This Is an Incredibly Unusual Lens, But Would You Buy It?

Anyone who has read even a few of my articles will know just how much I love unique lenses; if they have some character and unusual results, I'm all in. So, what is this lens and why has Matti Haapoja called it "the most unique lens" he's ever used?

I know what you wanted when you clicked this article — the same thing I did when I clicked the video: the name of the lens. Well, there is a series and they are DZOFilm PAVO anamorphic lenses. There is a 100mm, 75mm, 55mm, 40mm, 32mm, and 28mm, and in case you resisted clicking that link, I'll let you know right now: they're expensive. Each lens is $5,499 and has interchangeable PL/EF mounts.

The look is about as polarizing as you can get; you'll see some worship the swirly bokeh like mana from the gods, and some will claim it's nauseating and vile. Not to mention the many people who are completely indifferent to its charms. I'm somewhere between mana and indifferent; I'm not going to spend $5,499 on one — that's for sure — because I doubt I'd put it to use often enough and I also think the effect isn't far off being replicated accurately in post, but I do want one. I'd love to break it out during a particularly creative and open project.

What do you make of this series of lenses? Are you interested?

Rob Baggs's picture

Robert K Baggs is a professional portrait and commercial photographer, educator, and consultant from England. Robert has a First-Class degree in Philosophy and a Master's by Research. In 2015 Robert's work on plagiarism in photography was published as part of several universities' photography degree syllabuses.

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2 Comments

Obviously not at that price per lens, I could never justify it. The problem with these lenses, to create the swirly effect, you have to use the lenses wide open which doesn't make for great videos if used all of the time. I usually stop down lenses a lot for video to allow more room for people to move and to stop the background being totally blurred out. The blurry bokeh effect really doesn't look great to me on video. It's just bokeh porn for the filmmakers.