A Day in Deland: Testing the Laowa Nanomorph Zoom Lenses
Laowa approached me to test out their ground-breaking Anamorphic Zoom lenses...you hear that right, Anamorphic ZOOM lenses. They sent me a pair of these new lenses, the 28-55mm T2.9 and 50-100mm T2.9.
I chose to go with the silver flare models. I wanted to film some initial test footage before using them on a client project so I took them on a short day trip to a small town in central florida by the name of Deland.
Interesting trivia that I learned while I was there: Deland was purposefully made to NOT look a typical Florida city so that movie studios would be attracted to Deland to film their productions in Deland. They removed all Palm trees from the city center. Pair this with the historic brick buildings and small town vibes, I think they could fool just about anyone into thinking Deland could be anywhere in the United States.
Back to the lenses. I found that the Laowa Nanomorph Zoom lenses were a joy to shoot with. They have a 1.5X squeeze factor, so the usual anamorphic characteristics like oval bokeh and horizontal lense flares aren't overpowering.
The silver flare model takes on the flare color of the light source, which is something I tend to prefer. They're a bit on the sharp side, which is surprising considering they're both zoom lenses AND anamorphic lenses. They're also parfocal, which is a must for any cinema zoom lenses.
I'll be doing a full review on my YouTube channel shortly so stay tuned.