Anamorphic is now available to practically everyone. Before these lenses and camera systems were out of reach for your everyday filmmaker. Now, there are tons of relatively affordable options available – enough that you might need some help finding the right one for you.
Anamorphic on a Budget has been dedicated to producing content specifically for this new breed of anamorphic filmmakers and their latest video is all about affordable glass.
They run through a ton of different lenses, like Sirui, Vazen, SLR Magic, and more so that you can truly understand the differences and hopefully make a good choice as you look for your next lens.
So, who made the cut:
- Sirui 1.33x Anamorphic Lenses (APS-C/S35)
- Vazen 1.8x Anamorphic Lenses (MFT)
- SLR Magic 1.33x Anamorphot-CINE Lenses (APS-C/S35 or FF depending on focal length)
- SLR Magic 2x Anamorphot-CINE Lenses (MFT)
- Lomo Square Front 2x Anamorphic Lenses (APS-C/S35)
- Atlas Orion Series 2x Anamorphic Lenses (APS-C/S35)
- Iscorama 36 1.5x Anamorphic Adapter
To fairly compare all these lenses they opted for a Z CAM E2-F6. The main benefit here is that you can swap out the mount so that they could use the same sensor for all the tests. The setup has everything you might want to check out in the test. It has lights in the background, a person centered as the main setup, and shots taken at a variety of apertures.
Showing all of this footage in one video would be too much, so they put all the tests up on lens-cyclopedia. There you can find and directly compare footage from each of the lenses in the shootout. It’s a 2×2 grid of videos with drop-down menus to make it very easy to see anything you want side-by-side.
Image Credit: Vazen
The tools is well designed and after you select all the lenses you want to check out you can simply hit the master play button at the bottom to start them all in sync.
Each video goes through various angles on the subject as well as panning and tilting to check out distortion. They do some rack focuses and more. It is an in-depth test of all of the glass on display.
One of the best parts may just be the lens flares section. Considering how significant these are in anamorphic filmmaking (and how fun they are) this is an enjoyable and interesting watch. Every brand seems to try their own thing when it comes to flare.
Image Credit: SLR Magic
A lens chart was shot as well so that a bit more technical analysis of the footage can be watched. A good decision was made to shoot everything using a full-frame image area. That way you can check out the actual image circle and vignetting of each lens. Edges can vary quite dramatically from the center and seeing them in their entirety is helpful. There are some guides for crop formats.
This is far from every anamorphic lens out there and it sounds like over time they hope to add more and more lenses to the comparison. If you are at all interested in anamorphic lenses you should check out this shootout.
[source: Anamorphic on a Budget]
Order Links:
- Sirui 24mm f/2.8 1.33x Anamorphic Lens (B&H, Amazon)
- Sirui 35mm f/1.8 1.33x Anamorphic Lens (B&H, Amazon)
- Sirui 50mm f/1.8 1.33x Anamorphic Lens (B&H, Amazon)
- Sirui 75mm f/1.8 1.33x Anamorphic Lens (B&H, Amazon)
- Vazen 28mm T2.2 1.8x Anamorphic Lens (B&H)
- Vazen 40mm T2 1.8x Anamorphic Lens (B&H, Amazon)
- Vazen 65mm T2 1.8x Anamorphic Lens (B&H, Amazon)
- SLR Magic 35mm T2.4 1.33x Anamorphot-CINE Lens (B&H)
- SLR Magic 50mm T2.8 1.33x Anamorphot-CINE Lens (B&H)
- SLR Magic 70mm T4 1.33x Anamorphot-CINE Lens (B&H)
- SLR Magic 35mm T2.4 2x Anamorphot-CINE Lens (B&H)
- SLR Magic 50mm T2.8 2x Anamorphot-CINE Lens (B&H)
- SLR Magic 70mm T4 2x Anamorphot-CINE Lens (B&H)
- Z CAM E2-F6 Cinema Camera (B&H)
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate partner and participant in B&H and Adorama Affiliate programmes, we earn a small comission from each purchase made through the affiliate links listed above at no additional cost to you.
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