Laowa has now officially announced the 65mm T2.4 and 80mm T2.4 Nanomorph Super 35mm compact cinema lenses. We got to see these lenses first-hand in Las Vegas earlier this year at NAB 2023.
The lenses add to Laowa’s existing 27mm T2.8, 35mm T2.4, and 50mm T2.4 lenses (buy here) in the Nanomorph range and flesh out the lineup quite nicely. The two new lenses, though, are launching on Indiegogo.
Laowa Nanomorph – Built for Super 35mm
Above, you can see the video from our visit to the Laowa stand at NAB 2023 in April. They join three existing Nanomorph primes to create a five-lens set that covers the focal length range from 27mm to 80mm quite nicely.
The Nanomorph series is designed for Super 35mm, which means it’ll cover the sensors of APS-C mirrorless cameras. Laowa says they’re the most compact and lightweight S35 telephoto anamorphic lenses ever made and ideal for lightweight run & gun situations.
1.5x Anamorphic squeeze ratio in three flare options
Both the 65mm and 80mm T2.4 Nanomorph lenses offer a 1.5x anamorphic squeeze. Laowa says that the squeeze ratio is also maintained throughout the focus distance range of each lens. There are three flare options of blue, amber or a neutral silver, which matches with the three 27mm, 35mm and 50mm Nanomorph lenses.
The compact set seems ideally suited to lightweight setups. You could use them handheld (with good IS), on a shoulder rig, gimbal, slider or other size-constrained and lightweight support systems. Laowa says they’re light enough that you can potentially mount them to a drone.
Laowa 65mm & 80mm T2.4 Nanomorph Specs
The specs for the two lenses haven’t been released yet. But there are a few things we know from our previous interview.
Like the rest of the Nanomorph series, the two new lenses will feature the same unified gear positions. This allows for easy lens swapping without having to adjust motors and follow focus units. They both use industry-standard MOD 0.8 gears.
They have a 55mm filter thread on the front. This gives a wide range of filter options, allowing you to use all kinds of matte boxes or larger 77mm and 82mm screw-on filters with step-up rings.
The company offers various interchangeable mount options, including Arri PL, Canon EF, Canon RF, DJI DL, Fuji X, Leica L, Micro Four Thirds, Nikon Z and Sony E. These extra mount choices are optional extras if you want to buy the kit and mod it yourself. But if you’re regularly using multiple systems, it’s cheaper than buying multiple copies of the same lens.
Laowa 1.33x Anamorphic Adapter
As well as the two new lenses, Laowa is also announcing a new 1.33x Anamorphic Adapter. The adapter appears to screw onto the front end of a lens, and in the sample image above, they show it attaching to the 80mm T2.4 1.5x Anamorphic lens, which would result in about a 2x total squeeze ratio.
You don’t have to use this with anamorphic lenses, though. The whole point of it is to be able to adapt your regular rectilinear lenses. But, exactly which lenses and focal lengths it’ll really be compatible with currently remains unknown.
Price and Availability
This is where things get a bit stuck. The lenses are launching via Indiegogo. The campaign isn’t live yet, though. It’s expected to launch on August 29th, although no prices for either the 65mm T2.4 or 85mm T2.4 lenses, or the 1.33x anamorphic adapter have been released.
When we spoke to Laowa at NAB 2023, the lenses were said to be right around $1,000 per lens. Whether the final price will be close to that, and how much the campaign will discount those prices are currently unknown.
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