.8 | 1.46 kg / 3.22 lb |
| Laowa SWORD 60mm T2.9 | 736g / 1.62 lb |
| DZOFilm Gnosis 65mm T2.8 | 1.47 kg / 3.24 lb |
| Laowa SWORD 100mm T2.9 | 957g / 2.17 lb |
| DZOFilm Gnosis 95mm T2.8 | 1.28 kg / 2.82 lb |
Build Quality
The overall build quality is pretty good. The lenses are solidly made and there was nothing that I encountered that concerned me.
Markings
The lenses have markings on both the operator and non-operator sides.
The markings on the lenses are clear and concise.
As a comparison, above you can see how the DZOFilm Gnosis Macro Prime Lenses are marked.
Other Features
All of the lenses have an 80mm front diameter, except the 15mm T2.9 which is 100mm. The 15mm has a 95mm front filter thread, and the rest of the focal lengths have a 77mm front filter thread.
No Breathing?
I tested out the lens by doing reasonably large focus throws, and there is definitely some breathing, especially on the 25mm. With macro lenses, breathing isn’t arguably a huge deal with longer focal lengths, but with wider focal lengths it can be distracting. You will always see a lot more breathing at the macro level than when shooting objects that are further away.
No lens technically has zero breathing, but very good cinema glass has such minimal amounts that it is virtually impossible to see. What you will normally see is some perspective shift which is normal when refocusing a lens.
Image shift is the change in location of a fixed point after a focus rack. It should be in the same spot after you rack focus.
Perspective shift is the focal length of the lens being modified by the movement of the optics. A slight change in focal length may happen if there is a floating element that moves and is not properly corrected for in the design. Certainly, the great majority of lenses have this issue. It’s also tenths of a mm so not overly noticeable.
Focus breathing is a change in image size so the size of the object will get larger as it moves out of frame. That is reproduction size.
In summary, perspective shift is the effective focal length change (angle of view change) and focus shift is the reproduction size of the object changing as focus moves. Think of it like Macro. A macro lens can be 1:1 life-size reproduction but as you focus it can change the reproduction size. That is focus shift from intentional breathing design. The angle of view is not overly affected in that case because it is flat field focus. On spherical lenses, the angle of view does change slightly as you focus rack thus making for perspective/angle of view shift.
Fall off, Image Coverage & Vignetting
As the lenses cover a 43.2mm image circle, when you use it on a full-frame-sized sensor you get very good illumination across the entire image.
I didn’t see any vignetting when shooting 6K 17:9 full-frame on the Kinefinity MAVO LF.
Sharpness
The growing trend that is common with quite a few of the affordable cine zooms and primes these days is to come up with something that is a little more vintage, and that sometimes comes at the expense of sharpness. With macro lenses, you arguably don’t want too many vintage characteristics and poor optical performance as that gets amplified when looking at high-magnification images. Above you can see how the 25mm T2.9 and 180mm T4.6 performed when used at various T stops. All of the sharpness tests were captured in 6K DCI.
It came as no surprise that the 180mm was sharper than the 25mm. In saying that, the 25mm is still pretty sharp even when used wide open at T2.9, although it does improve once it is stopped down to T4/T5.6.
The 180mm T4.6 is very sharp, even when used wide open, although that doesn’t come as any big surprise as the maximum aperture of the lens is T4.6. Even when you crop in 300% the lens is still very sharp and it resolves a lot of fine detail. Stopping down the lens to T5.6/T8 offers a small improvement, but not by any large noticeable amount.
The corner sharpness of both lenses was also impressive.
As a comparison, above you can see how the Chiopt Slasher 24mm T2 and 100mm T2.8 lenses perform when used at various T stops.
Chromatic Aberration
Something you don’t want when shooting with macro lenses is chromatic aberration. The lenses have almost no real-world visible chromatic aberration. If you zoom into the image by 300% when used wide open at T2.8 you don’t see any color fringing on reflective surfaces and over-exposed areas. The lack of chromatic aberration is impressive for lenses at this price.
Bokeh
Nice bokeh is something everybody craves. The bokeh produced is reasonably round and there are no signs of onion rings. I quite liked the out-of-focus areas I could get and the separation the lenses were able to achieve.
Distortion
I did find that the 25mm has a tiny bit of barrel distortion, but it was very well controlled and of no real concern.
Color Tone
The SWORD macro Cine primes are fairly neutral when it comes to color tone. They may lean a little more toward cooler tones, but I wouldn’t say they are as cool as a Zeiss. The lenses are a little clinical in their look, but I don’t think that is a bad trait for dedicated macro lenses. What look you actually prefer from a lens is entirely going to come down to personal choice. What was nice to see is that all of the lenses in the series shared a common color tone.
The color tone of a lens is really something you should look at closely if you are going to be using both prime and zoom lenses from different manufacturers. Certain prime and zoom lenses work better together than others. What will work for you will also depend on what camera you are using.
Real World Thoughts
The Laowa SWORD Macro Cine Primes would be right at home on cameras such as the Sony FX6, FX9, VENICE, RED V-Raptor, ARRI ALEXA Mini LF, ARRI Amira, ARRI ALEXA 35, Canon C500 Mark II, Kinefinity MAVO LF, EDGE, etc. You could also use them on smaller-sized mirrorless hybrids given their low weight and compact size.
They really are specialized lenses and you need to clearly remember that they are specialty macro lenses and they perform a lot better as macro lenses than general primes. You can get some really tight and interesting macro shots using the lenses. The lenses are sharp, and they don’t show any signs of chromatic aberration.
I went and took some quick shots with the lenses and a Kinefinity MAVO LF to see how they performed in the real world.
Above you can see some footage captured with the lenses. I was primarily wanting to see what the macro capabilities were, and if it could be used wide open. I haven’t added any sharpness in post so you can see exactly what you get.
The overall optical performance of the lenses is very good. They are sharp, and have little to no chromatic aberration. However, as I mentioned earlier, they are specialty lenses and they will not perform as well as general-purpose primes.
Specifications
Price & Availability
The Laowa Sword Cine FF Macro Series retails for $1,499 USD each. You can get the 4-lens set (25/35/60/100mm) for $5,699 USD and the full set for $7,999 USD. This makes them competitively priced and very affordable for full-frame cine prime lenses.
Competition
There is only a handful of cine prime lens sets on the market that have macro capabilities.
Below are what I would consider the competition to the Laowa SWORD Cine FF Macro Series:
| PRICE (Each) | |
| Laowa SWORD Cine FF Macro Series | $1,499 USD |
| CHIOPT SLASHER Full-Frame Macro Cine Primes | $1,799 USD |
| Sirui Jupiter T2 Full Frame Macro Cine Lenses | $699 USD |
| DZOFilm Gnosis Macro Prime Lenses | $4,599 USD |
The closest competition to the Laowa SWORD series is arguably the CHIOPT SLASHER series.
Other competition comes in the form of the Sirui Jupiter T2 Full Frame Macro Cine 3-Lens Set (PL Mount). This set consists of 24, 35, and 50mm T2 lenses and it retails for $2,799 USD.
The DZOFilm Gnosis Macro Prime Lenses which feature up to 1:25 magnification could also be considered competition. Those lenses come on focal lengths of 24mm, 32mm, 65mm, and 90mm and they come in ARRI LPL mount, but DZOFilm also includes user-interchangeable ARRI PL and Canon EF mounts.
The DZOFilm Gnosis Macro Prime Lenses are considerably more expensive than the Laowa SWORD series and they retail for $4,599 USD each.
Conclusion
In the last few years, the market has been flooded with more affordable cine lenses, which is a good thing for the end user because competition is intense and prices have continued to fall. The downside to this is that deciding what lenses are right for you has become harder and harder given all the options that are available.
It is good to see Laowa doing something slightly different, in saying that, making a set of macro cine prime lenses is not something that hasn’t been done before. However, Laowa has made a comprehensive set of 6 lenses which no one is doing at this price, but in saying that, macro primes are a very niche item. They are more of a rental item than something an owner/operator would purchase, but that does depend on the type of work you do.
The lenses are optically very sound and they are solidly made for options at this price. They are nice and sharp and as I mentioned earlier, there are no signs of any real-world chromatic aberration. If you are looking for a very affordable set of macro cine primes then they are certainly worth considering.
