focusMechanism

singleFocus

featuredImage

Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/OdlxWE

Achieves best performance on apertures slower than f/4. Shows lots of mumps on the sides when paired with wider lenses.

I had more fun than I originally anticipated with the Aivascope. Image quality works great for slower apertures and smaller sensors - I shot all of this on a S35 crop on the A7s2 - but once you start to move towards faster apertures, the image crumbles and we get a lot of streaking, blooming and diamond bokeh, it's hard to tell what's in focus. The lens also introduces super intense distortion, particularly noticeable while panning and wider taking lenses close to vignetting. It's somewhat of the same effect of the Kowa B&H at 58mm. This makes the Aivascope an excellent candidate for processing with the Anamorphic Mumps Corrector in an attempt to even out the frame a little more. In these tests I was also using the Focuser 8, which is the single focus duo for the Aivascope - review coming later.

The Aivascope is a tiny, baby, 1.75x scope based off the Baby Hypergonar, which was designed for 8mm film. It weights mere 149g, less than half a pound and it's not even two inches tall. Made by Valdas Misevicius in Lithuania, this first generation of the Aivascope was a bit of wild card, never achieving lots of love but still staying away from all the hate. The small body makes it a great contender for the GH5 and it allows for tiny, portable, rigs.

It came with this easy to handle clamp that combines screws and threads, which makes it super easy to mount and align, featuring 52mm rear threads and 52mm front threads for diopters and filters.

The Aivascope originally sold for around $800 and now you can only get it in the used market, since Valdas moved on to make an improved version of the lens which is considerably more expensive - and it's also NOT the one covered here today.

Image quality was ok at f/5.6 and slower, but you can hardly tell these little letters apart when we're at f/1.4 or 2. You can also notice the quality drops fast at the edges and this "blur falloff" comes quite far towards the center. The Aivascope also doesn't love long lenses and my best performers were 35 and 50mm.

For everything the Aivascope lacks in image quality, it makes up for it in flares. These are some of the most awesome flares I've ever seen since I got into anamorphics. The yellow is super uncommon and the streaks really blend with the frame. It just works for me.

As for vignetting, we get a bit of vignetting at 28mm, but it clears 35mm on S35, which equals 50mm on Full Frame - and that's pretty impressive for a 1.75x stretch. Still, the edges are warpy.

Overall, I was not expecting this much from the tiny Aivascope, it was fun to shoot with it, there's no extra rings that require fiddling for optimal image quality, it has its own single focus solution, the Focuser 8, and I don't think it quite matches the Baby Hypergonar in performance, but still a nice addition to the 1.75x options out there.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/aivascope.jpg

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/aivascope_1.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/aivascope_2.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/aivascope_3.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/aivascope_4.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/aivascope_5.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/aivascope_6.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/tQchPc

The housing is plastic and hand-made. Focusing takes careful precision. Hard to find, and not really worth the hassle.

Adriano Apefos' original development thread is here: http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/4560/apefos-scoperama-anamorphic-adapter-development-topic/p1

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/apefoscope.jpg

Variable Diopter

https://atlaslensco.com/shop/

114mm front diameter

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/atlas100.jpg

Variable Diopter

https://atlaslensco.com/shop/

114mm front diameter

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/atlas32.jpg

Variable Diopter

https://atlaslensco.com/shop/

I am unable to lie: I had a blast shooting with the Orion 40mm. This was actually my first time using a proper cine anamorphic lens and it changed many things on how I perceive anamorphic shooting. First of all, 40mm with 2x scope is incredibly wide. I am used to shoot with both eyes open – one eye in the viewfinder for focusing and the other eye on my surroundings for moving around. This was the first time I felt a lens was just as wide as my natural field of view.

One might think a wide angle is good for establishing shots but the close focus capabilities of this lens allowed me to make some of my most interesting close up shots, showing a fair amount of background along with my subject.

I shot all the footage using both the Sony A7s2 and Panasonic GH5, and while the GH5 has its own anamorphic mode, the Sony offered no support, making an external monitor key to framing. Due to gear incompatibility and form factor (I wanted to stay as small and light as possible) I ended up shooting everything handheld. Handheld as in camera + lens + (sometimes) monitor on the hot shoe mount.

This made for some really shaky shots every once in a while, a huge arm workout, wobbliness in some of the footage, and the ability of stuff the camera in my backpack when I was not shooting. Not to mention every rack focus shot was a finger workout.

Even though the lens can go to T2, I found my sweet spot to be between T2.8 and T4 for best out-of-focus areas and decent sharpness that I could boost in post-production without hurting the footage.

If I had the money right now, I would not bat an eye investing in one of these. Even among the whole Orion lineup I feel the 40mm is the most versatile and interesting focal length. I shot for full two weeks with it and never felt I needed a longer or wider lens.

What are the downsides of the Orion 40mm then? Some people claim it is a really soft lens, but that was not my experience. Sure, at T2 things get a bit mushy, but no lens is super sharp wide open. I was doing great at T2.8 and I feel the lens loses its magic past T5.6 because the background starts to blend with your subject in terms of sharpness. Bokeh feels strange at times and flares are quite saturated. Those two aspects do not bother me, but they might be red flags for other shooters.

The first thing I noticed when I picked up the case with the lens is that this baby is HEAVY. It is a solid cup of metal filled with thick slabs of glass. At 2.2kg (5lbs), the Orion 40mm made both the Sony A7s2 and Panasonic GH5 feel like little toys.

Not only heavy, the lens is also pretty big: 18.9cm (7.4″) in length with a 114mm (4.5″) front, a standard value for cinema lenses, making it compatible with countless filters and matteboxes. The gigantic front made me work extra hard to find perfect lighting, unable to rely on a variable ND.

Speaking of adapters and lens mounts, the Orions come in PL mount by default, with an optional EF mount at extra cost. The one I used was already fitted with an EF mount. If you are swapping mounts you will end up using a handful of shims (provided by Atlas Lens Co.) to adjust your flange distance properly. I have heard from a few different sources (including a rental house) this is a time consuming challenge, especially because it is hard to spot critical focus when the lens is wide open and tell if you have the perfect distance between the lens mount and the camera sensor.

Focus goes from infinity down to 0.56m (2ft) at minimum focus, with 300 degrees of throw and markings in both feet and meters. Iris ranges between T2 and T16, featuring 14 aperture blades for smooth bokeh. As one would expect from a cine lens, both rings are geared for motors/follow focus. The lens does not change size while focusing since all the movement is internal, that also means the front does not rotate, which is great (#iscoramaFlaws).

There is a fair amount of focus breathing, widening your field of view by about 5% when focused at infinity compared to minimum focus. It is not a big deal on most shots, but if you have a big rack focus you will definitely feel it. 5% at 40mm 2x Anamorphic is a pretty big deal as you can see.

At T2 the Orion is quite soft but you can still tell critical focus and read small text even 3m away. There is lots of blooming on all highlights in the center, intensified by purple fringing on high contrast edges. The blooming and fringing dials down towards the edges, where we see the usual loss of sharpness and considerable light falloff – about a half stop. The text is still pretty readable though.

As we stop down to T2.8 – which is my favorite stop for this lens – the blooming goes away and the purple tinge is put under control. The image is not as sharp as T5.6 or 11, but calling this lens soft at this point seems like ignorance. The corners are still quite unsharp, not much improvement over T2, and just a bit darker – less than a quarter stop. The subtle light falloff and softness in the corners at this point contribute to creating mood in the shots, narrowing attention to the subject and not to over-detailed corners.

Speaking of detail, the lens is sharp from T5.6 onwards. Corners improve noticeably with just tiny smudges at the very edges and very little light falloff. Not much changes as you stop down from there, as we can see from T11. Sharpness still goes up a touch, making it sharp edge to edge and light distribution across the frame is the biggest difference at this point, with much more uniform values from center to corner. The one odd thing is, at minimum focus (0.6m) we start to see yellow/blue fringing on high contrast edges at the corners of the frame which were not there at faster stops and are not quite visible when the lens is placed further away.

With a horizontal field of view equivalent of a 20mm lens, it is expected that the Orion 40mm shows some warping on straight lines. Anamorphic distortion is a big deal and it greatly contributes to making shots more immersive, creating an extra layer of depth onto a two-dimensional image. Below is an animated grid going from rectilinear to the the Orion’s distortion profile. Notice how the vertical lines have very little movement compared to the horizontal ones.

The Orion’s streak flares are a rich, saturated blue which, honestly, is a stone’s throw from SLR Magic’s flares. I like it because this blue is such a specific hue it can easily be picked in post-production and adjusted to my liking – including color changes to some extent. You can also see some teal elements reflected in there as well as a short vertical streak that adds more dimension to the overall anamorphic flare.

The blue gives good sci-fi vibes – since sci-fi and blue flares are in a tight knit connection since Alien (1979). We also see some rainbows when the light source is up close to the lens and, all in all, blooming is pretty controlled for having a light source pointed directly at the lens.

On such wide angle, the flare becomes smaller and smaller as I walk away from the camera, meaning that if you want bigger flares from far away you should work on getting some big and strong light sources (did anyone say M18?).

When I was testing for bokeh looking at a Christmas tree, everything looked great. But I noticed it can have a strange shape at times – I like to call it snowman bokeh, although it looks more like a bell-shape – and you can see it in the video at the top of this post between 0:35 and 0:55. I do not know what causes it. In other scenarios, as bokeh approaches the edges of the frame it starts to get cut off into triangle and bean shapes.

From my empirical observations, this has to do with the placement of the highlights and the focused distance. On close-ups these strange shapes almost never show up, but as soon as I started to get further from my subject, bokeh would get messy.

All of this to say that you can get amazing bokeh with the Orion 40mm – but you can also end up with some less-than-perfect ovals. Speaking of ovals, I noticed the stretched bokeh is not quite oval. Here is a quick comparison between the lens’ actual bokeh versus what an oval would be. If anything, the Orion has even more streched out-of-focus highlights, contributing for extra waterfall effect and subject separation.

According to the data sheet on Atlas’ website – also shown at the beginning of this post – the Orions cover a 31mm image circle. What does that mean? In quick terms, it means you are fine shooting with any S35 sensor (24.89 x 18.6mm), ARRI Alexa, all the way up to the 4:3 3.4K Open Gate mode (23.76 x 17.82mm) and RED Gemini (30.72 x 18mm), 5K 6:5 Full Height (21.6 x 18mm), the best RED camera for anamorphic shooting.

In my situation, the GH5 was absolutely fine with the 4:3 Anamorphic Open Gate mode even with the focal reducer attached. The interesting bit was to realize I could shoot fine on the Sony A7s2 if I was outputting a 2.40:1 crop using the center of the frame.

After a few days of looking at clips, creating distortion maps, analyzing flares and bokeh, drawing diagrams and interpreting charts, I like this 40mm better than when I had only my thoughts.

I can now notice and point out hard evidence of features I love about this lens and also be on the watch for its limitations. I am pleased by its distortion and focal length – 40mm is unattainable with 2x adapters. It allows for very strong compositions. Bokeh could be cleaner when we look at the snowman and triangular shapes and, if I am to be very nitpicky, flares could be less vivid for a “straight out of camera delivery” type of situation.

It is unfair to compare a cine anamorphic lens to adapters but I will do it anyway! The amount of time and stress I saved by having a single piece of gear to connect to the camera and head out to shoot made a huge impact on the images I produced. You can look at my previous videos and the tests on this post to compare. I had time to get perfect exposure, I was able to plan a shoot for magic hour and actually get it, I shot some pretty spontaneous stuff too which would have been impossible had I spent ten minutes fiddling with an adapter rig.

I know I am not the only one that struggles with adapters, especially at the beginning of any shoot and this is where cinema gear makes a difference and justifies its price tag. Skip alignment checks, clamp quirks, diopters and skip triple testing that every piece of the optical chain is in focus (check infinity on taking lens, check infinity on anamorphic, check focus on variable strength diopter). All of these things are already built into the Orion – or any cine lens for that matter.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/atlas40.jpg

Variable Diopter

https://atlaslensco.com/shop/

114mm front diameter

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/atlas50.jpg

Variable Diopter

https://atlaslensco.com/shop/

114mm front diameter

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/atlas65.jpg

Variable Diopter

https://atlaslensco.com/shop/

114mm front diameter

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/atlas80.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/TUsnKe

Very large, very heavy. Lens coating can degrade and yellow while aging.

B&Ls have either a black body with a silver locking ring, or a silver body with a red locking ring. The black ones were the later models, and it is reported their coatings do not yellow/age as quickly as the earlier models. Discoloration over time is inherent due to the B&L coating manufacture, exacerbated if the lens was used with a xenon projection lamp. The date the elements were ground is stamped on the inside edge of the front element, if you hold lens at a right angle and observe the element’s edge it is usually faintly visible.

Galileo Anamorfico

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/baushlombi.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/ifOKMI

Low chromatic aberration. Fairly soft, even softer at edges

Too heavy to be trusted with a threaded clamp.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/bhfilmorama.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

Variable Diopter

FjhGM74AGUM,8pf7RiJv9HY

https://ebay.us/ZxQrKy

I dislike projection lenses. They're usually too heavy and bulky and yield poor results. This is not the Kowa B&H, but the OTHER Bell & Howell anamorphic lens. The long and weird-looking one. Not exactly light, at 500g, the Bell & Howell has a unique feature among projection lenses: it is a single focus 2x stretch adapter. Set your taking lens to infinity and do all the work on the anamorphic.

Here come the drawbacks: this lens doesn't focus to infinity, only to about 12m, and original minimum focus is at 2.4m, with almost three full turns of the focus ring. You can tweak it by loosening the two limiting screws on the head. Even though the focus throw becomes completely laughable (almost five complete turns), it focuses down to 0.6m without any diopters.

The front threads are very close to standard 55mm, but not quite, so I just taped a 55-58mm step ring to it and everything works great. The back is also very important in terms of threading: you want to make sure you're getting one of these that has the silver ring screwed to the back of it. This ring is the key to mounting the Bell & Howell to other lenses since it has Series 7 threads and you can get cheap Series 7 to filter thread adapters. Due to its shape and size, I would strongly recommend using lens support.

Definitely NOT a knife-sharp killer, but decent enough for a lens that you can get for two hundred bucks. Holds up pretty nicely even when the taking lens is wide open and improves considerably as you stop it down (which worsens vignetting). It's particularly fidgety regarding the taking lens' infinity position, so test a nudge under infinity and see if the image quality improves. For me it made noticeable of difference.

The most natural looking and smooth blue flares I've ever seen - and that teal tinge, oh man... Flares are, by far, one of strongest aspects about this adapter. I even got a coated taking lens so only the Bell & Howell's flares would be showing.

Due to its long body, small optics and 2x stretch, the Bell & Howell vignettes easily. On full frame, for a Cinemascope crop you need to be over 85mm and for full sensor coverage, at least 120mm. Using the A7s2 crop mode (2.2x), I was able to get a clear 2.4:1 crop at 40mm and full sensor at 50mm.

The first thing I concluded when testing this lens for real is that single focus is worth nothing if you have to twist the focus ring a thousand times to rack just a couple of meters. Also, the taking lens infinity setting is much more fidgety than expected, with constant back and forth to find the optimal position. As for low-light, you CAN get sharp images at fast apertures, it's just a very hard challenge if there's any movement in the scene, requiring focus adjustments. The infinity setting on the B&H is also not so great, because past a certain distance things start to become smudgy. The flares are beautiful on real life, though. The one trick I wasn't expecting to work was when I put a diopter in front of it and things sharpened up nicely. In my opinion, the best shots in this test were made with the diopter attached.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/bhprojection.jpg

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/bhprojection_1.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/bhprojection_2.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/bhprojection_3.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/bhprojection_4.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/bhprojection_5.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/17utGt

The Möller 32/1.5x version of this lens is almost identical to the Bolex-Möller version, just changing the coatings to neutral colors, which reflect neutral flares.

WOW, this lens is sharp. As soon as I mounted it and went out to test I knew they were worth their high price. I used a Rectilux HCDNA to make the system single focus and due to the smaller size of the Bolex (especially when compared to 2x projection lenses), I almost couldn't lock it to the HCDNA using the original screws, and benefited from reduced vignetting when compared to bigger scopes. I was able to easily run and gun and nail some pretty intense shots due to focus being so clear. By the way, do you also know anyone that bikes in the snow? Bokeh looks amazing and oval, which was a surprise due to the lesser 1.5x stretch factor and the flares are gorgeous. Aaah, can I keep one of these?

In years playing with anamorphics I had never actually seen one of these lenses. They're fairly large, or at least larger than I expected, but not bulky. It's one of those lenses that have the perfect size and weight for what they do. For reference, they weigh 370g each.

Focus throw is long, just like the Iscorama, almost full circle, and it comes down to just under 1m (3ft). Oddly enough, these ones extended when focused to infinity and became shorter at minimum focus. I've heard different stories from other users, so if you have any insight, please leave a comment below!

The back has non-standard threads, which require clamps. Redstan makes some fine clamps for the Bolex and Rapido also offers some great options. From there you can find your alignment through the flares. The front has regular 62mm threads, which saves you some money buying another clamp. Just step rings will do.

If you're already in love and desperate for one of these, I have bad news. They only show up eventually and their prices are pretty high. The latest I saw was between $2000 and 2500, not too far behind of an Iscorama - even closer when you add the cost of a single focus solution.

Image quality of the Bolex is insane. This adapter goes hand in hand with any taking lens you pick, never hindering its resolving power, no matter the aperture. Corners are also quite good, as long as you don't push it to vignetting. When we compare the Bolex to the Moller it's easy to see the Bolex has better coatings and contrast, but IQ doesn't change much between them.

Flares are purple/blue on the Bolex, which is quite sci-fi and modern, but not too much. This is like the exact opposite of the Iscorama in terms of color tone, but the same when it comes too mood. Due to different coatings, the Moller has neutral flares, which take on the color of your light source. Not a common trait these days and it's directly related to the lesser contrast we saw in the previous test.

When it comes to vignetting, the two are the same, clearing dark corners just over 50mm on full frame. The Rectilux HCDNA makes vignetting a bit more intense, requiring slightly longer lenses to clear the entire shot. It's not too bad, and you'll be fine if you're going for a 2.4:1 crop instead of the whole 2.66:1.

These are two of the best adapters I've ever played with, the Bolex taking the superior edge here over the Moller. I can understand why their users love them so much and the cult that exists around them. I wouldn't think much if given the choice between a Kowa B&H and a Bolex Moller.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/bolex1632.jpg

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/bolex1632_1.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/bolex1632_2.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/bolex1632_3.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/bolex1632_4.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/bolex1632_5.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/bolex1632_6.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/vbxnZk

Outstanding image quality.

Rear threads are fine (0.5) pitch.

Made for 8mm cameras, the Möller 19/1.5x version of this lens is optically identical to the Bolex-Möller version, but it changes the coatings to a neutral color, which affects lens flares.

Baby Möller, Möller 19/1.5x

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Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/bBp7ff

Baby anamorphic. Interesting mount system suggests a dedicated taking lens. Recessed rear.
Non-rotating front. Focus markings in feet.

Front threads are fine (0.5) pitch.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/canonc8.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

Century Precision Optics

https://ebay.us/uxeM03

Poor image quality with big apertures or longer lenses. Soft edges. Consider: this lens was made to work at effective full frame apertures of f/7 to f/12+, once you apply 1/3" or 2/3" sensor crop factor to the usual f1.8 aperture on camcorders

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/centuryds1609-37.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

Century Precision Optics

https://ebay.us/uxeM03

Today we’re talking about the Century Optics 16:9 anamorphic adapter. This little bugger goes by many names and brands, all of them almost equal regarding their strengths and weaknesses.

They were made during the 90s, when the 16:9 aspect ratio was becoming popular but there were still a large amount of good 4:3 video cameras around. Made by Optex, Soligor and mostly Century Optics, these adapters have a 1.33 squeeze factor that converts 4:3 into 16:9. Fortunately for us, 16:9 becomes 2.35:1, our beloved Cinemascope aspect ratio.

Since there was a plethora of cameras with different mounts around, these little adapters have regular threads such as 37 and 58mm but also some strange bayonet mounts. The one I’m using now is the most desired 58mm version, but check below for a quick and dirty tutorial of how to adapt threads into a bayo mounted Century! Unfortunately, they don’t have front threads, but Redstan has clamps specially designed for them. It’s also very easy to stick a step ring at front, using electrical tape.

I used an 82-72mm step ring, which will introduce some vignetting on wider lenses, but make the adapter much easier to use since now I can put diopters in front of it.

These adapters have a metal body and weighs around 250g. Alignment is adjusted by loosening the tiny screw on the side and rotating the front element. Then, tightening the screw back in place. Be careful with this piece, since it can come off and it’s very easy to lose it.

Being a fixed focus adapter, in which all the focusing is done on the taking lens, quality can take a hit if you don’t use it with optimal settings. Distances closer than 4 or 5 meters already get the Century struggling. Diopters are a must and with them you can get pretty good detail with this cheap lens and a fast setup.

Edges are pretty bad, though, doesn’t matter the aperture. Lots of softness and chromatic aberration, much more visible with wider lenses.

On top of that, the Century doesn’t like neither long lenses nor large apertures. You’ll need diopters for both situations since it won’t achieve focus past 85mm, not even on its original focus range, from 5m to infinity, and will create terrible looking images below f/5.6

Its strong blue flares are very sci-fi and easy to achieve. Sunlight does wonders and any direct light source can cause them. I find them very attractive. You can see some better ones at Vintage Lenses for Video tests.

A great advantage of this adapter is being able to use wider taking lenses. I have an almost vignette free image at 37mm on the 5D3, full frame sensor. Aspect ratio is 2.36:1 instead of 2.4:1 as the previous tests. Vignetting becomes more intense when I add the step ring to use diopters. The only lenses that can beat this are the larger Century WS-13 and the Panasonic LA7200.

Whenever I use this adapter I remember I actually like wide angles. Focusing isn’t as fast as an Iscorama, but once you get the hang of diopters and become fast swapping them, one can achieve wonders using this lens. Being lightweight and compatible with wide angles makes the Century a very versatile lens, good for anyone starting with anamorphic lenses. The stretch is so subtle that this adapter doesn’t create ovals, but its flares are just beautiful.

Century Anamorphic

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Anamorphic Adapter

Century Precision Optics

https://ebay.us/3Q1sVB

First of all, explaining the name, the WS stands for Wide Screen, 13 stands for the 1.33x stretch factor and the final two characters (SD or 58) indicate its mount, bayo, or 58mm threads. You can mod this bayonet as well, just use a larger step ring because the rear element is a little bigger.

This lens is one-of-a-kind. The only reason the Panasonic LA7200 gets all the credit for being the best DV adapter out there is because these big Centuries are hard to find. I wouldn't think twice between the Panny and this Century. While the Panasonic, Optex and others have fixed focus and were designed to work on a specific zoom range of the DV camera, this one is full-zoom, which means it has a focus ring for distance adjustments. It's important to clarify that even though you focus both taking lens and anamorphic adapter, using this lens isn't hard at all, specially when compared with a regular double-focus system. Think of it as a predecessor for the "near" position on the SLR Magic 1.33x-50 Anamorphot. Most of the focusing is done on the taking lens and I'd say you can "fine tune" focus using the Century. For example, if you're doing a rack focus, set the Century between the initial and final focus positions and rack with the taking lens.

Bokeh has a very subtle stretch, since 1.33x isn't strong to affect it that much. It doesn't have the squarey look of the Panasonic or smaller Centuries, that feature rear square-shaped glass elements.

The adapter has a metal body, making it heavier than the Panasonic, at 400g. In mine, the rear threads are 58mm, but my previous one had a bayonet mount which I modded to 67mm threads, no sweat. The front has no threads. There is a clamp/mattebox for it, made by Century, which can hold 4.5" filters. Don't put too much faith on it, though. It's harder to find than the lens itself. Diopters aren't as crucial, though, since focusing ranges from 0.5m to Infinity.

Like all other DV adapters, the alignment is adjusted by loosening and tightening this little screw on the side. Once again, be careful not to lose it!

The WS-13 beats the smaller Century and pairs up at the top with the Panasonic LA7200. Edges are very messed up, even more than the small Century, I'd say, but I kind of like the way it behaves. Also, it doesn't perform as good at minimum focus.

As opposed to its fixed focus brothers, this lens doesn't care if you're using longer taking lenses such as 85mm or 135mm.

The Century Optics WS-13 has some pretty epic flares. They're blue, very saturated and add a very cinematic feel to the images. Very sci-fi. I could look at these for hours. There are some more going on at the world test, just ahead.

Being bigger allows this adapter to go wider, being the second widest anamorphic adapter there is out there, losing only to the Panasonic LA7200. At 37mm we get a totally clear image, and at 28mm we start to see some vignetting on the corners, but still not full-on black edges.

When I was filming this test with my sister, I didn't worry about any technicalities of handling the lens. Aligning it is very easy, focusing is fast and image quality holds up pretty nicely. The moment the flares start showing up, I'm sold. I could shoot anything on it. The image doesn't have much distortion to it, except for the taking lenses, and stretching it straight to 2.36:1 - even for the in-camera preview - already conveys a cinematic feel to it. I believe its "clean and futuristic" aspects blend pretty well with the randomness of the russian taking lenses. If I had to shoot anamorphic and don't worry about any technical aspects of it, I would be between this adapter and the Iscorama. That shows how simple it is to handle it and how well it can perform.

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Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/W77bpK

Features a focus-locking screw. Non-rotating front and non-extending body.

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Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/eaVa52

Features a focus-locking screw. Focus markings in feet and meters.

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Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/hcf1ZQ

Rear threads are Series VI.

Prism based, doesn't create the usual anamorphic artifacts.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/delrama16.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

26YxVSD79LE,iuOyCgEyF8c

https://ebay.us/YMZCg1

This is a long projection lens, so you know what to expect!

This was a challenging shoot. The setup was pretty heavy, regardless of how light the Sony A7s2 is, because the Dyaliscope is heavy. Focus was also stiff, so I did some modding to a Rectilux HCDNA in order to get single focus. When I had this setup mounted onto the 135mm taking lens, a passerby could claim I was shooting closeups through a telescope - and not in a good way. Overall the image looks "diffuse" to me and the highlights really bloom even when stopped down. It's not a bad bloom entirely, but it's a boom nonetheless. Bokeh gets quite smeary when wide open, giving a dreamy look that could be useful depending on the project.

The Dyaliscope Champion is a 2x stretch, double focus, large and heavy projection lens. Not the largest nor heaviest of the French batch, but still bad. The lens weighs 620g and - at least - features 60mm threads on the back, which allow you to use step rings or a clamp to mount it and align. At this load, I'd recommend using rails when filming with this setup.

The front is large. So large that your only option for clamps is making your own, through 3d printing. It's in fact so large that a regular HCDNA won't fit over it. So, unless you're willing to mill out pieces of your HCDNA, your only option is diopters.

The Dyaliscope shows consistent performance through the entire range of lenses I tested. It displays similar results on similar apertures regardless of focal length. That's a positive thing. And the edges aren't as bad as most scopes.

The flares are one of the highlights of this lens, with shiny yellow colors and a good variety with elements. It reminds me of the Aivascope MkI.

Vignetting on this one is pretty bad. It shows intense dark edges at 50mm on S35 crop, which is concerning, and only clears at 85mm, which means the threshold for getting 2.4:1 clear on full frame with this lens is above 100mm. The frame is clear of any vignetting at 135mm on S35, which is just over 200mm on full frame.

This lens fuels my disliking for projection lenses. They're a necessary evil in a market that gives us very few new offerings. This forces new anamorphic filmmakers to hash through lots of repurposed things, many of them far from ideal. Some work out, others don't. If you really have to make this lens work, you can, but it's not something I'd recommend. The rig becomes impractical and the results are just ok.

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Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/xyyoHx

Due to design, it shows veiling glare when pointed at light sources regardless of the taking lens.

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Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/hRMAPA

Can be modded for improved performance, shorter focus and better flare control. In spite of the different names, this lens shares the same glass as the Kowas 8-Z, 16-H and Kowa B&H.

Ever since I laid eyes on the Elmoscope II, it's similarities with the Kowa Bell and Howell were... impressive, to say the least. Long story short, they have the very same look on the outside, so I wanted to check if the same holds for the footage they deliver. Both lenses are vintage projection optics and dual focus setups by nature. The Kowa B&H is considered to be the very best among projection lenses, praised by many and sought after by many more.

A while back I worked on the shooting of the acoustic version of Hello, by Hedley, with the genius of Matt Leaf. It was a two-camera setup. For that we had both my Kowa B&H and Corey MacGregor's Elmo II, each one inside of a Rectilux and paired to Russian taking lenses (the usual, Mir, Helios and Jupiter).

On a spec side, the Elmo weights the same as the Kowa, 500g. Minimum focus on both lenses is the same, 5ft - or 1.5m - as well as the sizes for the front and rear elements. The Elmo's back is a little thinner than the Kowa.

They don't have front neither rear filter threads. If you want to add some diopters to them, a clamp will be required. Alignment is also set on the clamp.

This is the time of the truth. While the Elmo manages to keep up at wider focal lenghts - it doesn't do so well in fast apertures. When the lenses get longer, the Kowa states its supremacy, beating the Elmo in every single setting.

The flares are identical between the Elmoscope II and Kowa B&H. Warm long streaks and one green reflection from the Rectilux.

Again, exactly the same results when it comes to coverage, with an almost usable frame at 40mm at 2.4:1. No vignetting from 50mm for 2.4:1 crop, but a little bit at 2.66:1. Step up to 58mm for 2.66:1 coverage, and clear the image completely at 85mm and above.

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Variable Diopter

https://ebay.us/3NbhcF

The Focus Module - popularly known as FM lens - was the first variable-strength diopter to come out on the market to solve the issue of double focusing with projection lenses. I've written enough about variable-strength diopters, so I won't dwell on its workings. The name, Focus Module, is pretty straightforward about the product's goal. This was the second anamorphic-related product released by Anamorphic Shop.

Released in late 2014, it was the first taste of single focus with beloved projection lenses such as the Kowa B&H, Schneider Cinelux and Isco Blue Star. Since the FM was the first one to hit the market, I believe users were more lenient with it.

The FM Lens is massive. The casing weighs 850g and measures 15cm from top to bottom, focused to infinity. It grows additional 2.7cm at close focus. Focus goes from infinity down to 65cm in just over 180 degrees of throw. Front thread is 105mm (male) and rear thread is 72mm, with a custom step-down ring for the Schneider Cinelux. If using another anamorphic than the Cinelux, you won't have rear threads. In order to use the front threads, unscrew the front lip and install your 105mm filter backwards on it.

The back clamp is also a lens collar and has a slot for a 1/4" screw for lens support. The front part of the lens rotates and moves with focusing, which makes it hard to use another lens support than at the back. The rotation is also challenging for variable NDs and polarizers. This is a setup that REQUIRES rails. You can't just hang the FM in front of your taking lens and go out to shoot.

In order to get it working, focus your anamorphic to infinity and place it inside the Focus Module. This is also the time when you align the lens and lock it into place internally. The FM can take multiple anamorphics but might need additional accessories to hold them in place like the FM Collar 24, since the inner diameter of the tube is 71mm. It all has to fit under 89mm length, which is why the Schneider Cinelux is the ideal candidate (71mm diameter and 89mm length).

Anamorphic Shop's youtube channel has a video on how to fit the Cinelux in there. It's a straightforward process that is also explained on their product page.

I didn't expect it to be super sharp, and I was mistaken. I was able to get pretty decent results down to f/1.4, but the sharpest images come from f/2.8 and upwards.

The large front element doesn't worry me since the FM is capable of very decent close focusing, dismissing the need for extra diopters.

The FM is neutral on the flares, introducing no other reflections or colors to the anamorphic's original flare.

For 2.4:1 shooting, you can go as wide as 50mm, since the 40mm pancake already introduces intense vignetting. As for 3.56:1, 85mm is the way to go. Test ahead, because vignetting creeps in slightly as you focus closer. It's not a lot, but definitely some.

The biggest challenge with shooting the FM is its weight. Support at the back of the lens, and by a single screw, isn't a well thought out solution. It causes the lens to rotate ever so slightly if you're not careful when moving. I was able to jury rig mine with 1/4" screws, nuts and spacers, but I heard of users building big rigs just to be able to work properly with it. The focus throw is also very long, which works with the thick focus gear that came with it, but wouldn't work with a normal gear.

The results aren't unpleasing, though. Single focus solutions have a spell that always blows me away when I use them. The FM is no exception. My confession is that support and weight sucks, but having the anamorphic always aligned, just sliding in and out as I swapped taking lenses was a more than pleasant experience.

The main issue, in terms of performance, is that you can get a bloom/glow kind of thing when using fast apertures with the FM, like what you see in the low-light tests. I am OK with that - I usually add that in post to most of my footage - but it's something that, as I just said, I'd rather add in post than in camera.

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Variable Diopter

https://ebay.us/Le0Ivc

No focus marks. Reversed focus ring.

As the name says this focuser is aimed at 8mm scopes, so it is the smallest single focus out there. It is made by Valdas Misevicius.

So, what's the deal with the Focuser 8? It goes in front of your double focus or locked focus scope (such as the Baby Hypergonar or the Aivascope) and it turns your system single focus. This one has 52mm rear threads and 67mm front threads for attaching VariNDs, Polarizer or even diopters for stronger closeups. It weighs 140g, so it adds next to nothing to your rig.

Focus throw is about 90 degrees and it ranges from 45cm at minimum focus to infinity. There are no focus distance marks, and some versions have focus gears, but others don't - like the one I'm using here. It doesn't extend much when close focused either, which is great, roughly one centimeter. Focus is reversed though, which always bothers me tremendously, and the build feels a bit flimsy if you're constantly racking all the way through.

The Focuser 8 has a hard time keeping up with the HCDNA. The corners are severely compromised not only by blur but also vignetting is introduced much early.

The Focuser 8 transformed the way I experienced the Aivascope Mk I, allowing me to go much more freestyle without introducing a ton of vignetting. The slim profile helps by not limiting your choices of taking lenses.

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Variable Diopter

https://www.rapidotechnology.com/products/front-variable-diopter/fvd-16a

The FVD-16A is Jim Chung's single focus solution and it puts Rapido in the same market as the SLR Magic Rangefinder, Rectilux and - the now seemingly defunct - FM Lens. This is a small and light unit that magically turns your double focus setup into single focus. When I was out shooting at night I could always tell if something was in focus. The loss in IQ compared to just the anamorphic and taking lens feels negligible.

Unlike my previous single focus solution tests, I didn't have a Kowa B&H for this one, so I tested with a Moller 32/2x and a Hypergonar S.T.O.P. 16 and Contax Zeiss taking lenses. The name - FVD-16A - means front variable diopter for 16mm scopes, version A, implying there are other versions coming in the future. I was shooting in extremely hot weather and there was some grease leaking on the outside of the barrel every time I refocused. This is something I experienced with the HCDNA as well, so maybe these adapters are just not meant for tropical areas!

The FVD-16A feels like the Rangefinder should be if it wanted to compete with Rectilux. It's smaller than the HCDNA, lighter too - only 415g. It has 75mm female threads on the back and connects to your scope through those or three small screws (just like the HCDNA). The 75mm threads also match the front of the Rapido FMJ and HTN's Kowa Locking Ring. Rapido also offers an adapter from 72mm threads to 75mm so you can attach it to anything else.

The front has 77mm threads, which are much MUCH friendlier than the Rectilux's 86mm. The FVD has focus scales in feet and meters, solid focus gears for follow focus and comes down to 1.2m (4ft). You'll need diopters to get closer than that, but it's cheap to get good 77mm diopters. Thanks to the non-rotating front it's also easy to use 77mm vari-NDs. Handling feels solid and one of the debatable downsides is focus feels too light (no dampness to the ring). I've heard from a few users it's quite stiff once you get it, but this one has been smoothed out by repeating turns.

Image quality is immensely superior than the Rangefinder, staying fairly sharp all the way to wide open and it feels in the same league as the HCDNA.

In terms of flares, it doubles up flare reflections, like all other single focus solutions, but I didn't see any orbs like the ones from the Rangefinder. It has neutral coatings which won't play with your original look.

My biggest concern at this point is the added vignetting because of its smaller size. So if you're constantly pushing towards the widest combo you have, your setups will take a hit. With the Moller I had to go past 85mm to clear full frame with the Moller (smaller scope), but did fine at 85 and the Hypergonar.

My closing thoughts are this is a great piece of gear especially for those trying to spend less money and making a good single focus setup. Focus is a little light, but that's a personal preference, and my only real downside to this whole thing is the reversed focus. Having 77mm filter threads is amazing, non-rotating front, focus gears, focus scales and a simple process to setup is all great. Jim did a great job on this one, and I'm curious to see if/when there's gonna be another one for larger scopes.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/fvd16a.jpg

Variable Diopter

https://www.rapidotechnology.com/products/front-variable-diopter/fvd-16b

The FVD 16B is a fairly new focuser by Rapido Technology, launched in mid 2020, covering a shortcoming of all other focusers. It costs a hefty thousand bucks and you can order it directly from Rapido’s website.

If you look at the FVD 16A product page, you’ll see a line that says “Image Quality: Optimized for 50mm f/2 taking lens”. And a lot of people either don’t read this chart or don’t understand what this line means.

All variable diopters are optimized for a certain focal length. That’s their ideal working condition. So far, all focusers on the market have been optimized for a 50mm taking lens. Rectilux, Rangefinder, FM Lens and even Rapido’s “A” models. This is why you start to see image degradation as you push towards longer taking lenses like 85, 100 or 135 - typically the worst.

That’s because these focal lengths behave wildly different than a 50mm. Their tolerances are smaller, their depth of field is shorter and their whole optical design is entirely different - 50mm lenses tend to use a Double Gauss design, or a modified Double Gauss, while telephotos go about it differently.

Long story short, you need a different design for your variable diopter if you want to keep top notch performance shooting with longer lenses. That’s the FVD-16B. The same line now says “Optimized for 100mm f/2 taking lens”, and you’ll see that the difference shows.

When using long focal lengths and close focus on the variable diopter, the 35A has a lot of blooming and softness, the 16B is tack sharp.

The FVD 16B is a very strange lens, looking like an empty tube. It has 75mm female threads in the back so it can mount onto a Rapido FMJ, and 86mm threads in the front for filters.

Focus comes down to 1m, or 3 feet, over 180 degrees of throw, with standard gears on the focus ring. The lens does not rotate or extend while focusing, and this non-rotating non-moving front is the reason the lens looks like an empty tube, almost 10cm or 4 inches long.

The distance between the two glass elements in this lens is much greater at close focus than the distance in the other focusers. This makes me think that the positive and negative diopters in this focuser use a lower power in comparison, and that’s why the long lens body and travel.

The 16B comes with regular front and rear caps - no yogurt tops on this one. It weighs 1kg, or 2.2 pounds and it really cranks the leverage on your lens mount if you don’t have proper support. I have to say, this whole thing looked a almost ridiculous to me. The 135mm lens is already long, the scope is long and the focuser is also long, giving me a camera with a pipe in front of it.

The focal length cranks up our perception of rolling shutter, and it was very easy to get wobbly images. If you have a global shutter camera, you won’t have this issue. Peasants like me still struggle though. It was hard to carry this thing around and having the focus ring all the way at the front made it pretty awkward to operate.

But when shooting on a tripod and not flailing around, the 16B performance was shocking.

It turned out to be super sharp across all focal lengths, with excellent performance in the center and even decent corners shooting wide open, only improving when stopped down. Why not use this thing for all taking lenses then? Well, I’m glad you asked.

The body of the 16B introduces massive vignetting. 50mm is only usable on a crop sensor, not even 85mm clears 2.39:1 on full frame, which was shocking to me, but 135 is finally vignette-free and sharp in all its glory.

To demonstrate breathing I did some rack focusing on the 85mm and you can see that the field of view expands considerably when going to close focus. At close focus, the FVD 16B operates as a 0.9x wide angle adapter when compared to infinity focus.

The neutral coatings don’t influence the flares, here you can see the Elmo II with an 85mm taking lens, and then with the 16B on top. No extra streaks or bubbles. Good stuff.

So, what do I make of this focuser? If you’re always going for longer lenses, the 16B is an absolute must. The difference in performance is astounding and I had the feeling this thing made my setup of 135mm plus scope sharper wide open than the 135mm lens by itself when wide open.

If that’s not the case, you can save your money and stop down your longer lenses when you shoot with them. I’ll admit I would be way more tempted by this thing if it cleared 85mm on full frame. The FVD 16B feels like a specialty product in a specialty niche. I think it’s a success if you’re aware of the limitations. This is not an all-rounder focuser. It’s a focuser that works in one specific situation.

It’s definitely the one I’d grab if I were to... rehouse this whole setup together and make things tighter. Having it sit in front of an already long setup stressed me out, but if you got trust on your camera mount… Rails are a must for me.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/fvd16b.jpg

Variable Diopter

https://www.rapidotechnology.com/products/front-variable-diopter/fvd-35a

The FVD-35A is designed for 35mm projection scopes - just like the 16A/B are designed for 16mm scopes. This thing is massive.

In terms of usability, the sheer size of this thing wasn’t as troublesome as I expected it to be. Racking is smooth and assembly was pretty easy. Image quality follows the trend established by the 16A, which is almost no noticeable loss.

The 35A is another offering in variable-strength diopters, turning double focus systems into single focus. What makes it unique is its size. This thing can easily cover scopes that would usually vignette with smaller focusers. Since we’re on the subject of size, the glass on the FVD-35A measures 92mm for the rear element and whooping 112mm for the front. The threads on the back of it are 95mm and the front is threaded with 115mm.

The rear threads are much bigger than the default 75mm used on the Rectilux HCDNA and Rapido’s FVD-16A. So you need a 75 to 95mm adapter ring to mount the 35A onto a Rapido FMJ. This adapter is sold separately for $40 and I almost missed it. You can also get a custom-machined adapter that locks onto the front of your scope directly for $85.

On the subject of focus, the FVD-35A can focus as close as 1.1m or 3 foot 6 in front of the lens, with witness marks in meters. This measurement is NOT from the reference sensor mark on the camera. Because of how variable diopters work, the minimum focus for these guys is always measured from the front of the system. Focus throw is 190 degrees, canon style, and the whole thing extends while focusing, changing its size from 46.6mm to 57mm, so a 1cm increase. On the upside, the front does not rotate while focusing and it already comes with focus gears!

I also noticed that some grease comes out on the sides, especially during the first uses. If you wipe this away, the leak is reduced until it's gone.­

Adding the FVD-35A to your setup will up your load by 1.1 kilograms or 2.4 pounds, which is a hefty increase. The lens comes in its own pelican case, which is filled with various pieces of foam. The front cap feels pretty flimsy too, while the rear is a standard 95mm cap.

When it comes to sharpness, you can really see the 35A is optimized for 50mm lenses. The performance there is best, and it drops as we move into longer taking lenses. It's interesting to see that the corners perform best at fast apertures and get worse as we stop down the system. If anyone knows why that happens, I'd love to hear from you in the comments.

Talking flares, once we add the 35A to a setup, we can see that those nice blue coatings add a blue streak to the picture. Veiling glare isn't affected though, which is great.

Rapido’s website says the FVD-35A covers a 45mm taking lens with a 2x scope on full frame. Vignetting is a non-issue. For my tests coverage was limited by the scope itself. We're looking at the Black Schneider Cinelux by itself on a 50mm, and this is it with the 35A. No changes. A little bit of framing changed as I added the lens. So let's quickly go through it on 35mm, only good enough for MFT sensors, 50mm almost clears 2.39:1 and 85mm is all good. Definitely one of the strongest aspects of this FVD.

Breathing is not super pronounced, at least not nearly as much as many scopes or the Pfocus I reviewed two weeks ago. You still get some vertical stretching and compressing, but in a much lesser degree.

And last, variable diopters usually have a wide angle effect on the system. I was quite surprised to see that this is not the case for the 35A. Looking at a naked 50mm + Cinelux, the field of view has no changes when compared to the system with the 35A on top! This definitely has to do with the lesser breathing!

I find this to be an awesome addition if you’re not running and gunning all the time. If you are shooting handheld all the time, you better get stronger than me to put up with it! Alright, it is NOT that hard to be stronger than me.

The 115mm front makes finding filters a bit more challenging and expensive than all other focusers. If you have the space by shooting mirrorless, I’d say look for a filtration system that fits between your taking lens and your camera mount, like Fotodiox and Breakthrough offer.

In terms of things that can be improved, custom-cut foam would increase the perceived value of this piece of gear. You’re paying over a thousand bucks for it. It comes in its own case, that feels nice, but then it looks cheap when you open the case and find a bunch of random pieces of foam. Last, the front cap could also be improved. It feels a bit like a repurposed yogurt top.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/fvd35a.jpg

Variable Diopter

https://www.rapidotechnology.com/products/front-variable-diopter/fvd-8a

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/fvd8a.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

Variable Diopter

https://ebay.us/cNvGzL

Big and heavy. Low Contrast. Uses prisms for anamorphosis.

Front focussing unit can be detached. Needs a way to be adapted to be used on other projection lenses. Delivers good quality images.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/gbkalee.jpg

Synchro Focus

If Sirui’s initial anamorphic offerings were unexpected, here we go for an even more surprising release from Great Joy, a company I never heard of before this lens! It seems they were listening to people’s qualms with Sirui and decided to take their own shot at it.

Today we’re looking at their 60mm T2.9 full frame 1.33X anamorphic lens.

Making it a tradition, Great Joy’s is a mirrorless lens. It’s not compatible with EF or PL mounts, but you can get it in E, RF, Z or L mounts. Mine is L. And we have zero play at the mount.

It’s a solid chunk of glass and metal, weighing 790g, or 1.7lbs, and it’s one of those lenses that are heavier than they look. The body is already cine-style, with geared iris and focus, alongside markings in meters and super smooth operation. Minimum focus is 0.7m - just over 2 feet - with about 180 degrees of throw. The front threads are 67mm.

The 60mm focal length combined with the 1.33x squeeze gives you a 45mm horizontal field of view, which is plenty wide in full frame - for reference, this is a hair wider than Sirui’s widest lens, the 24mm on MFT. Still, I already anticipate comments saying 60mm is too long. Hold your horses, it’ll get better when we get into the adapter later in the video, I promise.

Using the S1H open gate mode, we get full coverage and no vignetting, which is pretty neat if you’re into a 2:1 aspect ratio like we’re doing for this video - this aspect ratio is called Univision, and we talked about it in the Cookbook! You should check that out.

For 16:9 cameras like pretty much all other bodies besides Panasonic’s, you get the “traditional” 2.36:1.

The lens is super sharp wide open and it only improves as you stop down.

I’m curious about your take on the flares now. There was a lot of bashing on Sirui’s super blue flares, so Great Joy went the other way and has the most muted flares I’ve ever seen on an anamorphic lens, toe to toe with some of the cleanest adapters, like the Isco Ultra Stars and Schneider Cineluxes.

The lens is synchro focused, meaning the squeeze will change as you focus closer, peaking at 1.3X at minimum focus, and 1.33X at infinity. The lens also breathes a little bit, with a wider field of view at infinity when compared to minimum focus.

Now, here are a few things I wish we had! Number one is: I miss flares. If they were warm, that would be dope and special. They can still be subtler than the norm, but them being so hard to see was a bit of a disappointment. Last, it would be amazing to see a faster base lens. T2.8 is plenty good, but in today’s age of f/0.95 lenses, it does feel a bit slow by comparison.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/greatJoy60.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

Variable Diopter

I thought I was done with adapters for good, but - surprise! - I wasn’t. Great Joy’s is, just like the lens, a solid unit of metal and glass, featuring focus gears and markings in meters. Rear threads are 67mm, perfect for the base lens, and front threads are 77mm with a standard 80mm outer diameter.

This thing WILL make your setup front heavy - the adapter itself weighs 920g, or 2 pounds - which is not that heavy for an adapter setup considering it IS single focus by using a variable diopter configuration - did you check the Cookbook yet to understand this stuff? All you need to do is set your taking lens to infinity and control focusing directly on the adapter. Minimum focus is 0.7m again, just over 2 feet, and we have 270 degrees of throw. The body also extends while focusing, but no rotation.

Unlike DIY setups and clamps, this one has a built-in solution for alignment, featuring three little thumbscrews and a free-spinning ring that if you spin enough can come off the back of the adapter. Still, you have a good few turns there before you have to get concerned about it.

You align it just like any anamorphic adapter, but this one is a bit more challenging because the flares are super muted and you can’t use them to align the lens! That’s two flareless anamorphics in one video!

The squeeze factor is actually 1.35X, but for the sake of usability, you can desqueeze this to 1.33x and almost never notice the difference. Actually the adapter features a little cheat sheet engraved on the side, as to what squeeze you’re getting by combining it with other anamorphics!

When pairing it with my Contax spherical set, I was able to almost clean the 35mm at infinity, but close focus introduces a lot of vignetting, and based on the astigmatism we see at 85mm and above, I’m betting the variable diopter used for focusing is optimized for a 60mm taking lens.

The adapter performs impressively even at apertures faster than the original T2.8, with superb results on the 50mm f/1.4 - as good as the taking lens permits, to be honest. This kind of puts to rest all of SLR Magic’s 1.33X Anamorphots and most 1.33X vintage solutions unless you want grungy looks and extreme flares.

Considering ease of use, Great Joy kind of also sinks the Letus AnamorphX. It doesn’t have the same coverage, but delivers single focus, consistent squeeze through the focus range, is much more portable, and affordable.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/greatJoyAdapter.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/rysLfl

One of the smallest anamorphics out there.
Baby anamorphic. Rear threads are fine (0.5) pitch.

Baby Hypergonar

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/hypergonar8.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

rsmudYQwjQU,OhFY7dfQIvQ

https://ebay.us/NSmmBX

Requires a lot of extra gear to work properly

Velbon SPT-1 Lens Support + A sized lens collar (for Canon (70-200mm f/2.8) works as a good support system.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/hypergonarHiFi2.jpg

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/hypergonarHiFi2_1.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/hypergonarHiFi2_2.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/hypergonarHiFi2_3.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/hypergonarHiFi2_4.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/mdIFsx

Focus was a bit stiff on the copy I tested, so if I didn't have an FVD I'd be in a sea of trouble. My biggest challenge shooting with this rig was holding it steady because of the overall length and weight. Image quality is ok when stopped down, still showing a fair amount of blooming. The Hypergonar is quite soft when shooting wide open giving it all a somewhat dreamy look, and the flares are pretty trippy. I think I like this footage mostly because of colors than because of the image quality.

This is only one of the many variants of Hypergonars out there. They were made in France by the almighty Henri Chrétien, the father of anamorphic lenses. It's definitely a projection lens. The metal walls are super thick, adding a ton of weight to the setup. The lens weighs around 680g! Focus comes down to 1.5m and it's suuuper double focus.

It doesn't have back or front threads, which means you're gonna need clamps to mount it and align. The weight of it throws stress on the taking lens, so use lens support. I mentioned I had a FVD for single focusing and in order to connect that, I had to take out the front of the barrel of the Hypergonar using a tiny screwdriver. This also locked focus.

Image quality is never ok wide open, even using proper diopters, which might be a case of alignment, but it sharpens up a lot stopped down. Edges are shady, and if you can shoot 4:3 and avoid edge areas entirely, go for it.

Flares are maybe the only remarkable thing about this lens. They show this "infinity" symbol that I've seen very few times and that could be a cool thing to make your footage stand out. But then if you're relying in only flares to stand out, I think you're in trouble. Cool, still.

Vignetting is not terrible. Unusable at 50mm unless you crop some more in post, but almost clears full frame at 85mm, which means you can clear 2.4:1 around 65mm. 135 is completely clear. I'm yet to see something vignette at 135mm.

Overall this is not a bad scope, but it's faaaar from being in my list of favorites - or even my list of second runners. This lens shows a lot of the traits I dislike about projection lenses: It's unnecessarily heavy and long, offers no help to mounting and using filters, and delivers just acceptable images.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/hypergonarSTOP16ST.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

Isco Precision Optics GmbH

https://ebay.us/eVfiy6

As the name states, this is a 1.5x stretch, trademark of Isco optics, super tiny lens, weighting only 60g! Fortunately it has front threads - tiny 30.5mm threads - and it usually comes with two diopters (which are way too strong at +2 and +4). The rear threads are 24mm fine pitch (0.5).

This one was originally meant for Super 8 cameras, so the small lens size wasn't a problem, but when using it on the A7s2, I had to go with the 2.2x crop mode, meaning this is not a lens for full frame cameras and large sensors in general, being a much more suitable alternative for smaller sensors such as MFT. I reckon it probably does wonders on a BMPCC.

Without diopters, using this adapter is a pain. It's rather soft until f/5.6 or slower at any focal lengths, so the step up ring for the filter threads was a must so I could use lower powered diopters besides the original +2.5 and +5 that came with it. When that is fixed, the image quality improves considerably. A cheap +0.5 and +1 diopters will do wonders if you're using this adapter.

This baby flares. The Isco Anamorphot has a very pronounced and distinctive orange flare. It's completely different from what you usually get by using fixed focus adapters such as the Century Optics. Also, it's a good change for the Isco lenses because they usually don't flare!

As a Super 8 adapter, the Iscomorphot doesn't like big sensors. I shot it on the A7s2 crop mode (2.2x) and it was barely vignette free at 35mm, with glare around the corners when lighting is too strong. 28mm already shows dark edges. That means that if you're using this lens on full frame, you're gonna be vignette free from 80mm and up, which is not friendly at all. I would stick with a smaller sensor and a wider range of focal lengths.

Focus was hard if not close to infinity, so I used diopters for every single shot. When the taking lenses are stopped down to f/5.6 or slower, focus becomes easier, and the flares are very pleasing. Due to the combination of small rear element and full frame lenses, there were losses in light transmission. These were noticeable especially at night, when it didn't make a difference if the taking lens was at f/1.4 or f/2. Focus was even harder at faster apertures and bokeh was very subtle. Again, the flares were still awesome. This was the first lens I wished I had a small sensor camera, so I could achieve its full potential.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscoanamorphot8.jpg

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscoanamorphot8_1.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscoanamorphot8_2.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscoanamorphot8_3.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscoanamorphot8_4.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscoanamorphot8_5.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscoanamorphot8_6.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

Isco Precision Optics GmbH

https://ebay.us/aRz2nC

I started out with great expectations for this one, as a member of the Isco lineup and the first 1.75x I've played with. The Inflight is a beast - down to every meaning this could have. It's big, heavy, cumbersome and delivers some of the most impressive images I've laid my eyes on. If this adapter was single focus, people would be killing each other for it.

There are several Iscomorphots around, with different stretches and sizes, so don't start thinking any Iscomorphot is gonna be this one. Its surname, "Inflight", means this adapter lived up in the air, being used to project scope films on airplanes! Since the screen wouldn't move around, this adapter features a focus-lock mechanism which operates by tightening or loosening the front ring. Focus won't budge if you screw this down.

\This is a projection lens, the exact type I dislike: heavy, big, hard to lug around, this Iscomorphot weighs 1.2kg or 3lb. The front element is 74mm, with a lot of housing all around, and the rear is 54mm - slightly bigger than an Iscorama 54. It's got double focus, super long throw, around 400 degrees, markings only in feet, and it focuses from infinity down to a little under 8ft, or 2.5m.

Stretch is pretty rare and special, at 1.75x, meaning it converts 4:3 footage almost perfectly to Cinemascope 2.35:1, as opposed to 2x, that creates the longer 2.66:1.

Due to the extreme front weight, I made my own rail-supported clamp and still used a lens support on the 15mm rails. Since most of the adapter rotates while focusing, this was an annoying setup to use and incredibly hard to keep safe while shooting. The other annoying part about this adapter is the lack of front threads combined with a thick housing, which means you'll have to be resourceful when coming up with a front clamp or diopter-attaching solutions for closer focus and/or single focus.

Double focusing is extra hard on this lens, but once you get it right, the results are crystal clear even at fast apertures and only get better as you stop down the taking lens.

These flares look like Iscorama pre-36's flares on steroids. They're warm gold, crisper and cleaner than the pre-36's - which for me is a trait of cine-anamorphics and higher priced lenses. They also seem to wrap around the image in a more organic way, almost bending at the edges. Pretty sweet.

In terms of vignetting, I was able to get almost perfect 2.66:1 using Canon's 40mm pancake. If you bump it up to 50mm, you're good for full sensor coverage and the unusual 3.11:1 ratio.

My closing thoughts on this adapter are that the image-making aspects of it are unique in a positive way. Image quality, character, flares, sensor coverage, rare stretch and overall feel are better than most other anamorphics. But the hassle you face to shoot with it is so tough I would think twice or three times before taking it out for an actual project. If you have unlimited time, this lens is amazing. If you have unlimited budget and want to rehouse it, I think it could be one of the strongest adapters out there, especially if combined with a single focus solution.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscomorphot16-175.jpg

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscomorphot16-175_1.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscomorphot16-175_2.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscomorphot16-175_3.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscomorphot16-175_4.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

Isco Precision Optics GmbH

Variable Diopter

https://ebay.us/ru6pg7

The baby Iscorama, or Iscomorphot 8/1.5x is a tiny lens that will give you single focus and work pretty well with smaller sensors. It delivers a dreamy look and I'd say it's only sharp past f/5.6 on the taking lens.

This tiny lens weighs 170g, less than half a pound and is one of the most desired baby anamorphics, trailing right after the baby Hypergonar and baby Bolex. It has no alignment buttons, but a red dot indicating the stretch direction. This dot should always be facing up

As an official member of the Iscorama family, this adapter has 1.5x stretch and it is single focus, meaning you only set your taking lens to infinity and do the rest of the work on the Iscomorphot's focus ring. Focus comes down to 0.5m, or 1.7ft, which is much better than all the other Iscoramas, pretty much killing the need for diopters. It also features focus markings in both meters and feet and a focus throw of roughly 180 degrees.

If you still want diopters and other filters, the front threads are 39mm. The rear threads are standard size at 24mm (0.5, fine pitch), so you can make a clamp out of step rings. Unlike other Iscoramas, this one doesn't have an alignment mechanism, just a red dot and the focus marker pointing which direction should be facing up for proper alignment - so I recommend getting a Rapido Clamp for it.

When it comes to availability and prices, this one comes in waves. They're either abundant on eBay or impossible to find.

In terms of resolution and sharpness, this is definitely the weakest member of the family, with super soft and blurry images unless you really stop down the taking lens.

Flares are more neutral than other Iscos, showing up as white or the light-source's color, which I think adds to its dreamy feel.

Vignetting is when this lens takes hard hits. On the A7s2 I had to use the 2.2x crop mode, and then I got vignette clear images from 40mm and up. This matches around 90mm on full frame.

Baby Iscorama

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscomorphot8-15x.jpg

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscomorphot8-15x_1.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscomorphot8-15x_2.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscomorphot8-15x_3.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscomorphot8-15x_4.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscomorphot8-15x_5.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscomorphot8-15x_6.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscomorphot8-15x_7.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscomorphot8-15x_8.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

Isco Precision Optics GmbH

https://ebay.us/2HsoIB

Flares are very similar to the Iscorama (pre-36). Nice, crisp, oval bokeh.

Iscomorphot S8/2x, Isco Animex

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscomorphot8-2x.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

Isco Precision Optics GmbH

https://ebay.us/DCVZJw

Has a locking ring for easy alignment.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscorama1060.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

Isco Precision Optics GmbH

Variable Diopter

https://ebay.us/bNdvZk

Has a button for easy alignment. Very expensive.

The minimum focus distance can be modified by taking off the focus ring stoppers. By doing this, your minimum focus distance comes to about 1.2m/4ft but the front element can easily pop off from the rest of the lens body.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscorama36.jpg

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscorama36_1.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscorama36_2.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscorama36_3.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscorama36_4.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscorama36_5.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscorama36_6.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscorama36_7.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscorama36_8.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscorama36_9.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

Isco Precision Optics GmbH

Variable Diopter

https://ebay.us/3Wgh9b

The middle member of the Iscorama family is also the hardest one to find. It was released in 1982, almost ten years after the Isco 36, being a pumped up version of the 36 without the massive size of the 54.

Due to its full-metal body, it weighs 750g, pretty close to the Isco 54. Focus is smooth as expected and the aligning mechanism isn’t as simple as the others. You have to pull a ring to the front of the lens and then spin the alignment. This has proven tricky since whenever I go past perfection, I have to spin it all the way again because going backwards is more likely to unscrew both lenses than to work properly.

No news about its single focus operation, based around a variable strength diopter. Set the taking lens to infinity and work solely on the Isco.

Like the other “numbered” Iscoramas, its name comes from the diameter of the rear glass element, 42 millimeters. Stretch is 1.5x and focus ranges from 2m to infinity, in about 200 degrees of throw. The rubber grip around the focus ring helps a great deal when working without a follow focus, compared to the other Iscoramas.

Front filter thread is standard 82mm, and a lot easier to find diopters. I’m able to step it down to 72mm without any vignetting on the Helios 44 (58mm). The rear thread is 67mm. There are clamps available, but you can get away just using step rings too.

This one produces better images than the 54, with less softness and friging on the edges. The Jupiter 9 stands out, almost begging to stay paired to the Isco 42 forever.

The Iscorama 42 is a multicoated lens. There are no other versions of it. Flares are even harder here than they were on the 54. Again, I tested it with the Helios 44 and with the Canon EF 50mm f/1.4, as a comparison, for we know how crazy a Helios can get.

When it comes to vignetting and widest possible taking lens, on full frame the Mir totally shows the adapter’s guts, forcing us to go longer. I believe 40mm is enough to achieve a 2.4:1 aspect ratio by cropping some of the sides, but if you want the entire 16:9 frame stretched to 2.66:1, you have to go with 50mm, and just barely. Using filters smaller than 82mm will introduce vignetting again.

For some strange reason I found much easier to tell when the subjects are in focus when filming with the Isco 42, even on the camera’s small screen. Feels way sharper than my other Iscoramas. Single focus, once again is the game changing ability featured by the Iscoramas. Its smaller form factor and reduced weight are also bonuses to run-and-gun capabilities and ‘blending’ as a regular lens.

Swapping diopters with this lens was a lot easier on the field and I was able to get any shot I wanted switching between the lenses and filters I have now. Thanks to multicoating – never thought I’d say this – I don’t have to worry about washed out highlights even on extreme settings like a blown-out sky or direct light shining inside the lens.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscorama42.jpg

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscorama42_1.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscorama42_2.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscorama42_3.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscorama42_4.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscorama42_5.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscorama42_6.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscorama42_7.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscorama42_8.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscorama42_9.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

Isco Precision Optics GmbH

Variable Diopter

https://ebay.us/ewmEtW

The almighty Iscorama 54! Released along the Iscorama 36 in the late 70s, the 54 is the biggest and heaviest member of the Isco family.

It weighs around 950g, has a full metal housing and a smooth focus ring. The alignment mechanism is very simple, just press the button near the back and rotate it until it’s oriented properly.

What sets the Iscoramas apart from the other anamorphic adapters is their single-focus mechanism based on a variable strength diopter that acts as the focusing mechanism. All you gotta do, when using an Isco is set your taking lens to infinity and do all your focus work directly on the Iscorama’s focus ring.

The name “54” comes from the diameter of the rear glass of the lens. The same goes for 36 and 42. Their stretch factor is 1.5x and focus ranges from 2m to infinity, with a nice and – maybe too – long focus throw (near 180 degrees).

As the Iscoramas were developed for photography, they have standard filter threads on both front and back, making life much easier because you don’t need to worry about finding (or making) very specific clamps. A couple step rings will work just fine. This is what I have here, a 77mm blank and a 72-77mm step up so I can attach it to the taking lenses. The front thread measures 95mm, which is a big size in order to find decent diopters.

Available 95mm options are the Focar A (+1) and Focar B (+2), or you can use step down rings to reduce the size to 82mm or even 72mm without too much vignetting.

On the Mir 1B, besides all the vignetting, we can see a lot of softness around the corners but very little chromatic aberration. We can also notice the difference in compression around the edges, giving the image a bent look.

Softness around the corners is much better on the Helios, because it’s not as wide and doesn’t get that lower quality area of the glass onto the sensor. I don’t know if it’s my copy, but the Jupiter 9 performs amazingly well with any of my scopes and the Isco 54 is no exception. The Tair 11 is the one that shows most improvement when stopped down, being very soft at f/2.8 with a blueish ghosting aberration that is completely gone at f/4

Since I had the chance, I decided to do one last extreme test at f/1.2 using the Canon 50mm L Series at the Isco’s minimum and maximum focus settings thanks to diopters.

At minimum focus, things are hard and quality drops fast from the center. It improves at infinity, but not much.

This version of the 54 is MC, or multi-coated, which improves light transmission and reduces optical artifacts, which, sadly, include flares. There are single coated versions of this lens around the world, but they’re much harder to find. For the flare test I tried the Helios 44 first, but this lens flares way too much by itself and I was unable to identify the Isco’s flare among all the bouncing light.

Using Canon’s 50mm f/1.2L got me better results since it allowed me to isolate the Iscorama’s flare, this thin and faint blue line we almost don’t see. Multi coated Iscoramas have a little less charm, as we expected.

When checking the widest possible taking lens I cropped the sides of the footage to achieve a 2.4:1 aspect ratio, the standard Cinemascope proportions. Even then I was unable to have a clean frame with the Mir-1B at 37mm, presenting heavy vignetting on the sides.

If I want to cover the entire full frame sensor for a 2.66:1 aspect ratio the widest pick is indeed 50mm.

Being able to rack focus just using the Isco speeds up shooting immensely. This, combined with good image quality even at large apertures eliminates the need for a tripod and allows me to be always moving around when shooting, being a good setup for run and gun.

Minimum focus at 2m is kind of limiting and changing diopters on the fly wasn’t one of my most comfortable experiences of late. It’s less troubling if you group your shots based on their diopter needs or set your focus range within a single diopter, like the +0.4, maxing out at 2.5m.

On the bright side, you become crazy good eyeballing when things are closer than 2m.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iscorama54.jpg

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Anamorphic Adapter

Isco Precision Optics GmbH

Variable Diopter

https://ebay.us/Mn2LcS

The most desired anamorphic adapters of all times: the Iscorama Pre 36! These were the very first anamorphics released by Isco Optics and, needless to say, were a huge success, leading to the Iscoramas 42 and 54, as well as the Iscorama 2000 series.

What's the difference between the Iscorama 36 and the Pre 36? The 36 is an independent adapter, while the Pre 36 was released first, paired with a cheap 50mm with focus fixed to infinity. The original taking lens could be on Exakta, Nikon F, M42 or Minolta SR mounts. As the other Iscoramas, the 36 has a rear element diameter of 36mm. The Pre 36 is slightly smaller, at 30mm and the Cinegon is slightly bigger, at 38mm. The coatings are also a little different, with the Pre36 and Cinegon rendering orange warm flares and the 36 has a LITTLE less prominent flare.

Part of the Iscorama family, these are the smallest ones, compact and lightweight, at 400g. Front thread is 72mm and back is 49mm, again you can either use clamps or simply stack step rings. The protruding rear element is a great feature that allows you to bring the front of the taking lens really close together. Stretch is 1.5x, leading to an aspect ratio of 2.66:1 when used with a 16:9 sensor. Alignment is set by pressing these two buttons on the side and rotating the front part.

As its big brothers, minimum focus stands at 2m, but there are a few hacks to bring it down to 1.3m - which usually lead to unscrewing the front element, so be careful. Focus follows the standard Isco operation, taking lens set to infinity and single focusing on the Isco's ring. The lens body, though, has several plastic pieces, which is great for weight, but terrible for long term durability. It's quite common to find units with stiff focus or even harder aligning.

The reason this is the holy grail of adapter is due to a series of factors. First, it's lightweight and small, second, flares are beautiful and easy to achieve, third, it packs quite the punch in terms of image quality even at the fastest apertures.

A killer image quality is one of the main reasons people are so greedy about this adapter. Great performance even at f/1.4 with the Zeiss lenses.

Orange and warm flares for this baby. It knocks it out of the park when compared with its multi-coated siblings (the 42 and 54). It has the classic look of a desired anamorphic flare: large, organic, multi-layered and with a long streak.

Designed to cover 50mm and up on full frame sensors, it starts to vignette shortly below that, being totally unusable at 35mm.

Simple to use and sharp to the point that I didn't need to keep triple checking focus all the time. Rack focusing is possible and very smooth and the resulting image has a very organic and dreamy feel about it. The 1.5x stretch is enough to make the oval bokeh become more pronounced. Minimum focus at 2m was the only issue, but still solved swiftly thanks to my large arsenal of diopters. If the 54 wasn't great for run-n-gun, this one definitely plays the part, being small and light. There's not much more to say, it's world use is very similar to the other Iscoramas.

Minimum focus distance can be improved through modifications. Now can be rehoused through Exo Optik's shells.

Iscorama pre 36

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Anamorphic Adapter

v73hXEkQadI,OlW_XMRJ3zs

https://ebay.us/iXBwF8

Canon 100mm Macro collar is a perfect lens support. Markings in meters and feet. Recessed front. Non-extending body

There are three different versions:
- Studio: the first generation, has indents around the front.
- Gold: Optically identical to the “studio” but smaller in diameter.
- Red: Identical size to the Gold one but with cleaner coating for even less flares.

If I had to define this lens in one word, it would be "sharp". The modern glass and coatings grant you edge to edge performance at the expense of flares. You'll see almost none of them. The other advantage of such sharpness is that you can go as fast as you can with your aperture with no disastrous image degradation. Oh, and no distortion either. Low light performance is quite nice, and due to the high quality of the glass, you can really see the oval bokeh.

Let's begin by saying that the Isco on the name of this adapter is the same Isco from the Iscoramas, only a few decades later, so the quality is there - but the single focus is gone. These lenses are designed to pair with film projectors. Some of them come with a taking lens attached, and that can be tricky to take out, so do it with caution.

This adapter weighs 300g, which is lighter than I expected. Stretch is 2x, so you'll have lots of compression going on and super oval bokeh. You have to rig it with clamps in order to attach diopters to it and to attach it to a taking lens. The clamp is also the way to align this adapter properly.

One thing I had no idea about this lens is its push-pull focus lock. When you push the ring down it won't budge. Then you have to pull it forward in order to adjust focus again. I guess it is a useful feature when dealing with projectors, since the distance will never change! Anyway, that was just an interesting thing I had never heard about.

For many reasons, I'm not a fan of projection lenses. Double focus is too time consuming - which is why I'm using the HardCoreDNA -, and the setups tend to grow too long and too front-heavy. All of this applies to the Ultra Star.

As I said in the beginning, "sharp" is the word to define this adapter. Not Iscorama-sharp. I mean Zeiss sharp, Canon L sharp. Tack sharp at f/1.4. It follows the performance of the taking lenses impeccably and I can't spot blooming, washing or any of those pesky vintage artifacts.

For flares, the Ultra Star behaves similarly to the Cinelux. Very subtle green flares, usually caused by strong light sources. The Red version has even less flares due to stronger coatings. You can always try to cheat your way around it and increase flares by using UV filters.

The early version of the Ultra Star - with the little notches around the front - has a deeply recessed front element and incredibly red coatings. The reason I'm adding this bit herer is because under the right circumstances, this first version flares.

I was able to get insanely red flares out of it, but only when light hits in a specific way - close to the lens' edge. I wish the front element wasn't hidden as deeply, so it would be easier to get these flares out. My regular flare test only gave the tiniest bit of a red kick. So if you want an Isco that has the possibility of flaring, this one is a good candidate!

Canon's 40mm pancake isn't enough to clear a 2.4:1 frame, but surprisingly, you'll be fine with a 50mm on Full Frame. Then 2.66:1 at 58mm with the Helios 44, and full 3.56:1 above 70mm - commonly 85mm. I wasn't expecting to go so wide for a Cinemascope crop. It was a nice surprise. Take into account that a single focus solution will increase vignetting and all of these numbers.

The Isco Ultra Star made me swallow my dissatisfaction with this type of adapter - modern projection lens. Its compact form matched by unmatched optical performance creates a powerful piece of gear. I was able to go wider than I expected, handling the lens is easy and the anamorphic look is there. Not the flares, true, but for the people who aren't after flares, this is like a gold mine (pun intended). Now I understand all the praise for this adapter, when it comes to beginner anamorphics. And it can be had for cheap too!

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Anamorphic Adapter

Isco Precision Optics GmbH

Variable Diopter

https://ebay.us/gASzAt

So what's up with this guy? Long story short, it's an Isco 54 in disguise. That is EXACTLY what this lens is. It has the exact same metal body of the Iscorama 54, same size, same weight (900g), same alignment mechanism by pushing this button here and rotating it. Focus also ranges from 2m to infinity and you need to focus your taking lens to infinity and just focus on the Isco. Front thread is 95mm and the rear is 77mm. You can use redstan's clamps or just go with a bunch of step rings.

So, where did this come from? At some point Isco started making home projector lenses and the traditional video aspect ratio was 4:3, which needed to be stretched out to 16:9. It's good to know there are two other versions of this lens, mark II and mark III, but they're much bigger and way heavier than this one, to a point which is impractical to use them.

The Isco Video Attachment delivers outstanding results, at even the fastest apertures. Edges are very slightly compromised, but this thing is razor sharp. So sharp that the quality cap is probably set by the taking lens instead of the anamorphic. If you have great taking lenses, you don't need to worry at all. Due to it's big front element I had to tape a diopter in front of it.

Being newer than the Iscoramas, these are multicoated lenses to reduce flare. That being said, it shows a faint greenish-blue flare when a strong light source is pointed directly at it.

Just as its older siblings, this one is vignette free from 50mm and up on full frame.

As easy to use as an Isco. Actually, I should be saying this is an Isco and be done with it. Focus at 2m is the single issue I have with this lens, but you can get around it with diopters. Images are pretty and clean, if you're not a fan of the anamorphic artifacts, such as bokeh, flares and crazy distortion, this would be a perfect pick since it stretches 16:9 to 2.36 Cinemascope and introduces very few artifacts.

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Anamorphic Adapter

Isco Precision Optics GmbH

https://ebay.us/mEIkMg

Following its predecessors' pattern, the Wide-Screen 2000 doesn't let down in terms of performance. With a desirable stretch factor of 1.5x and an even more desirable compact, lightweight (225g) and solid build, this is probably the best fixed focus anamorphic adapter out there. Focus is fixed from 4m to infinity. Getting close focus shots without diopters is gonna seriously cripple image quality. All focus adjustments are done using the taking lens' focus ring, exactly like the Century Optics.

I've had three copies of this lens. The first one came with its original clamp, the other two didn't, so you should start looking for clamps. Designed as a projection lens, the Isco Wide-Screen 2000 doesn't have any filter threads (neither front nor rear). Alignment is done by loosening the clamp and rotating the lens until flares are horizontal.

Since the Isco 2000 doesn't have any kind of filter threads, here's a cheap and dirty way of embedding it with 72mm filter threads. Get some electrical tape, a 62-72mm step up ring and get to work. The step ring is almost the perfect size for the front of the lens, so just make it tighter with a couple layers of tape and then use some more tape to secure it in place for good. No clamp will ever be this cheap!

In terms of resolution, this guy knocks out the Century Optics, especially around edges. It's sharp even at large apertures, but definitely needs diopters to achieve top image quality in a production environment.

The lens label reads MC (Multi Coated), so don't expect strong flares out of this one. It's actually one of the most muted flares I've seen so far, even less than the Iscorama 42. If you're into anamorphics but despise flares, here's your pick.

On regular filming conditions, I'd say you're free from vignetting from 50mm and up, like any other Isco. There is one exception I'm still investigating: Canon's 40mm f/2.8 pancake lens. It doesn't vignette at all and it even reinforces the anamorphic distortion across the frame. The reason I say this is an exception is because just 3mm shorter, with the Mir 1B already introduces heavy vignetting. Also, the aspect ratio here is 2.66:1 instead of 2.4:1 Cinemascope.

The biggest issue with this lens was finding the correct diopter for each shot. Still, it wasn't that much of a challenge. Allowing for a good variety from wide shots to long telephoto, the Isco Wide-Screen 2000 is a great lens for any kind of anamorphic user. Image quality is above the average for its size and price range and the muted flares could be a down side for J.J. Abrams fans. Image quality around edges is also above average for a fixed focus adapter and it's an Isco lens! Low light wasn't an issue either, with great out of focus highlights and sharp focus at larger apertures. I think it can be an amazing lens to pair with a single focus solution and forget about diopters altogether. If you wanna see more good looking footage shot with this lens, head on to VintageLensesForVideo and check Alan's review!

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Anamorphic Adapter

Kinoscope Rochester, NY

https://ebay.us/1uZY6f

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/kinoscope.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/s86izq

As all Kowas, this is a projection lens, which means double focus, which means pain. The advantage of its small size is that it's easy to fit it into most single focus solutions out there. For this one, I've been using the Rectilux Hardcore DNA. This adapter goes a little too heavy on the vintage look and the artifacting is too much for my taste.

The most pressing note about the Kowa 16-D: this lens is NOTHING like the Sankor 16-D. The Sankor 16-D is much bigger and delivers better results.

As a conventional projection lens, it's 2x stretch and double focus. I highly recommend a single focus solution, since the small front element will help in not getting any extra vignette. Focus ranges from 1.5m - 5ft - to infinity, in about 300 degrees of throw.

The compact size yields a good weight, just under 300g, but you won't be able to use crazy fast lenses. The rear element is about 2.5cm (1 inch) wide, limiting light transmission. Your maximum aperture will depend on your taking lens too.

As any Kowa so far, the threads at the back are non-standard and the front has no threads at all. You'll need clamps. You can get solid clamps from Redstan or Rapido.

As a Kowa-branded lens, the 16-D is sharp at its center, even at fast apertures, but the edges quickly lose quality becoming too warpy and soft. I'd stick for longer lenses so you use more of the center area.

Apparently the 16-D's use Kowa's old formula for coating, which brings into the picture beautiful and strong purple blueish flares from strong light sources.

Due to its small size, the 16-D vignettes more easily than its big sisters. On full frame, I can only get a 2.4:1 Cinemascope clean at 58mm, with lots of distortion going on. 50mm is unusable. The next step is at 85mm for full frame clearance. Like the others, there's strong veiling glare, or white vignette, when too much light is coming through.

You can follow the sharpness tune-up tutorial in order to (very likely) improve your 16-D image quality. This one isn't my type, the same way heavy projection lenses are not my favorites, the tiny ones aren't on my list either. I think the trade-off in vignetting and sharpness doesn't make up for the lighter and smaller design, or the cheaper price tag. If you're using a crop sensor instead of full frame, you're much more likely to enjoy this adapter, but I'd recommend something even smaller than S35 or APS-C.

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Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/zrraso

Can be modded for improved performance, shorter focus and better flare control. In spite of the different names, this lens shares the same glass as the Kowas 8-Z, 16-H and Kowa B&H.

Rear threads aren't standard. Pitch is 0.7. Focus markings in feet.

This is both a review of the Kowa 16-H and a match between this model, the 8-Z and the B&H, all the top-tier 2x stretch Kowas out there. Shooting with the 16-H felt just like shooting with the other two. These are solid performers, delivering excellent results regardless of aperture setting. It has lovely vintage character and organic cool flares. Being a projection lens, it is a double focus setup, so you'll face challenges when shooting or you'll need a single focus solution. Definitely a top drawer lens, with artifacts just enough to give the footage some mojo.

The Kowa 16-H is one of those lenses everybody wants. When someone asks "what is a good projection lens?" it usually comes up right after the Kowa B&H. It is a "true anamorphic" adapter with 2x stretch. Focus comes from infinity down to 1.5m or 5ft. The 16-H has a twin sister, the Kowa 8-Z. They're considered the same - deja vu?. It's time to compare them all!

Japanese design, with big front and rear glass ensure you won't be losing much light. You'll need a rear clamp to mount it to your taking lens as well as a front clamp to attach diopters and filters. I like having this one on rails because of its weight of 530g.

It's interesting to notice this particular 16-H is super sharp around the edges when compared to the 8-Z and B&H, but not so much in the center area. It's important to take into account sample variance when comparing these - some 16-H's might perform better than others, and the same goes for the B&H and 8-Z. That said, I'd reason they're all the same when it comes to resolution and performance.

This version of the 16-H is one of those early-serials and has blue/purple flares, while most 8-Z and B&H have golden flares. If you're looking specifically for blue flares, aim for lower serial numbers as several users informed me. It's a difference in the coatings that leads to the change in hues.

By itself, the 8-Z can go as wide as 58mm on full frame for 3.56:1 aspect ratio. Coming down to 2.4:1, you can use a 50mm lens. Like the B&H, the 8-Z has strong veiling glare when a light source hits the edge of the lens. The 8-Z and 16-H are identical in coverage, while the B&H vignettes a little harder on the wider end - which is something I didn't expect, considering all the love for the B&H.

The Kowa 16-H (or 8-Z, now we know they're the same) is a great anamorphic. Double focus makes it challenging, but that can be fixed. It delivers consistent results and performs well even on low-light situations. You can't go very wide with your taking lenses, but when you do the math, you're getting a pretty wide field of view already. It can be tough to find for a good price, but don't give up.

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Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/UXIn1e

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Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/jZ4z02

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/kowa8-15x.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/jZ4z02

Baby anamorphic. Rear threads are fine 0.5 pitch.
Non-rotating front, non-extending body. Markings in feet.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/kowa8-2x.jpg

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/kowa8-2x_1.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/kowa8-2x_2.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/kowa8-2x_3.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/kowa8-2x_4.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/kowa8-2x_5.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/kowa8-2x_6.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/kowa8-2x_7.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/kowa8-2x_8.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/kowa8-2x_9.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/kowa8-2x_10.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

Tba5qm_rjE8,d2wLrZR7Dmc,mNlgI8DARm0

https://ebay.us/9zHwqR

Can be modded for improved performance, shorter focus and better flare control.

In spite of the different names, this lens shares the same glass as the Kowas 8-Z, 16-H and Kowa B&H.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/kowabandH.jpg

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/kowabandH_1.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/kowabandH_2.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/kowabandH_3.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/kowabandH_4.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/kowabandH_5.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/kowabandH_6.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/kowabandH_7.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/kowabandH_8.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/LtlqKD

This Kowa is a heavy lens, at 600g, or 1.5lb, plus the weight of the HCDNA so I had a Rapido clamp mounted to 15mm rails, which made alignment a lot easier when swapping taking lenses. This is one of those lenses that feels heavier than it looks. If it didn't deliver such beautiful images, I'd say it's too heavy.

Part of the select club of 1.75x scopes, this Kowa has no front or rear threads, making clamps mandatory. Focus comes as close as 1.5m or 5ft, and the body has marks in ft. Due to its double focus nature, I'd stick to the HCDNA, which is the only single focus solution right now capable of covering the big front glass and making this lens shine.

It's hard to place this Kowa on a price chart. It is that rare.

Image quality is pretty good at all apertures, and the smudges you see at f/1.4 are because the newspaper wasn't perfectly flat against the wall and DOF was shallow enough to get parts of it blurry. At 135 and wide open the Kowa struggles a little bit, but still holds up alright. A little sharpening in post and you're ready to go. Prices rise.

Flares are not super crazy, but very much present. They show a reddish hue a bit deeper than the Kowa B&H and Iscoramas. Remarkable flares from a remarkable scope. Price goes up!

The initial problem with vignetting was that the HCDNA was sitting too far from the front of the Kowa. Heavy vignetting until 50mm, then almost clear at 85mm and finally clear at 135mm. After getting the back of the HCDNA wider, we were able to clear a lot more of the frame, getting 2.4:1 clear around 50mm on Full Frame and no trace of vignetting at 85mm. Once we remove the HCDNA entirely, you can clear 50mm! And get a tiny bit of dark edges at 40mm using Canon's pancake. Price goes up a lot.

This Kowa was a beast of a lens, it's large, sturdy, could be used as a bludgeoning weapon, delivers Kowa-like sharp images, goes pretty wide for its stretch factor and has unique reddish flares. I am not surprised at the asking prices on these after testing. It's too heavy for my style, I mean, I got these skinny arms that will die upon a heavy handheld setup.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/kowaC35.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

https://bhpho.to/3GawL6S

Rear clamp of 114mm plus adapter rings (77 and 82mm). No focus markings (-8 to +8 marks)

Square size of glass:
Front: 110x85mm
Rear: 83x64mm

This is the adapter I used to shoot This Is SCOPE, and I got a lot of people believing I had actually made a super-wide anamorphic. It's much smaller than the previous version, while improving on image quality and addressing the issue of uneven stretch across the frame (aka mumps). You can go a lot wider and the only turnoff for me is it's still double focus. If you're quick, you can still get by with most shots even double focusing (I had two follow focuses on my rig).

This adapter was a big surprise. I was expecting slightly better mechanics and size than the previous version, but there was a major overhaul in every aspect of it - optics included. Focus still doesn't show distances, ranging from -8 to +8 and the rotation of the ring is still reversed - these are the aspects that could be improved. Focus ring has gears and a lever (which can be removed) and it's still a true double focus setup, with little tolerance for racking with just your taking lens.

The mounting clamp is 114mm wide, like many cinema lenses front diameter, plus it also comes with adapter rings for 77 and 82mm. The base has a screw for 1/4" screws so you can mount it on rails. The square shape makes it smaller and saves a ton of weight on the body, plus it makes it easier to align if you're not using rails.

Image quality is superior to its predecessor and while the glass from the previous one was a straight copy from the LA7200, this one has been entirely redesigned in-house to improve IQ and performance.

Flares are subdued for my taste, making it super challenging to get strong streaks on the frame - they are also blueish sci-fi. On the phone with Letus they said that if you really insist, they can make different levels of coating. I would get a high flare.

Vignetting is where this adapter kills everything else out there. SCOPE was shot with a 24mm Rokinon, but I tested the Contax Zeiss 21mm and almost cleared full frame with it. I believe this is thanks to the massive rear element and it would be fine with a compact 21mm lens. With that, the previous undefeated winner for more than 10 years, Panasonic LA7200, has lost its throne of widest anamorphic in the adapter game.

I've been iffy about adapters lately and this one has restored my faith. I'm thinking about buying one for myself because of what it allows me to do while imposing very little compromise (rare thing among adapters) and delivering great image quality. I think this is one of the hidden gems of anamorphic and it blows my mind so few people talk about it when they're still being made and are - now - cheaper than an Iscorama.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/letusanamorphXPro.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/d52FZz

Only anamorphic designed for GoPro 3+. Does not work with other GoPro versions.

One thing I really like about this adapter is that its distortion, combined with the GoPro distortion, give it a HUD kind of feeling that's awesome for point-of-view footage, like this! I feel image quality could be greatly improved, but that's not the anamorphic's fault - I'm looking at you, GoPro.

Letus makes a compelling pitch on their website about making your footage more cinematic. They say that by changing your aspect ratio from 16:9 to 2.35:1, - meaning 1.33x stretch - you'll achieve "cinematic footage"! I thought it was a little hard to justify an anamorphic GoPro myself, but it’s time to take our GoPro to the next level.

The adapter itself weighs 60g which is very little even for GoPro standards. It feels solid enough. The AnamorphX will keep your setup waterproof allowing for underwater anamorphic and can also be attached to drones for sweeping aerial views. Letus claims the adapter helps correcting GoPro's extreme barrel distortion. For some, it can still be too much, so be prepared to counter it in post or embrace the warping that happens as you move the camera around!

It's an important reminder that the adapter is not compatible with the GoPro 3 shell, just the 3+ and above.

I didn't think shooting charts was an efficient way to evaluate this adapter's performance since I don't have control over the camera settings. But I shot it anyway! It turns out the edges are smudged - no surprise! - but it's quite acceptable when in motion.

As all 1.33x adapers the AnamorphX-GP has cool, interesting flares. The coatings make them greenish and well integrated onto the footage - not overpowering. They're actually pretty neat, and you get to see aaaaaall of the dirt on the lens, which I particularly like, for run-and-gun authentic action videos.


Vignetting isn't a thing since the adapter is designed for this camera. I cycled through all the camera's FOV modes just to make sure. And it turns out you CAN see some of the adapter when in Superview mode.

If you really like GoPros AND anamorphics, I would say this is worth your money. Mark Hawk's channel has a bunch more detailed and extensive tests plus test footage using this adapter. You can find them all in his playlist. Since I'm not the adventurer type nor the GoPro type, it was an interesting experience, but not life changing.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/letusAnamorphxGP.jpg

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/letusAnamorphxGP_1.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/letusAnamorphxGP_2.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/letusAnamorphxGP_3.jpg

Synchro Focus

https://ebay.us/WVsMmc

Weight including Foton zoom lens: 3.5kg
Length including Foton zoom lens: 25.6cm

Square size of glass in anamorphic block:
Front: 96.5x86mm
Rear: 53x43.5mm

It's time to tell you all about the LOMO Foton-A. This is a cinema lens made in the Soviet Union. It's a long-range zoom, going from 37mm to 140mm, which allows you to shoot an entire show with just one lens. It's got a ton of character and texture, awesome blue flares (anamorphic zoom flares are something special). I've used it in such way more than once.

LOMOs are the top tier when it comes to Soviet lenses, and LOMO anamorphics are in a category of their own, with several different generations and price tags. I would say this is probably the cheapest anamorphic zoom in existence, and in terms of performance, it's more comparable to the first generation LOMO Squarefronts rather than the superior Roundfronts that came afterwards. As expected of a cinema lens, stretch is 2x, delivering stretched bokeh.

The first of the Foton-A's many downsides is its speed. With a slow aperture of f/3.5 (T/4.4), all the way down to f/16. You really can't do low-light or crazy shallow depth of field. It also features just eight aperture blades, which won't smooth bokeh when stopping down. This lens won't give you smooth ovals at any f-stop, just wide open. The second downside is its weight. This thing weighs 6kg or 13 pounds, which means it isn't a handheld friendly rig, requiring lots of support and even a sturdy tripod. It's true you can shoot an entire project with it, but moving it around is an intense process! The third downside is that the anamorphic and spherical blocks are not permanently connected - focus syncs through matching a pin on both pieces -, and that makes lens swaps super awkward. On the bright side, the whole setup doesn't extend while focusing or zooming and you don't need to realign it, ever.

The Foton originally comes in OCT-18 mount, which is a mount "inspired" by Arri Standard mount. Usually, OCT-18 lenses are a pain to convert and adapt, but the Foton features a mount-locking ring that allows you to easily swap mounts if you so desire. RAF Camera makes a few different ones and, in my case, I have both the EF and PL versions for it. Swapping them is a relatively simple process - especially when compared to usual mount changes that cost hundreds of dollars.

Focus comes down to 1.6m or 5ft. It's not really a great minimum focus distance. The only way you can get closer is with diopters.

If you're looking for resolution, this is not the lens for you. It's not really sharp wide open, and even when stopped down, things can still be mushy - especially at longer focal lengths. It's up to you to decide if it is sharp enough for your purposes. If I thought it was unusable, I wouldn't keep the lens.

The flares are outstanding. Thick, blocky, deep blue, they show up rather easily, even from light coming from the sides of the lens - as in "the source doesn't have to be in the frame". They're very sci-fi-ish, and that's one of my favorite aspects of this lens.

Vignetting is not really an issue. Designed for S35 film, you won't get full frame coverage - at 37mm you see the inside of the anamorphic block, at 140mm there's massive black edges.

I'm a big fan of the Foton-A. Maybe I'm just attached - the first copy I got had me jumping international hoops all the way from Brazil - or maybe it really adds layers of meaning to the cinematography of certain projects. I'm a fan of its low-contrast, low-sharpness look, I like how its distortion affects straight lines on the frame and the grittiness that all of its artifacts bring to the footage. It's much easier to use and mechanically reliable than most adapter setups, it doesn't require clamps, special support or a million step rings. It's a very convenient zoom, but still affected by a slow aperture, super heavy construction and poor minimum focus. When it comes down to practical use, I'd choose this lens over most adapters too, simply because it's practicality on set. No need to triple check focus, sync taking lens and anamorphic, or realign for every focal length change.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/LOMOfoton.jpg

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Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/OZfw0p

Baby anamorphic. Rear threads are fine 0.5 pitch.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/moller19.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

FpGm6dj6PR8,ym_iB-CUX5E

https://ebay.us/gLlS0i

The Möller a smaller scope and even adding the FMJ, it didn't feel too heavy. Focus was locked to infinity and all of the focusing was done on the FVD. This is a pretty good projection scope and I don't have much to say about shooting.

The Moller 32/2x is a lens full of catches. It goes by a few names - I had one named Vidoscope, while many are labeled as Moller. There's also differences in the focus markings and a completely useless version.

This is a 2x stretch projection lens. It's small and light, weighing 390g, or a pound, and it's a breeze to carry around compared to the other stuff I tested in the previous videos. It has 39mm threads on the back, which makes it easy for clamps and alignment. There are no threads on the front. It also has these notches right around the front, which make life harder to get a front clamp to fit snuggly - hence the FMJ.

When we get to the subject of focus, things get sketchy. There are mainly two versions of this lens. The first version (which still goes by multiple names) has focus markings (either in ft, or ft AND meters) and minimum focus at 1.4m (4'10"). Focus throw is about 330 degrees, so quite long. The other version of the lens - regardless of the brand written on it - has no focus marks. This is a telecine version of the lens, with very specific uses and it's almost useless to anamorphic shooting, as it is unable to focus on infinity. The dead giveaway to the telecine version of the Moller is the recessed rear element you can see in these pictures. Many thanks to Oli Kember for pointing out this difference between these otherwise identical looking lenses. So be careful when buying one of them.

Image quality is excellent at the center with any focal lens and aperture, but it drops towards the edges, only getting consistent sharpness across the entire frame when stopped down. Not a surprise. The sharpness on this adapter makes it a great contender for a vintage scope on a smaller sensor.

The flares are interesting. I had a Vidoscope which showed neutral coatings and the resulting flares were more of a muted purple, while a Moller labeled copy had strong blue coatings and displayed much more saturated flares.

On full frame the Moller 32 clears the frame at 85mm and vignettes heavily at 50mm. Something in between should be good to get you cleared on 2.4:1, possibly a Helios 44, at 58mm.

This was a fun lens to test. It didn't hinder my style of shooting like the heavier projection lenses, it turned out to be a lens full of exceptions and little details to be aware of, capable of rendering beautiful and sharp images at the same time it shows good vintage character. Good job, Moller.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/moller32.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

https://bhpho.to/2Zk01Hy

Anamorphics for phones first came to life in the end of 2013, through a small Kickstarter campaign by Moondog Labs. Their product was so different that there weren’t even apps for desqueezing the image on your phone at that time. “Tangerine” was an interesting movie shot with these lenses.

In 2018 Moment kicks their campaign online. They get funded in 40 minutes, reaching whooping $1.6M and sell almost 10 thousand phone anamorphics.

My theory is that the $1.6M Moment got in funding is the kind of money that motivates a market. Other companies realized there was money to be made from anamorphic lenses for phones and that is what expanded our options. The vast majority of these are 1.33x squeeze, with some very recent expansions into 1.55x by BeastGrip and 1.15x by Ulanzi.

Having options is great, but the inconsistent mounting methods are killing me. While many of them are offered in 37mm or bayonet mounts that fit your phone case, some brands insist on proprietary mounts and I would love to know why.

For beginners considering phone anamorphics as an entryway to shooting scope: these lack oval bokeh and many of the visual traits of anamorphics. You’ll get flares and a wider aspect ratio, maybe some barrel distortion, but that’s about it.

A basic 1.33x lens design has a simple formula: two cylinders that squeeze the image and no focus ajustment. It fails hardcore at close focus and fast apertures. Since our phones have very tiny sensors, the issue with fast apertures doesn’t come to play, only close focus still fails.

Since all these lens makers are using the same anamorphic design the different results come from different coatings. Coatings will determine light transmission, overall tone (warmer or colder), contrast, flare colors and fine resolution.

During my research for making this video I had a really hard time controlling my phone camera until I starteed using the FiLMiC Pro app. FiLMiC Pro gives you everything you have on a regular camera, plus it desqueezes the footage on the fly. It also provides you with zebras, focus peaking and it has great integration with gimbals and other gear. It sells for $12.99.

Then throw on a variable ND for some more light control - make sure your lens can take filters. Not all brands make them, so I made some for the lenses that didn’t have any. The process is the same I used to make the Moment filter holder. To be safe, I carry around a diopter kit too, although I barely use it.

Last, I got a gimbal stabilizer, the Zhiyun Smooth 4, for little over $100. Our phones are crazy sensitive to movement and that translates into the footage as shakiness.

My phone is a Google Pixel 2 and I’m using a Moment case which features a bayonet mount. I had to modify the Kapkur lens from its original bayonet into a standard bayo. The Sirui, MoondogLabs and Moment lenses are all bayo and Ulanzi came in 37mm, so I’m using a clip to secure it to the phone and removing the case.

I’m shooting everything in 4K and desqueezing through FiLMiC, which saves me a ton of time. The final resolution of the files is 3840x1620px. I’m trying, as best as I can to keep shutter at 180 degrees and expose to the right (ETTR), since this tiny sensor noise is awful.

Time to break them with close focus. Here is an attempt at minimum focus. Notice how we finally start to see some bokeh in the background? Do you also notice how it stretches the wrong way? That’s a consequence of fixed focus and having the taking lens - the phone - and the anamorphic focused at very different distances.

In terms of construction, these are all quite similar in terms of size and weight. The square format seems to be more popular, making the lenses more compact. The Kapkur is visibly bigger than the rest and so far it’s the only one that sort of fell apart, with the original bayo falling off - which turned out to be a good thing since it allowed me to remount it as standard bayo.

When it comes to filter threads, none of them offer them natively. Moment sells a filter holder for $30 that is held in place by pressure, Ulanzi sells theirs for $5, and it uses a screw to lock down, Moondog Labs sells for $35 and it features a locking clamp. Kapkur and Sirui don’t make filter holders so you gotta make your own. Mine are locked through a super-tight fit.

All lenses come with front and rear caps, but none of the caps support filter holders - as in, if you want to store the lens with the filter holder attached, figure out your own caps. Moment and Ulanzi give you little pouches that can hold the lens with the filter holder and that was good enough for me.

For the rest of the lenses, I figured a “safe enough” way to transport or took out the filter holder and used the lens caps.

Alignment is a hard thing. Here by far my favorite lens is the Sirui. It has a tiny button that allows you to quickly rotate between vertical or horizontal alignment and since the lens comes in bayonet mount, there’s no need for any adjustments in between these two orientations.

Moment’s has a tiny screw that locks its orientation, so if you wanna switch from horizontal to vertical, all you do is loosen this and adjust.

Moondog Labs and Ulanzi have this ring on the back that offers some resistance but allows you to spin them to any angle. While I appreciate the ability to do so, it mainly makes me worried I don’t have the lens perfectly aligned when mounted.

After looking at all this, it’s hard to objectively choose one of them over ther other. They are all similarly priced, they perform similarly and have similar constructions.

I’d highlight Sirui’s alignment mechanism as a great victory over its competitors. Kapkur’s original mounting method is only good if you’re using their case - which fits only specific phones -, and Ulanzi’s only mounts to 37mm threads, which are not featured in compact cases, and I truly disliked the clip I used to hold it in place.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/moment.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/cjHgQY

There's a version of this adapter with 37mm rear threads.

This is an unusual adapter in the sense that most people taking photography and cinematography seriously these days wouldn't think of shooting with their phones, no matter how many articles come out praising their cameras and capabilities.

One of my favorite parts of experimenting with MoondogLabs' lens was the reduced amount of control I had over the resulting image. All I could do, literally, was point the camera towards what I wanted to shoot and press record. From this point on, you start exploring the kind of things you wouldn't (or couldn't) do with a regular camera. This lack of control permitted me to focus less (pun intended) on the gear porn part of the tests and more on the shots I was trying to get.

I think one of the biggest selling points of this adapter is the feature "Tangerine", featured at Sundance Festival in 2015, shot entirely on an iPhone and the MoondogLabs' adapter. I'm not gonna say the shots are incredible and clean but they have a character that matches the film perfectly. They're gritty, and noisy, and free moving. There is very little subject separation from the background, lots of wide-angle shots - including close ups - and clever use of lighting. Tangerine is not the usual film as well, telling the stories of two transgender women in a busy Christmas eve, with the type of representation we need to see in film today.

The adapter is tiny, weighing 48g. They come in several different versions, compatible with many other phones beyond the original iPhone 5. It's a two element, fixed focus construction that relies on a small sensor in order to keep things in focus and deliver good image quality.

The adapter has 1.33x stretch and fits perfectly around the corner of the phone and over the rear camera. There's no way to misalign it. It's not the type of thing you can leave attached and put the phone in your pocket, as the setup has a weird shape and there is nothing made to protect the front of the lens. This little switch on the back loosens/tightens the adapter around the phone, but even with it engaged, it's still pretty easy to slide it off.

The lens comes with a neat case, which makes it super easy to just carry it around in your pocket until the moment of photo-taking or video-making arises.

I don't know how to assess resolution here, but check out some charts! I don't see much difference in performance wether the adapter is attached or not.

Testing for vignetting was also confusing, since this is not the standard lens, so I switched through the various camera modes I could find and got no black edges. The adapter clearly covers the lens.
.
When it comes to flares, this 1.33x adapter is incredibly similar to the Anamorph-X I used on the GoPro. It's also similar (but in a lesser scale) to other 1.33x adapters. The flares are not as long and not as prominent, but they are there. They take the color of the light source, which indicates the coatings on this adapter are fairly simple.

As it was the case with the GoPro Anamorph-X, this lens is an attempt to expand the reach of our beloved format into different devices, and not restrain it to the complex systems we have when using DSLRs, mirrorless cameras or real cine cameras. This type of setup eliminates issues such as double focus, trains of lenses and heavy fronts. True, you have less control and the image quality is capped by not-so-great cameras, but at the same time it all becomes a lot simpler and you just shoot. My only criticism to this adapter is that putting the lens on and off constantly to shoot made me feel uneasy and afraid to drop it.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/moondogLabs.jpg

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/moondogLabs_1.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/moondogLabs_2.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/moondogLabs_3.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/moondogLabs_4.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/moondogLabs_5.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/moondogLabs_6.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/moondogLabs_7.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/moondogLabs_8.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

7fe-vsZVV5U,guz6jteXfu0

https://ebay.us/CoP6RV

Built-in alignment mechanism. The alignment lock screw is small and easy to lose.

Soft edges.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/optex.jpg

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/optex_1.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/optex_2.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/optex_3.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/optex_4.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

uPmaUtB0H8s,xBciAd9ac3s

https://ebay.us/EkWkMU

Time to talk about another classic anamorphic, the Panasonic AG-LA7200. It's the widest anamorphic adapter available. Made for the DVX100, the camera that revolutionized indie filmmaking, the name of the lens reads LA for Lens Adapter, 72 because it has a 72mm deep filter thread and 00 because the front has no threads of any kind. Stretch is 1.33x to convert the DVX100 4:3 sensor into 16:9. On a modern camera it stretches 16:9 perfectly to 2.36:1, Cinemascope aspect ratio. Well, considering the size of the front element, it would be hard to have threads there. The adapter has a cool looking square design which immediately implies you're not using a regular lens. The Panasonic is one of the go-to anamorphic adapters for beginners since working with it is rather simple. Just screw your lens at the back, align and go out to film. Don't worry about focusing or anything, just do it on your taking lens and you're good. Later on you'll struggle with close focus or larger apertures performance, but not at the start.

Time and time again the Panasonic is used in a major-super-cool-internet-hit such as Prospect. There are plenty of other reviews and tutorials about it.

Let's talk about some stuff that isn’t mentioned so much around, like there are two versions of the lens, one with this small hood and one without it. The one with the hoodie can hold 105 diopters by wedging them in there! Also, at some point Andrew Reid posted that the Foton-A diopters worked really well with the Panny and that caused the extinction of the Foton-A diopters. It's hard to find diopters for this adapter due to its massive front glass.

Aligning the LA7200 is pretty easy. Loosen the screw to lock and unlock rotation and, if you don't have a flashlight or a good flare source, here's a trick I learned from another video on how to align it using the Panny's original lens cap: straighten out the square in the middle of the frame and you're good to go!

It's a light lens, at 400g, with the downside of having a full plastic body which can easily crack and break. Square glass elements also lead to no oval bokeh, of course.

The LA7200 is able to get good detail inside its focus range, from 4m to infinity. It’s very poor at close focus and has bad image quality at the edges, but still somewhat better than the Centuries.

This adapter REALLY struggles with long lenses, rendering terrible results at 85mm and 135mm.

The LA7200's flares are strong, thin, long and super saturated blue. They're similar but not identical to the Century's. I guess it's the quality of the glass and coatings used in these DV adapters.

With no vignetting at 28mm on full frame. At 35mm you even get rid of some of the worst edge areas. It shines with wide angles and works very well with modern wide zooms such as Canon's 17-40mm f/4 or 16-35mm f/2.8L, covering the entire sensor of an APS-C camera.

The LA7200 is easy to handle and performs incredibly good at wide angles. Good for that documentary-feel camera. It doesn't like longer lenses, requiring diopters even more than the Century, and diopters are hard to find. It's also very soft at faster apertures, showing its best performance when the taking lens is stopped down to f/4 or f/5.6. It flares pretty easily, flares are easy on the eyes and helpful in alignment, which is also a breeze due to the lens' rectangular shape. It's a very simple lens and gives you good stuff right out of the box, but in order to get incredible shots, you'll have to know it well and play its strong side, finding solutions creatively and sometimes tweaking your shots to the lens' needs.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/panasonicla7200.jpg

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/panasonicla7200_1.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/panasonicla7200_2.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/panasonicla7200_3.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/panasonicla7200_4.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/panasonicla7200_5.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/panasonicla7200_6.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/panasonicla7200_7.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/panasonicla7200_8.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/panasonicla7200_9.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/panasonicla7200_10.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/panasonicla7200_11.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/panasonicla7200_12.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

Peter Stent (Photo-Ciné) LTD

https://ebay.us/zBIl7x

The same screw controls focus and alignment, therefore it's very easy to misalign the cylinders when focusing.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/petrascope.jpg

Variable Diopter

https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/tool/the-pfocus-the-3d-printable-diy-single-focus-solution-lucmeister

The Pfocus was created by Lucas Pfaff and it’s got fully 3d-printed mechanics. Well, not really “fully 3d-printed” I guess since you still need a couple screws and nuts. They’re all very clearly detailed in the manual, so make sure to take a look at that before starting your build.

The key element and hardest part to find is the glass. The focusing optics in the Pfocus (gotta love these puns) are harvested from the Fujinon WCV-82SC.

All the standards for these things are in metric system, so if you’re in Canada, US or UK, you might have to go the extra mile to find the proper sizes. I couldn’t find mine so I resorted to asking Lucas for help! Printing all the parts took a couple days.

The Pfocus weighs about 350g. It extends 1.5cm or 0.6 inches from infinity to minimum focus and the focus throw is 180 degrees. Lucas gives you the option of having it in Canon or Nikon focus directions. Focus gears are built into the model, so no need to worry about that.

Minimum focus comes to 50cm from the front of the lens, which is closer than most focusers out there. The Pfocus exploits the optics used in wide angle adapters. This is not a wildly popular piece of info, but most two-element wide-angle adapters are made of a very strong positive and a very strong negative diopters. The distance between them is what defines the total power of the system. When they’re the closest, the system’s power is +0, and that power increases as the distance between the glass increases, maxing out at +2 - which gives you the 50cm minimum focus.

You’ll have lots of choices when it comes to mounting and front threads - you make these decisions while choosing the parts to print. You can have no front threads, 77 mil threads or 82 mil. For mounting, you can make it with 75mm female threads like the Rapido FVD-16a and Rectilux HCDNA, 77mm regular male filter threads, or a universal mount which works like a clamp - and that’s the option I chose.

And how much does this thing cost? I’ve estimated the printing costs using Shapeways it came out much pricier than I expected, at $130! It also had an average delivery time of a month from the date the order was placed, so I’d say find a friend with a printer and bother them. You’ll have way more control over the specs, which is a good thing for this project.

The screws and additional parts should cost you less than $20.

The Fujinon adapter can cost anything from $60 to $200, so hunt for a good deal. This is the most expensive part of this build - unless you decide to go with Shapeways for printing!

If you manage to get everything for cheap, we’re talking about less than half the price of SLR Magic’s Rangefinder.

Sharpness is alright. It struggles when wide open, with a lot of magenta fringing on high contrast edges, and things get considerably better as you stop down. Edges are messed up in all scenarios. For the center, f/2.8 is alright for on the wider taking lenses, but things get worse as we move towards longer focal lengths.

For flares, once we add the Pfocus, flares remain the same! There's an increase of veiling glare but no additional streaks. It's impressive to see how much the veiling glare affects the picture.

Because the glass comes from a wide-angle adapter, you’ll get the same effect on your images. When looking at infinity-focused pictures, the Pfocus makes your frame 0.84 times wider, which is usually not a bad deal. We all want to go wider when shooting scope, right?

In terms of coverage, when we add the Pfocus to a clean Cinelux on a 50mm, there's no additional vignetting but the image gets wider - as I just explained. You can get away with 35mm on MFT as I did in the opening test shots, but on full frame, even 50mm requires either a bit of crop to clear or a more lenient iris setting than f/8. 85mm clears the frame completely for the used sensor area. You can see a little bit of vignette on the top right corner still.

Breathing is quite pronounced with the image squeezing and stretching when I rack focus. I find this to be an awesome feature to draw attention to anamorphic character, but it can be a bit much for some people in this case.

I was pretty shocked with this focuser. We bash plastic lenses all the time, but the lightness of this thing was a blessing. The feeling of having built it myself, like some sort of high-tech lens lego made the experience of using it - and having it work properly - so incredibly rewarding. I would go as far as saying this has been one the most rewarding experiences I had on this channel. It’s right up there with anamorfaking and learning about the insides of lenses.

Coverage isn’t super amazing and I constantly found dust inside the lens. That’s when I realized I missed the grease when assembling it the first time and I was seeing debris from the focusing action! After I added the grease the dust issue disappeared.

It was also a super easy lens to adjust. I put it together and took it apart more than ten times by now, and every time I get a little more confident that nothing is going to break.

Huge props to Lucas Pfaff for designing and sharing this thing for free. This is top notch work!

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/pfocus.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

Rathenower Optische Werke

6MJbBhiB0Lc,A2BH0Nvqkbs

https://ebay.us/MZAo8X

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/rathenower.jpg

Variable Diopter

https://ebay.us/6W1rdC

The HardcoreDNA is the upgraded version of the CoreDNA, which is the "compact" version of the Rectilux 3FF-W. With its design and manufacture headed by John Barlow, the Rectilux is a niche product, with small production runs and usually sold out even before the packages are shipped. The difference between the Core and Hardcore is strictly mechanical and you can buy the parts for upgrade separately while keeping the same glass. This writing covers both models.

This piece of gear is a single focus solution, turning an anamorphic double focus system - all of those projection lenses - into single focus. I already wrote about how they work, so go for it if you wanna know the details. If you're happy with just knowing it works, then be happy, because it works wonders. All you have to do is set both your taking lens and anamorphic adapter to infinity and attach the HardcoreDNA in front of it all. Now all the focus is handled in a single ring.

It weighs 625g - or 1.3lbs -, and it's quite compact, especially when compared to the bigger Rectilux versions, or the FM Lens. This one is here to fight with the Rangefinder for the title of best single focus solution. It's got focus gears, distance scales (both in meters and feet), it's easy to carry, quick to install, fits multiple lenses and delivers impressive results. Also, it comes in black - the previous version, the CoreDNA, came in blueish purple.

Focus comes down to 0.7m, 2ft, with a throw of just under 180 degrees and a non-rotating front element (which is also a plus). The front threads are fit for 86mm filters and the opening on the back is 75mm wide, which goes snuggly around a 72mm step ring. Mounting works by tightening the six screws around the adapter, which makes a strong bond between the Rectilux and the anamorphic adapter.

The effects of the Rectilux glass on the scope are hard to notice. After more than a year on and off using single focus solutions, I can tell that there is a subtle softening of the image, but that is easily surpassed by the increased usability single focus brings. I paid close attention and couldn't notice quality loss around the corners either.

Again, the little things you notice after lots of shooting, the Rectiluxes (all versions) intensify a green streak that's present on the original scope's flare or, in some cases, add a green element to the flare.

The HardCoreDNA fits in front of the scope like a glove, overlapping the mechanics and placing the glass as close as possible. The clamp style is what allows this closeness, opposed to filter threads that reinforce a gap between glass elements. The advantage of having the glass closer is it lowers mechanical vignetting, as there is less obstructions in the light's path.

This adapter is my go-to single focus and I didn't blink when deciding if I should keep my 3FF-W or let it go in favor of the HardCoreDNA. Its only downsides are the high price compared to other single focus solutions in the market and the waiting period. I think the images speak for themselves in terms of performance and ease of use. I highly recommend this one here.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/rectilux.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/jwdUvA

Singer 16-C, D.O. Industries 16-C, Eiki 16-C, Vidoscope 16-C, Gallo-Fox 16-C

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/sankor16c.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/VIanyT

While not as great as other projection lenses I've reviewed before, this Sankor is still a good performer. It has flares similar to the Kowa 8-Z and 16-H and can deliver beautiful cinematic imagery. As any projection lens, it's double focus, and I'm using a single focus solution to make it friendly. Another thing about projection lenses, if you're close focusing WITHOUT diopters, you're also changing the stretch factor. Bokeh is nice and long and the edge aberration can be beneficial to some projects.

When I started out in anamorphics, there was an obvious rank of best projection lenses. Aim for a Kowa B&H. If you can't get one, go for the Kowa 8-Z. If that's still not achievable, get yourself a Sankor 16-D. Being third place, among all projection lenses is no easy feat. It also helps that these three are more commonly found than some more obscure - yet amazing scopes.

This is a 2x stretch adapter, double focus, and focuses down to 5ft, or 1.5m. It has sizeable glass, so it won't eat away much light from your taking lens, but it's considerably longer than the Kowas. As for attaching it to a taking lens, the Sankor doesn't have standard threads. You can get front and rear clamps. This adapter weights 545g, I'd recommend using rails.

For attaching diopters and filters to the front, I will strongly recommend Vid-Atlantic's replacement ring. It's much more elegant than a clamp, as you screw out a piece of the Sankor and replace it with the custom-made ring, which has 72mm filter threads.

You get excellent results at the center at any aperture, but the edges become less reliable and introduce chromatic aberration as you open up the taking lens.

Due to lantanium coatings, flares are blueish and beautiful.

The Sankor 16-D has similar coatings to the earliest Kowas, delivering cool, purple-ish flares that resemble the flares from REAL anamorphic lenses with a much higher price tag.

The length of the Sankor affects its vignetting negatively. Anything upwards from 100mm is your safe range for full frame 3.56:1 aspect ratio. You can get a barely clear 3.56:1 aspect ratio on full frame with a compact 85mm - but not with all 85mm's -, and 2.4:1 at 58mm. 50mm is way too wide and will give you black edges no matter what. Keep in mind that if you're adding a single focus solution, that will build into vignetting.

The Sankor 16-D squeezes in the first tier of projection lenses, thanks to its big glass and good results. Flares are also desirable, but for me it requires too long taking lenses and it's shape makes the whole setup a long train of lenses and very front heavy. One of its strong aspects is that it can be had for cheaper than the Kowas.

Singer 16-D, Universcope 16-D, Eiki 16-D

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/sankor16d.jpg

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/sankor16d_1.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/sankor16d_2.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/sankor16d_3.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/sankor16d_4.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/rykY1d

The footage coming out of this lens reminds me a lot of the Isco Ultra Star, it's quite sharp, has a pronounced 2x bokeh and it's coming from a golden-looking lens. The biggest difference I could spot was how this Sankor handled flares - or failed to. Direct sun hits flooded the frame with white and when I could get it just right, an interesting green streak would show up. I used the HCDNA for these shots, because no one has the time for double focusing anymore.

It's a compact adapter, feels slightly shorter than the Ultra Star and weighs 580g, almost 1.5lb. It's a 2x stretch projection lens, which implies double focus. The focus ring is smooth and it comes down to 1.5m over 240 degrees of throw. There's also a handy focus-locking screw, for setting it to infinity and coupling to a single focus solution.

There are no front or rear threads, so you'll need clamps for attaching filters and connecting to a taking lens. Due to the size and weight, I recommend using rails on this one - or almost any projection lens, for that matter.

Image quality is outstanding, even in the corner areas, performing well at fast apertures and any focal length, which makes me think even more of the Isco Ultra Star. It displays a sensible improvement when stopped from 1.4 to f/2.8 and I don't think you can get much sharper past that point, it might even be a taking lens limitation!

Flares are nice and green. I think this is my first green-flaring lens ever. There's a fair amount of blooming around light sources, which is not great, but I'd take these flares over the non-existing flares of the Ultra Star any day. There are many different coatings for both glass elements in this lens, creating multiple different flare colors and mixes.

Vignetting was interesting, like a Kowa chart. We have a bit too much at 40mm but Almost clears full frame at 50mm, definitely clears 2.4:1, which is a rare trait for projection lenses. Then all clear at 85mm. The big glass and short body certainly helped here.

This scope has a lot of impressive results: nice flares, great image quality, can go pretty wide for a 2x adapter. Too bad it's almost impossible to find! The world could benefit from more of those floating around. This time I'm not putting down a double focus projection scope. Good scopes get good reviews.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/sankor5e.jpg

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/sankor5e_1.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/sankor5e_2.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/sankor5e_3.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/sankor5e_4.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/sankor5e_5.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/sankor5e_6.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/SHryo3

This adapter doesn't have a focus ring, you focus using the little screws on the front of the lens, which makes it hard to work with if focusing is needed, Features a focus locking screw.

There are a few versions of this lens, one of them with a lip over the optics which is the less preferred one. There are also golden and black versions.

As I said many times before, I'm not a huge fan of cumbersome projection lenses, so they were never too high on my list of pending reviews. Then I got this Cinelux with my FM and it would be rude of me to waste this opportunity.

There's not much cool story behind these, as they are modern anamorphics, designed for 35mm film projectors. Schneider is the company that bought Isco some time ago so their glass is top notch. Being modern, a little too much top notch. First warning of this video is about the multiple versions available. This one - which seems to be the most compact one - is the ES version, but there's the WA, for wider angles I assume, and the Super Cinelux, which has a horrendous front lip that will mess up your life, so avoid at all costs.

Sometimes these Schneiders come with a spherical projection lens attached to the back. For the purposes of this review, just take that off and combine the anamorphic with any taking lenses you might regularly use. The anamorphic block has the same diameter all throughout. Getting to the tech specs, this is a 2x stretch scope, with no front thread for filters and non-standard rear thread. You're gonna need a clamp to attach this adapter to your taking lens.

I wouldn't consider this a useful lens for shooting WITHOUT a single focus solution. The reason for that is the ES Cinelux has no focus ring. Focus is adjusted by these two screws at the front of the lens. I can't even imagine how to work this on set as double focus setups are already tough. This is just stupid. Long story short, get a single focus solution. Rectilux, Rangefinder or FM. Otherwise, don't even bother with this anamorphic.

Alignment relies on the clamp - here I'm using the lens collar from the FM lens. Since the flares on this one are pretty subtle due to multicoating, check both flares and bokeh for alignment. The easiest way to mount this lens is probably using a lens collar (this one, for the Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro has the exact same diameter as the Cinelux) and attaching that to 15mm rails.

Resolution and sharpness is when the modern aspects of this lens shine. With a big rear element and multicoating, the Cinelux performs nicely even at fast apertures around 50mm, and quite decently across the frame. Performance drops as the lenses grow longer, being quite soft at 85 or 135 at their maximum aperture. Stop them down a bit to f/4 or 5.6 and things get better. They're long lenses, that shouldn't be much of a problem. I'm using the Contax Zeiss set as taking lenses so they don't bring in too much personality into the charts.

Flaring is when the modern aspects of this lens DON'T shine, quite literally as flares are muted and almost non existent. They have a saturated - but not alien - blue color that is very pleasing.

For a 2x scope, the Cinelux is more on the long side, not usable at 40mm even with 2.4:1 aspect ratio. 50mm makes this possible, but barely, with vignette trying to creep in. If you remove the FM, that should clear it. At 58mm you have more leeway with the FM and can go an easy 2.4:1, or 2.66:1 accepting a bit of dark corners. As usual, full 3.56:1 shooting only works from 85mm and up.

The ES Cinelux has some good points, but overall it doesn't have anything that excites me too much. I'm not crazy for sharpness and the lack of natural flares are downsides for me - but not for everyone. 2x bokeh is nice. This adapter demands a single focus solution, asking for good money just to make it usable. On the other hand, the simplicity of the setup and reliable results are great points. Just mount it on rails so it's aligned for good and go out to shoot - no need for crazy mods or tweaks. Definitely a good lens for starting out in anamorphic and getting nice, moody images out of any camera.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/schneidercinelux.jpg

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/schneidercinelux_1.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/schneidercinelux_2.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/schneidercinelux_3.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/schneidercinelux_4.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/schneidercinelux_5.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

https://bhpho.to/3jxZtot

Anamorphics for phones first came to life in the end of 2013, through a small Kickstarter campaign by Moondog Labs. Their product was so different that there weren’t even apps for desqueezing the image on your phone at that time. “Tangerine” was an interesting movie shot with these lenses.

In 2018 Moment kicks their campaign online. They get funded in 40 minutes, reaching whooping $1.6M and sell almost 10 thousand phone anamorphics.

My theory is that the $1.6M Moment got in funding is the kind of money that motivates a market. Other companies realized there was money to be made from anamorphic lenses for phones and that is what expanded our options. The vast majority of these are 1.33x squeeze, with some very recent expansions into 1.55x by BeastGrip and 1.15x by Ulanzi.

Having options is great, but the inconsistent mounting methods are killing me. While many of them are offered in 37mm or bayonet mounts that fit your phone case, some brands insist on proprietary mounts and I would love to know why.

For beginners considering phone anamorphics as an entryway to shooting scope: these lack oval bokeh and many of the visual traits of anamorphics. You’ll get flares and a wider aspect ratio, maybe some barrel distortion, but that’s about it.

A basic 1.33x lens design has a simple formula: two cylinders that squeeze the image and no focus ajustment. It fails hardcore at close focus and fast apertures. Since our phones have very tiny sensors, the issue with fast apertures doesn’t come to play, only close focus still fails.

Since all these lens makers are using the same anamorphic design the different results come from different coatings. Coatings will determine light transmission, overall tone (warmer or colder), contrast, flare colors and fine resolution.

During my research for making this video I had a really hard time controlling my phone camera until I starteed using the FiLMiC Pro app. FiLMiC Pro gives you everything you have on a regular camera, plus it desqueezes the footage on the fly. It also provides you with zebras, focus peaking and it has great integration with gimbals and other gear. It sells for $12.99.

Then throw on a variable ND for some more light control - make sure your lens can take filters. Not all brands make them, so I made some for the lenses that didn’t have any. The process is the same I used to make the Moment filter holder. To be safe, I carry around a diopter kit too, although I barely use it.

Last, I got a gimbal stabilizer, the Zhiyun Smooth 4, for little over $100. Our phones are crazy sensitive to movement and that translates into the footage as shakiness.

My phone is a Google Pixel 2 and I’m using a Moment case which features a bayonet mount. I had to modify the Kapkur lens from its original bayonet into a standard bayo. The Sirui, MoondogLabs and Moment lenses are all bayo and Ulanzi came in 37mm, so I’m using a clip to secure it to the phone and removing the case.

I’m shooting everything in 4K and desqueezing through FiLMiC, which saves me a ton of time. The final resolution of the files is 3840x1620px. I’m trying, as best as I can to keep shutter at 180 degrees and expose to the right (ETTR), since this tiny sensor noise is awful.

Time to break them with close focus. Here is an attempt at minimum focus. Notice how we finally start to see some bokeh in the background? Do you also notice how it stretches the wrong way? That’s a consequence of fixed focus and having the taking lens - the phone - and the anamorphic focused at very different distances.

In terms of construction, these are all quite similar in terms of size and weight. The square format seems to be more popular, making the lenses more compact. The Kapkur is visibly bigger than the rest and so far it’s the only one that sort of fell apart, with the original bayo falling off - which turned out to be a good thing since it allowed me to remount it as standard bayo.

When it comes to filter threads, none of them offer them natively. Moment sells a filter holder for $30 that is held in place by pressure, Ulanzi sells theirs for $5, and it uses a screw to lock down, Moondog Labs sells for $35 and it features a locking clamp. Kapkur and Sirui don’t make filter holders so you gotta make your own. Mine are locked through a super-tight fit.

All lenses come with front and rear caps, but none of the caps support filter holders - as in, if you want to store the lens with the filter holder attached, figure out your own caps. Moment and Ulanzi give you little pouches that can hold the lens with the filter holder and that was good enough for me.

For the rest of the lenses, I figured a “safe enough” way to transport or took out the filter holder and used the lens caps.

Alignment is a hard thing. Here by far my favorite lens is the Sirui. It has a tiny button that allows you to quickly rotate between vertical or horizontal alignment and since the lens comes in bayonet mount, there’s no need for any adjustments in between these two orientations.

Moment’s has a tiny screw that locks its orientation, so if you wanna switch from horizontal to vertical, all you do is loosen this and adjust.

Moondog Labs and Ulanzi have this ring on the back that offers some resistance but allows you to spin them to any angle. While I appreciate the ability to do so, it mainly makes me worried I don’t have the lens perfectly aligned when mounted.

After looking at all this, it’s hard to objectively choose one of them over ther other. They are all similarly priced, they perform similarly and have similar constructions.

I’d highlight Sirui’s alignment mechanism as a great victory over its competitors. Kapkur’s original mounting method is only good if you’re using their case - which fits only specific phones -, and Ulanzi’s only mounts to 37mm threads, which are not featured in compact cases, and I truly disliked the clip I used to hold it in place.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/sirui-vd01.jpg

Synchro Focus

E, MFT, X, EF-M, RF, L, Z

https://bhpho.to/2ZnDDNL

All Sirui lenses so far offer 1.33x squeeze, which ends up on 16:9 footage stretching out to almost perfect CinemaScope straight out of the box. It’s a great squeeze factor to start with. The price on these things makes them extra friendly to beginners, as they also eliminate a lot of the elements of putting together a DIY anamorphic setup.

The 24mm is slightly bigger and heavier than its siblings, at 780g or 1.7 pounds and 12.5 cm or 5 inches. Filter threads are 72mm, bigger than the previous two lenses, and this one does not come with iris and focus gears, like the 35mm did.

This lens is also a bit over a stop darker than the other two, with f/2.8 as maximum aperture versus 1.8 on the other two, and it closes down to f/16. Wide angles are tougher to design and fast ones get expensive. Not the goal with Sirui, right?

My predictions about close focus were wrong, as the 24mm comes down to 0.6m or 2ft, almost a foot shorter than the other two lenses, adding some nice versatility and creative framing opportunities. Focus throw is just a touch longer than 180 degrees and features nice hard stops.

Talking about mounts, this gets a little confusing. The 24mm comes with five native mounts, but not the swapping system used on the 35 - which I thought was brilliant. The options are Sony E-mount, MFT, X-mount is back, Canon EF-M and Z mount for Nikon. Mine is in MFT as I believe that to be the most versatile one. On the risk of repeating myself - these lenses are NOT designed for EF mount. They will not work.

When we look at sharpness, we have similar behavior to the other lenses in the set, which is great. The 24mm performs great at minimum focus and looks a little softer at infinity. Stopping it down cleans it up even more, as expected.

I fully switched over to MFT in this last review and I find it’s useful to present the difference in focal length equivalences. Notice these numbers are slightly different for APS-C, or S35 coverage!

The 24 would become a 48mm thanks to the 2x crop of Micro Four Thirds, but thanks to the 1.33x anamorphic squeeze, it gives me a 36mm horizontal field of view.

The 35 would become a 70, and once we apply the squeeze, we get a 52mm field of view horizontally.

Lastly, the 50 would be 100mm, and thanks to the squeeze it turns into a 75mm horizontal field of view.

Notice that the vertical axis is still tighter, and that’s the whole point in anamorphics. Feeling you’re using a longer lens, but actually getting a wider field of view. A set with these fields of view - 36, 52 and 75 - is an excellent choice for most narrative work.

Flares are CRAZY in this 24mm. They feel super intense and due to the wide angle nature of the lens, it’s easy to get multiple flares in the same shot. I feel the threshold for flaring has been lowered on this one, making it easier to get a streak. As the rest of the set, they’re blue-purple.

For distortion, this being an actual wide angle helps distorting the footage.

An important thing to point out, still in the subject of distortion, is that squeeze changes across the focus range. It’s 1.33x at infinity, but once we get to minimum focus, at 2ft or 0.6m, the actual squeeze is 1.25x. This is a consequence of this focusing method. If you want to learn more about other focusing methods, hit subscribe now because I’m working on a video about that!

Overall, I’m pretty happy with this set, what we can do with it and - especially - how much it costs. I hope Sirui makes something a bit longer, like an 85mm, just to round it out and give us bokeh paradise. I miss the swapping mounts and gears that were used on the 35mm though.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/sirui24.jpg

Synchro Focus

E, MFT, EF-M, Z, RF, L

https://bhpho.to/2XECS1R

I’m absolutely mindblown that Sirui could put together not only one revolutionary anamorphic lens like no one has done before, but TWO of them in less than a year! The 50mm was pretty neat and since we, the people, clamored for something wider, they delivered a 35mm! Same as the 50, if you’re craving for more anamorphics in your life, this is definitely worth investing in.

Considering the 50mm was Sirui’s first venture into big camera lenses, they’re taking this in stride on the 35mm. Both lenses are pretty much the same size, although the 35mm is bulkier, at 700g.

Filter threads are the same, 67mm, and they also listened to our requests for video shooting, since this 35mm comes with a pair of gears for focus and aperture. They’re super neat and get a great grip on the body. It’s definitely a good sign to see that they’re listening to their customers and reviewers.

Moving on, aperture ranges from f/1.8 (crazy!) to f/16 and the focus ring has 180 degrees of throw, with witness marks for both meters and feet. Minimum focus is the same as the 50mm, sitting at 85cm or 2.8ft which is a bit too far out for a 35mm, but I can see why they wouldn’t focus any closer at the expense of even less anamorphic squeeze. If they keep working on other focal lengths, my bet is that minimum focus won’t change on them either.

If you’re landing here without much prior anamorphic knowledge, many anamorphics see reduced squeeze factor when approaching minimum focus. This one for example is marked for 1.33x, but that’s only at infinity. At minimum focus we’re looking at 1.25x!

While the 50mm came in three different mounts, for MFT, Sony and Fuji, this one is natively MFT, and if you want to mount it to something else, Sirui designed the mount in a way that you can easily attach a different mount over top, like the e-mount I have here.

There are eight screws holding the mount in place. To add a Sony, or mirrorless Canon or Nikon mount you need to take out the four outer screws, put in the new mount, which also features a very handy pin to keep alignment correct, and then reinsert the four screws. This lens also isn’t and won’t be EF mount compatible. This mount feature is so awesome I’ve been asking them if it’ll be implemented on the 50mm.

This 35mm lens is also designed for APS-C or S35 sensors, so NOT full frame. By the way, with all this crop, squeeze and whatnot, what’s our actual wider field of view? Well, when you use a 35mm lens in S35 mode, it crops to match a 52.5mm lens. But because of the anamorphic block, the horizontal field of view on the Sirui is 39mm, while vertically it remains 52.5mm, creating some depth separation that anamorphics are famous for.

Shooting wide open does not hurt how this lens performs in terms of sharpness. And it being wider also increases depth of field, which pushes me to shooting wide open. An interesting thing I noticed is aberrations seem optimized for close focus, since it’s tack sharp there, and we lose a little sharpness as we rack to infinity.

I think this is a pretty wise call when it comes to anamorphics actually, since the biggest challenge with scopes is shooting close range. That’s where the best performance should be, and not at infinity, like a lens used for projection.

Flares are consistent with the 50mm, bright vivid blue/teal, very Panavision C-series. If you’re bothered by how saturated they are, you can pick them out in color correction. I have another video about that, just check the card on the screen now, or the link in the description.

In terms of distortion the wider focal length makes the curved lines even more pronounced, screaming “scooope!”.

Bokeh is still subtle, since this is a 1.33x lens, and the ovals are also smaller since it’s a wider focal length. There’s still some warping when you get to the sides of the frame, where bokeh gets really squished or cutoff, but I feel overall this one does better than the 50mm.

Coverage is interesting. Designed for S35, it looks super awesome. But on the A7s2, that’s limited to HD resolution, so I step up to 4K and full frame, and this is what you get. Then, I’ll cheat a little bit and use Clear Image Zoom on the Sony to crop out the vignetting and still go a liiiittle bit wider than the original plan of S35, as you can see!

Sirui is on a roll with their anamorphic releases and I’m loving how this is making the format accessible and popular. This lens is small, relatively lightweight, definitely affordable and it packs a punch in performance and ease of use when compared to most anamorphic adapters. Sure, it doesn’t fit EF, and yeah, it has a light squeeze factor, but I feel the pros defeat the cons by a landslide.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/sirui35.jpg

Synchro Focus

https://bhpho.to/3Ebe1ST

This lens is a revolution to anamorphic lenses the same Blackmagic was a revolution to cameras a few years ago. It's not necessarily perfect (remember, the comparison is with Blackmagic), but it's got MANY features that we could only dream so far, in a very affordable product.

The hype around this lens started back in September, when it modestly showed up at IFA in Berlin. From there on, as people picked up on it, the interest kept on growing until mind-boggling levels affecting the sales of adapters on eBay. Everyone is holding onto their money before committing to adapters now, because the Sirui might be able to deliver what we need.

The lens is tiny but heavy for its size, weighing 570g (1.25 lbs). Construction feels pretty solid, no plastic parts. Filter threads are 67mm. Both aperture and focus rings offer good resistance and smooth rotation. Aperture ranges from f/1.8 to f/16. Focus features markings in both meters and feet, and it goes from 0.85m (3ft) to infinity in 140 degrees of throw. The biggest thing here is that you only need one focus ring (this might sound like an alien comment if you're not used to anamorphic adapters). Operate it as regular lens, yet get anamorphic vibes.

Squeeze is 1.33x, which is a great call for today's default 16:9 camera sensors. All you need to do is desqueeze your image in post and you'll have a vintage Cinemascope aspect ratio of 2.36:1 - storytime: after 1973, Cinemascope has been extended to 2.39:1 or 2.4:1 by eliminating the optical soundtrack from the film print.

The lens comes in three different mounts at the time of release. E-mount for Sony, MFT for Panasonic, Z-Cam, BMPCC4k and others, and X-mount for Fuji. Before anyone starts complaining about EF mounts, this lens was clearly designed for mirrorless cameras. The EF mount requires 44mm between the mount and the sensor (that's called flange distance), while e-mount only has 18mm. If a lens is designed for a shorter flange, it can't be adapted to a longer flange.

The image circle is APS-C, or S35. It doesn't cover full frame - same thought process of the mount. Keeping this lens with a smaller image circle than FF and mirrorless mounts is key to manufacture and distribution at the price we're seeing.

This lens is crisp beyond what I thought possible. Razor sharp wide open from center to corner at minimum focus. It also does something I didn’t really expect: performance decreases as we focus towards infinity wide open. We see some chromatic aberration pop in the center and the edges get really smudged. Still beats all other 1.33x adapters out there and I wouldn’t say this is bad performance.

The label says 1.33x squeeze but I wanna make sure. So I shot three circles at different distances to check. I used diopters to force infinity focus and other distances to the focused object. The reason I did different distances is because this lens focuses through a technique called synchro focus - this means both the spherical and anamorphic blocks are being adjusted at the same time - and anamorphic fronts tend to get a lesser squeeze when close focused.

So while 1.33x squeeze holds true at infinity, when at minimum focus we're seeing more of a 1.26x

If you’re new to anamorphic shooting, you’ll find it pretty weird to frame and focus this squeezed image. If your camera doesn’t have a desqueeze function consider getting a small monitor that has anamorphic desqueeze. There are lots of options in the $200 range.

If you’re used to scopes already, 1.33x is a breeze. I can shoot like this all day long.

Looking at a checkerboard we can see the distortion profile is pretty controlled. 1.33x scopes only starts to warp for real around 35mm or wider.

Flares are sweet, blue and super saturated. Terrifically sci-fi. There's not much else to say about these guys!

The smooth oval bokeh gets lost pretty quick when stopping down, becoming a polygon due to a 10-blade count aperture mechanism.

A few folks have brought up the issue of skewed flares and footage, which means the anamorphic block is slightly out of perfect alignment. The lens doesn't offer any way of adjusting this from the get go, but my solution was to loosen up the mount a little bit and adjust it to perfection.

The other bit where this lens takes flak is coverage. Everyone goes crazy when a lens doesn't cover full frame, apparently. Well, this one doesn't. It's APS-C or S35. You know what else is S35? This badass LOMO from Van Diemen. Do you see anyone complaining about cine lenses not covering full frame?

Now that we compared the $700 lens to the $15000 lens, I feel we're at a good place for a conclusion. Let's start with the downsides.

While aperture is smooth, it could benefit from more blades - or curved blades - for a smoother bokeh throughout the entire range. This would prevent stretched polygons when the lens is stopped down and deliver only ovals.

The alignment thing is a bit off-putting. A stricter quality control for this would solve the issue and boost confidence for buyers. And since we're talking about the look of the lens, I guess Sirui could enhance the typography work on this thing. It looks super generic, not representative of what it stands for when it comes to anamorphic shooting.

So, what does it represent? This is a full blown revolution in budget anamorphics. It's groundbreaking. There has never been such a cheap and effective way to shoot scope since... ever, I guess - and I'm the expert! I don't think Sirui was aware of how much of an impact this lens is going to have in the anamorphic market, springing competition at a budget level we’ve all been dying to see for years.

It'll also drive down the prices of adapters and make shooters more demanding towards simplicity instead of hacked-together solutions. As I said in the beginning, this feels like what Blackmagic did for cameras a few years back.

The first Blackmagic camera was far from perfect, but they evolved into something amazing today. Here I think Sirui is doing a better job, starting at a higher level. Not perfect yet, but certainly on the way there.

This lens is gonna sell like crazy and drive even more interest into anamorphics. If Sirui stays on top of this, they can single-handedly explore this market before anyone else comes close.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/sirui50.jpg

Synchro Focus

WE ASKED FOR IT, WE COLLECTIVELY THREW A TANTRUM AND NOW WE GOT IT! Was it worth it, though? This is the question I’ll answer while looking at Sirui’s new 50mm T2.9 FULL FRAME, 1.6X anamorphic lens!

No, it’s still not going to work on EF mount.

Sirui is back, now putting full frame in their sights after a successful APS-C set and a quick Micro Four Thirds detour. I’m quite impressed by their squeeze choice and how that has a ripple effect on the ideal camera for it!

Looking at the outside of this 50mm, the body has the improved construction seen in the MARS set, which feels much nicer than the original set. The body is all metal and glass, and - funny enough - this chonky boy looks heavier than it is, at 1kg or 2.3 pounds. The front threads are 82mm, which is better than a lot of DIY setups out there. The lens also features a ¼-20” slot at the bottom for support, but I don’t really care for it...

The lens comes in four different mounts, E, RF, Z and L-mount, and the one I have here is in L mount, because it goes on the only camera capable of squeezing the most performance out of the lens.

Iris and focus rings are geared this time, a more professional-video approach to their target users. Markings are in feet and meters, again using fractions of feet. Minimum focus is 0.75m or 2 and a half feet, which is 4 inches or 10cm shorter than the original 50 mil’s minimum focus. Again we’re looking at a synchro focus design and squeeze does change through the focus range.

The advertised 1.6X holds true for infinity, but the more you come towards minimum focus, the less squeeze you’re getting. At mins we see 1.51x. And, to be honest, this SOUNDS a lot worse than it actually is.

Speaking of off, 1.6X is an unusual choice to say the least. 50mm with 1.6x squeeze gives us a 32mm horizontal field of view. I’m wondering if Sirui is trying to take on Panavision’s Ultra Vistas...

The biggest downside of the increased squeeze factor compared to the 1.33X sets is that no cameras offer native 1.6X desqueeze. So the only way to accurately monitor the picture on set is using an external monitor that allows you to apply a custom desqueeze.

For in-camera, the way I’m going about it is using the 1.5X value which is “close enough” to not affect framing too much.

Still on the topic of 1.6X desqueeze, at first I was put off by the number, then it dawned on me that if I shoot open gate on the S1H, which has a 3:2 aspect ratio and desqueeze by 1.6X, I get exact 2.4:1! This gives me a ton of extra sensor area over regular 16:9 full frame video desqueezed at 1.6X and cropped back to 2.4:1.

If you’re filming on 16:9 full frame, you’ll end up with a 2.84:1 aspect ratio, which I consider to be a bit too narrow - it’s thinner than my favorite 2.66:1. So to bring your footage back to CinemaScope, you’ll need to crop the sides of the frame accordingly.

Taking another page from the MARS set, the coatings here a lot nicer than the coatings we saw on the first Sirui lenses. This reflects on the flares, which are much subtler and have a nice teal tone that can be influenced by the light source’s color. For example, a strong tungsten source will make greenish flares as blue plus yellow equals green.

The lens is a bit too sensitive to what I’m gonna call “area flares”, large high brightness elements such as windows or screens, or pieces of sky! These also produce streaks, as opposed to the “usual” point light behavior we see in most other anamorphics. I don’t know yet if I love this aspect of it.

It might be repetitive to say this by now, but this 50mm is super sharp at critical focus even wide open. Definitely an easier task when the maximum aperture is T2.9!

Sirui never cheaps out on aperture blades and that is good for bokeh. Here we have ten blades and the iris remains a clean enough circle throughout the range. This ensures we get smooth oval bokeh regardless of aperture value. Before anyone asks, I’m not making oval inserts for these ones! 1.6X is squeezy enough on bokeh!

This brings us to the lens’ weakest aspect, which is the “slow” aperture for today’s standards of f/0.95 lenses and the likes of super fast sphericals, especially when talking about 50mm, which is an “easy” fast and cheap lens, possibly using a double gauss design! We got full frame, but we lost a stop of light. Was that a good trade? I anticipate complaints!

Overall, this is an awesome lens, and it’s surely replacing my old Sirui 50mm - it’s funny to call a 2019 lens “old”. I like the stronger squeeze factor and I can live with the light loss in exchange for open gate coverage. Now I just wish they hurry up and release the next one!

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/sirui50FF.jpg

Synchro Focus

E, MFT, X, EF-M, RF, L, Z

https://bhpho.to/3vHwovR

Gotta say, I was hoping for this one, but it’s a surprise to a lot of people! Everyone wanted to go wider, but not everyone thought how good anamorphic would look on a longer lens!

Alright, what else is there to say about Sirui lenses? These folks are fast at putting out lenses and they hardly ever disappoint! Construction is solid and mechanics feel decent. We’ll see how that holds up in a future video when I need to go in and put an oval insert in there.

In every way, this 75mm follows the lead of its predecessors.

It’s lightweight at 800g on average through the different mounts, and compact, perfect for a mirrorless rig. On the risk of repeating myself, this lens is only compatible with mirrorless cameras, and you can pick from five different mounts: MFT, X, E, Z or EF-M (not the same as EF).

It features 67mm front threads for filters, which I recommend stepping up to 77mm as a standard across the set. Aperture is impressive at f/1.8 again like the 50 and 35mm, and the focus ring has just over 180 degrees of throw.

Minimum focus is slightly further on this lens compared to the other ones, at 1.2m, or 4ft, which is pretty decent for a longer lens. This reflects on a stronger squeeze factor at minimum focus. The variation on this lens goes from 1.33X at infinity to 1.3X at mins.

I’d still just get diopters for closer subjects and keep the focus ring set more towards infinity to avoid these changes!

No issues with sharpness. It’s crazy to get a sharp long lens in anamorphic. A lot of DIY setups can’t handle fast apertures or longer focal lengths due to non-optimized focusing optics, but that’s far from the reality here. Get eyes pin-sharp. A great deal of the sharpness we see in the Sirui lenses comes from the lesser squeeze factor, by the way. Less curved glass helps with keeping aberrations in check. Good on them!

Flares are the same. Not as hardcore as the 24mm was, though. Which is good. The subtle and larger flares created by the 75mm give an organic vibe to the images.

For coverage, this lens is, again, designed for S35 or APS-C.

Bokeh is more noticeable thanks to the longer focal length, but 1.33x is still subtle. I plan to mod this lens as well for squeezier bokeh, especially because we can afford to lose some light in exchange for better ovals! In any case, 75mm is awesome to create stronger background separation and have your subject pop - especially considering how sharp the lens is!

My current guess is this rounds up Sirui’s original set, which also establishes them on the consumer anamorphic market, promoting a big change on the landscape in terms of affordability. I bet we’ll see them move to more challenging designs tackling either the all-time popular EF mount, stronger squeeze factors, or full frame coverage. Any of these advances would promote another wave of awe from the users dissatisfied with the current offerings.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/sirui75.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

https://bhpho.to/3hMkvxq

Readily available.

Square glass elements lead to square bokeh instead of oval

Either the Compact Anamorphot is much better than its predecessors or the taking lenses affected the previous ones a great deal. On this one, for day time I had no issues focusing with any of the tested focal lengths and I was able to quickly find sharpness fiddling with the normal-near ring as well as the taking lens' focus ring. At low light I still got some diamond shapes here and there, but when I found focus, the image sharpened up alright.

The SLR Magic Anamorphot 1.33x-40 Compact - quite a long name, right? - is SLR Magic's THIRD take on a 1.33x adapter. This is the smallest and lightest one yet, at 244g.

It features 52mm threads at the back to attach to various taking lenses and 62mm threads at the front, for smaller (and cheaper!) diopters.

Alignment is set just like the previous version, by reverse rotating the ring on the rear threads until it locks against the taking lens. It's very simple and intuitive and I think it's something that other adapters could use as a reference.

Its design is reminiscent of the Century Optics adapter, with a small body and square optics and focusing done mostly by the taking lens. The difference is while the Century has fixed focus between 4m and infinity, struggling for closer focus, the Compact has the Near/Normal dial which allows you to fine tune your focus range (just like the big Century WS-13). This improves image quality considerably when aiming at objects at close range down to 0.8m. If you wanna get closer than that, I would recommend diopters anyway.

The square glass and lesser squeeze translate into subtle oval bokeh which needs to be pushed through the use of diopters.

The center of the image is pretty decent at any aperture, but the falloff to the edge blurriness is directly related to how stopped down your taking lens is. Wide open, things go blurry rather fast. The Compact is also not a huge fan of longer lenses, and I would cap my range at 85mm.

Did you actually expect NOT to see insanely saturated flares? On some of my lenses, it created this cross-type flare, with very strange edges, and in some others, normal, overly blue streaks.

For sensor coverage, the size of the front optics and how recessed they are on the taking lens matters very much. I got unacceptable results while using a 35mm but the frame cleaned up nicely at 40mm with Canon's pancake. I wanted to test a 50mm just to be sure vignette wouldn't come back due to recessed optics.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/slr133-40.jpg

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/slr133-40_1.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/slr133-40_2.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/slr133-40_3.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/slr133-40_4.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/slr133-40_5.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/slr133-40_6.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/slr133-40_7.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

Variable Diopter

https://ebay.us/ncPWHB

Unlike it's bigger brother, the 1.33x-50, this Anamorphot is fun and easy to use. It is a single focus setup, as it comes attached to a budget Rangefinder, with no focus markings except "Near" and "Normal". The distortion is quite pleasing and it stretches out to Cinemascope aspect ratio right out of the camera when shooting 16:9, due to its 1.33x aspect ratio. Flares are still super saturated, and there are lots of chromatic aberration when shooting around f/2.8 or faster. It doesn't play super nice with longer lenses (85mm and up), especially in low light. Corners are messy all throughout, but you should've learned to not expect much from a 1.33x adapter anyway. My best pairing is by far the Canon EF 40mm pancake.

This Anamorphot feels like a shrunk version of the 1.33x-50. It has 52mm rear threads and a built-in locking mechanism that frees you from clamps. The front thread is 82mm, allowing for NDs, diopters and whatnot. SLR Magic discourages using taking lenses with front elements bigger than 40mm (hence the name!), as that will introduce vignetting and light loss.

One big advantage of this 1.33x adapter is the fact that it is single focus. Focus ranges from 1.2m (or 4ft) to infinity. All you have to do is focus your taking lens to infinity and attach the anamorphic to the front. The adapter weights 535g, has a solid metal build and it's not too taxing on the taking lens to require additional support - as you don't need clamps and diopters.

The previous Anamorphots were "double focus but not quite", through the Near Normal dial, which required some tweaking with the taking lens. This is not the case here, with full single focus operation. They recommend shooting from f/2.8 and above, and it's easy to see the difference when you go below that. I would say the sweet spot for this adapter is f/4.

Blue radioactive flares, no surprises here. Plus the added elements because of the Rangefinder. Not the finest performance for me, but if you really dig flares, this one is the way to go! Some taking lenses will make a vertical flare. It doesn't show on the 40mm, but shows on other lenses I tried.

When it comes to sensor coverage, SLR Magic recommends using this lens with APS-C sized sensors, and says it will pair nicely with their CINE Series, both the 35mm f/1.4 and 50mm f/1.1. For MFT, they say 25mm works. For Full Frame, I was still able to get a clear shot at 40mm, using Canon's pancake.

I don't see this as a step back from the Anamorphot 1.33x-50, but a step up! I was able to go much wider with built-in single focus. Full frame performance is not top notch, but many of SLR Magic's lens choices are geared towards smaller sensors and with the GH family around, I understand and respect that. I think this is an attempt to reel in more serious shooters because of single focus and all of the anamorphic character.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/slr133-40sf.jpg

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/slr133-40sf_1.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/slr133-40sf_2.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/slr133-40sf_3.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/slr133-40sf_4.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/slr133-40sf_5.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/slr133-40sf_6.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/slr133-40sf_7.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

https://bhpho.to/3jwuQ2O

As soon as SLR Magic’s first Anamorphot came out, I didn't see a point to it. It seemed like a double focus, oversized Century Optics adapter, for twice the price. Almost two years passed before I had the chance to actually see the lens with my own eyes and test it in person.

Andrew Chan from SLR Magic explained me th company’s guidelines are availability, affordability, reliability, serviceability and accessibility, so, instead of making a super expensive and ultra high quality lens in very small batches, they focus on having a product that anyone can use without special knowledge, that is easy to replace or fix in case of accidents and that can yield similar results over time - unlike most of the used vintage anamorphics where you can have like three Century adapters and each one has its own unique quirk. Knowing this made a huge difference in how I see their brand and I definitely believe they're partly responsible for the increased interest we're seeing in the anamorphic format these past few years.

The Anamorphot was first released in February 2014. I always thought the 50 in the name meant it could only go as wide as 50mm, but that is actually the diameter of the rear element - quite big, compared to other adapters, and that also leads to the information that this anamorphic works best with lenses with a front element smaller than 50mm. And it doesn't play so well with recessed front optics, such as the Helios 44.

Weighing 380g, it's not a heavy adapter. Focus is set between 3 to 4m and infinity, so if you're going for something closer than that, you'll have to play with the Near/Normal dial - which isn't hard. For alignment, the Anamorphot has been recently redesigned with a reverse lock ring, which makes the process quite simple and fast. Flares help fine tuning, but I got most of it right just by setting this white line straight up. I wish my other anamorphics had a similar mechanism for locking alignment. The rear has 62mm threads and the front threads are 77mm.

The Anamorphot works best with wide angles and not so fast apertures. The fastest aperture supported is f/2.8 and optimal performance is around f/5.6, but of course I had to try it at f/2 and such. Also, longer lenses make it struggle quite a bit. The Near/Normal ring is much less of a hassle than I expected. It moves the rear element back and forth, so the lens doesn't change size or rotate at all. This adapter is feels “double focus but not quite”.

From the lens’ manual: "The "sweet spot" can be found by defocusing the taking lens and observing the out of focus highlights "bokeh" on the subject. The resulting blurred highlights may be elongated horizontally or vertically. Adjust the SLR Magic Anamorphot 1,33x NORMAL / NEAR dial until the blurred highlights appear circular. Once the sweet spot is found, the final focus is achieved via the taking lens." This tip is valuable because it applies not only to this lens, but to any double focus system.

Edges are bad on the wider end - not as bad as Century's or Panasonic's - and it's easy to see how quality improves as the taking lens is stopped down.

If the Centuries had blue flares, the Anamorphot's flares almost clip the blue channel for how saturated they are. Extremely sci-fi and modern looking, I don't remember seeing such strong color in any other anamorphic flare so far. I did the flare test twice, first just the Anamorphot and then adding the Rangefinder so you can see how it affects the flares by basically adding two more round elements - also strong blue.

The Anamorphot wasn't designed to be full frame friendly but it works anyway. It should clear the frame for taking lenses 50mm and up, but the best combination I got with it was with Canon's 40mm f/2.8 pancake lens. The manual - which can be downloaded here - suggests some focal lengths according to sensor size, as you can see on this chart here. It didn't play well at all with the Mir 1B, just a bit wider at 37mm, since it has a much bigger front element and more recessed optics than the Canon's pancake.

Again, I did all the vignetting tests with just the Anamorphot and then added the Rangefinder so you can see how much "wideness" you lose in the process. Here we go from 40mm vignette free to 58mm with slightly dark corners.

The SLR Magic Anamorphot 1.33x-50 shares many similarities with the Century Optics WS-13, so handling it was quite simple. Alignment was easy to set, thanks to the reverse lock ring, flares come up very easily at even the faintest light sources and their strong blue can be distracting at times, drawing too much attention to the flares themselves than to the shot overall. For the daylight part, everything was very straightforward, using the Near/Normal dial was fine and the taking lenses slower apertures handled sharpness without a hitch.

When I moved to the dark shots, focus became harder to achieve and the diopters played an important role. The Near/Normal adjustments also become more noticeable due to the faster apertures. As for close up shots, the best approach would be to cap at 85mm and use diopters to get closer to the subject instead of going for a longer lens, since the Anamorphot doesn't handle it too well on full frame. Rack focusing was a little troubling sometimes, especially when entering the Near zone, which required a brief planning and rehearsing before actually rolling. Just emphasizing, most of my favorite shots in this test were result of the combination Anamorphot + Canon 40mm pancake. The 1.33x stretch out to Cinemascope is useful because it doesn't require much thinking, but ends up trumping the oval bokeh - which is better achievable through the use of diopters.

Readily available. V1 has a screw for alignment lock, V2, shipped as of late-2015 is locked through a reverse ring at the rear.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLR133-50.jpg

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLR133-50_1.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLR133-50_2.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLR133-50_3.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLR133-50_4.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLR133-50_5.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLR133-50_6.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLR133-50_7.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLR133-50_8.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLR133-50_9.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLR133-50_10.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLR133-50_11.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLR133-50_12.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLR133-50_13.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

https://bhpho.to/3b8m7PK

The Anamorphot 2.0x has a more anamorphicky feel than it’s weaker sibling, with 2x stretch, making oval bokeh much more noticeable, and it's larger and heavier than the 1.33x version. It weights around 500g and keeps the 62mm rear threads plus 77mm front threads. Alignment is identical to the 1.33x, with a reverse lock ring - which is pretty awesome -, but getting it aligned properly is trickier and I wouldn't trust just the white line, but also check with flares every time. It features the Near/Normal dial for focus too.

This one isn't supposed to perform well at apertures faster than f/4, and that shows pretty easily. I still find resolution a bit too compromised even at slower apertures at 135mm, so I guess it didn't like the Tair 11A very much either. Maybe it performs better with modern lenses. Poor edge quality is also quite noticeable, disregarding the aperture.

Also, if you go too extreme on the fast apertures, you'll get diamonds all around for bokeh, as you can see in this other video.

Flares are as saturated as the 1.33x version. I'd definitely give these lenses a go if I wanted an extreme sci-fi look from the flares. Using a warm light source takes a little of the saturation, but it's still very strong. A useful tip is that you might be able to fine tune this strong blue with a hue adjustment in post without affecting the rest of the shot, since it's so well defined.

Without the Rangefinder, you're able to get an almost vignette free image at 58mm with the Helios 44, which is great! Not even the Kowa does so good on a 16:9 frame. Switching to the El-Nikkor clears the image completely. Distortion is pretty extreme, but if you're just planning on using a 4:3 crop, you're all good!

In some ways the Anamorphot 2.0x-50 was very similar to the 1.33x, since both lenses have a very similar design. I struggled a lot more with focus this time, even at slower apertures, having to close it down to f/8 or f/11 at some points when most other adapters are fine at f/5.6. Distortion isn't always a bad thing, since anamorphics have very specific distortion patterns. Having the Rangefinder mounted on simplified filming a lot, saving me from a truly double focus system, but still wasn't enough most of the times to be absolutely sure if something was in focus or not.

The low light part was HARD. I tried to hang on to f/4 for best results and to avoid the diamond shaped bokeh, but that caused an increase in the ISO values, plus I had to go for brighter environments, which aren't always available for the no-budget filmmaker. I feel this Anamorphot wasn't expected to be used on full frame sensors and it should perform much much better on MFT or even APS-C.

Readily available. V1 has a screw for alignment lock, V2, shipped as of late-2015 is locked through a reverse ring at the rear.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLR2-50.jpg

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLR2-50_1.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLR2-50_2.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLR2-50_3.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLR2-50_4.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLR2-50_5.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLR2-50_6.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLR2-50_7.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLR2-50_8.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLR2-50_9.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLR2-50_10.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLR2-50_11.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLR2-50_12.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLR2-50_13.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLR2-50_14.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

https://bhpho.to/3cDhgs3

Front Diameter of 114mm

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/slr65.jpg

Variable Diopter

https://bhpho.to/3dO23TL

It’s time for SLR Magic Anamorphot CINEs Micro Four Thirds 2x stretch version!

Just like the PL set, the Micro Four thirds trio features a 35, 50 and 70mm focal lengths. I’d make the wild guess that they’re using the same spherical blocks in both sets. While 35, 50 and 70 are pretty standard for shooting S35, they’re a bit on the long side for MFT and the 2x squeeze is what makes this set not feel too tight.

The images have a chromatic-aberration cranked up vibe to me, somewhat reminding me of video, like VHS video, and while their texture doesn’t always scream anamorphic, they definitely don’t look plain.

These lenses come with MFT mounts, and if you got this far without realizing that, I don’t know what to tell you. This means they’re only fit for mirrorless cameras and can’t be adapted to almost anything else.

It’s funny that these are much longer than the PL versions. It’s almost like they just adjusted the flange for MFT. The lenses also feature a support screw hole which is a blessing to avoid getting alignment issues when adjusting focus, due to play on the mount.

Honoring the CINE in the name, as a set SLR Magic got a lot of things right. The lenses all have focus and iris gears, plus the placement of those gears is the same on all three lenses, as well as they share the same size, making it easier to do lens swaps on set without adjusting motors or follow focus back and forth.

The fronts all have 82mm threads which is great for screw-in filters. Minimum focus is a tough one though, at 3ft6, or 1.1m, across the set. While this is okay for the 70mm, it’s not a great thing on the 35mm, where you constantly want to get closer to people, plus the intense MFT crop.

Focusing causes the front element to both rotate and telescope, which means that you can get some crazy polarizing effects if using a variable ND on big focus racks. On the upside, all the focus marks are the same for the three lenses, meaning no need to update your focus wheel after switching lenses.

Exactly like the PL set, the 35mm has a max aperture of T2.4, the 50mm goes to T2.8 and the 70mm is T4. Not the fastest lenses out there, and you’ll see why this makes shooting challenging during the sharpness test.

All the lenses also feature an oval insert to enhance the anamorphic bokeh when shooting wide open. I wonder where they got that idea… It’s interesting to see that these feature an oval, considering they’re 2x lenses. What happens is you get extra skinny bokeh when shooting wide open which I think is something a lot of people can subscribe to.

Looking at sharpness, these are not the sharpest lenses wide open. Not by a mile. You usually have to stop them down one or two stops to get to their sweet spot. We also see plenty of chromatic aberration on high contrast edges. Blue and purple fringing galore.

The flares are standard SLR Magic nuclear blue, with big blue blobs. No surprise here, as these lenses are essentially monoblocks of prime lenses locked at infinity, SLR Magic’s Anamorphot 2x-50 and their Rangefinder variable diopter. No changes in the glass or coatings will lead to the same flares as their adapters.

For coverage, since these are MFT, they aren’t advertised to cover anything else...

For bokeh, the oval insert makes the visuals intense when shooting wide open. We can see the ovals get shorter as we stop down, as the blades cut into that shape. Bokeh in general has a smeared texture to it that I don’t love when analyzing it, but it’s consistent through the set and can help to build unique visuals. It bothers me much less in the actual shots using the lens.

Distortion also affects the bokeh, and we can see it’s pretty strong on the 35mm! The 50mm is a lot cleaner and the 70mm has almost no distortion.

Last, rack focusing introduces some breathing as the Rangefinder works as a wide-angle adapter at the front of the lenses. Just standard procedure here. It’s nice that you gain a bit of field of view when focusing closer.

My main thought about these lenses, both individually and as a set is that they’re still pricier than it should be. Especially with competing options from Vazen and Sirui. But the look is not a boring one. If anything it’s too cranked up, but not necessarily in an anamorphic way. Bokeh, although elongated, feels smeared and the chromatic aberrations throughout the iris range make it for a consistent look that you might not want over completely different projects.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/slrMFT35.jpg

Variable Diopter

https://bhpho.to/39WXdTg

It’s time for SLR Magic Anamorphot CINEs Micro Four Thirds 2x stretch version!

Just like the PL set, the Micro Four thirds trio features a 35, 50 and 70mm focal lengths. I’d make the wild guess that they’re using the same spherical blocks in both sets. While 35, 50 and 70 are pretty standard for shooting S35, they’re a bit on the long side for MFT and the 2x squeeze is what makes this set not feel too tight.

The images have a chromatic-aberration cranked up vibe to me, somewhat reminding me of video, like VHS video, and while their texture doesn’t always scream anamorphic, they definitely don’t look plain.

These lenses come with MFT mounts, and if you got this far without realizing that, I don’t know what to tell you. This means they’re only fit for mirrorless cameras and can’t be adapted to almost anything else.

It’s funny that these are much longer than the PL versions. It’s almost like they just adjusted the flange for MFT. The lenses also feature a support screw hole which is a blessing to avoid getting alignment issues when adjusting focus, due to play on the mount.

Honoring the CINE in the name, as a set SLR Magic got a lot of things right. The lenses all have focus and iris gears, plus the placement of those gears is the same on all three lenses, as well as they share the same size, making it easier to do lens swaps on set without adjusting motors or follow focus back and forth.

The fronts all have 82mm threads which is great for screw-in filters. Minimum focus is a tough one though, at 3ft6, or 1.1m, across the set. While this is okay for the 70mm, it’s not a great thing on the 35mm, where you constantly want to get closer to people, plus the intense MFT crop.

Focusing causes the front element to both rotate and telescope, which means that you can get some crazy polarizing effects if using a variable ND on big focus racks. On the upside, all the focus marks are the same for the three lenses, meaning no need to update your focus wheel after switching lenses.

Exactly like the PL set, the 35mm has a max aperture of T2.4, the 50mm goes to T2.8 and the 70mm is T4. Not the fastest lenses out there, and you’ll see why this makes shooting challenging during the sharpness test.

All the lenses also feature an oval insert to enhance the anamorphic bokeh when shooting wide open. I wonder where they got that idea… It’s interesting to see that these feature an oval, considering they’re 2x lenses. What happens is you get extra skinny bokeh when shooting wide open which I think is something a lot of people can subscribe to.

Looking at sharpness, these are not the sharpest lenses wide open. Not by a mile. You usually have to stop them down one or two stops to get to their sweet spot. We also see plenty of chromatic aberration on high contrast edges. Blue and purple fringing galore.

The flares are standard SLR Magic nuclear blue, with big blue blobs. No surprise here, as these lenses are essentially monoblocks of prime lenses locked at infinity, SLR Magic’s Anamorphot 2x-50 and their Rangefinder variable diopter. No changes in the glass or coatings will lead to the same flares as their adapters.

For coverage, since these are MFT, they aren’t advertised to cover anything else...

For bokeh, the oval insert makes the visuals intense when shooting wide open. We can see the ovals get shorter as we stop down, as the blades cut into that shape. Bokeh in general has a smeared texture to it that I don’t love when analyzing it, but it’s consistent through the set and can help to build unique visuals. It bothers me much less in the actual shots using the lens.

Distortion also affects the bokeh, and we can see it’s pretty strong on the 35mm! The 50mm is a lot cleaner and the 70mm has almost no distortion.

Last, rack focusing introduces some breathing as the Rangefinder works as a wide-angle adapter at the front of the lenses. Just standard procedure here. It’s nice that you gain a bit of field of view when focusing closer.

My main thought about these lenses, both individually and as a set is that they’re still pricier than it should be. Especially with competing options from Vazen and Sirui. But the look is not a boring one. If anything it’s too cranked up, but not necessarily in an anamorphic way. Bokeh, although elongated, feels smeared and the chromatic aberrations throughout the iris range make it for a consistent look that you might not want over completely different projects.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/slrMFT50.jpg

Variable Diopter

https://bhpho.to/2Q61qwG

It’s time for SLR Magic Anamorphot CINEs Micro Four Thirds 2x stretch version!

Just like the PL set, the Micro Four thirds trio features a 35, 50 and 70mm focal lengths. I’d make the wild guess that they’re using the same spherical blocks in both sets. While 35, 50 and 70 are pretty standard for shooting S35, they’re a bit on the long side for MFT and the 2x squeeze is what makes this set not feel too tight.

The images have a chromatic-aberration cranked up vibe to me, somewhat reminding me of video, like VHS video, and while their texture doesn’t always scream anamorphic, they definitely don’t look plain.

These lenses come with MFT mounts, and if you got this far without realizing that, I don’t know what to tell you. This means they’re only fit for mirrorless cameras and can’t be adapted to almost anything else.

It’s funny that these are much longer than the PL versions. It’s almost like they just adjusted the flange for MFT. The lenses also feature a support screw hole which is a blessing to avoid getting alignment issues when adjusting focus, due to play on the mount.

Honoring the CINE in the name, as a set SLR Magic got a lot of things right. The lenses all have focus and iris gears, plus the placement of those gears is the same on all three lenses, as well as they share the same size, making it easier to do lens swaps on set without adjusting motors or follow focus back and forth.

The fronts all have 82mm threads which is great for screw-in filters. Minimum focus is a tough one though, at 3ft6, or 1.1m, across the set. While this is okay for the 70mm, it’s not a great thing on the 35mm, where you constantly want to get closer to people, plus the intense MFT crop.

Focusing causes the front element to both rotate and telescope, which means that you can get some crazy polarizing effects if using a variable ND on big focus racks. On the upside, all the focus marks are the same for the three lenses, meaning no need to update your focus wheel after switching lenses.

Exactly like the PL set, the 35mm has a max aperture of T2.4, the 50mm goes to T2.8 and the 70mm is T4. Not the fastest lenses out there, and you’ll see why this makes shooting challenging during the sharpness test.

All the lenses also feature an oval insert to enhance the anamorphic bokeh when shooting wide open. I wonder where they got that idea… It’s interesting to see that these feature an oval, considering they’re 2x lenses. What happens is you get extra skinny bokeh when shooting wide open which I think is something a lot of people can subscribe to.

Looking at sharpness, these are not the sharpest lenses wide open. Not by a mile. You usually have to stop them down one or two stops to get to their sweet spot. We also see plenty of chromatic aberration on high contrast edges. Blue and purple fringing galore.

The flares are standard SLR Magic nuclear blue, with big blue blobs. No surprise here, as these lenses are essentially monoblocks of prime lenses locked at infinity, SLR Magic’s Anamorphot 2x-50 and their Rangefinder variable diopter. No changes in the glass or coatings will lead to the same flares as their adapters.

For coverage, since these are MFT, they aren’t advertised to cover anything else...

For bokeh, the oval insert makes the visuals intense when shooting wide open. We can see the ovals get shorter as we stop down, as the blades cut into that shape. Bokeh in general has a smeared texture to it that I don’t love when analyzing it, but it’s consistent through the set and can help to build unique visuals. It bothers me much less in the actual shots using the lens.

Distortion also affects the bokeh, and we can see it’s pretty strong on the 35mm! The 50mm is a lot cleaner and the 70mm has almost no distortion.

Last, rack focusing introduces some breathing as the Rangefinder works as a wide-angle adapter at the front of the lenses. Just standard procedure here. It’s nice that you gain a bit of field of view when focusing closer.

My main thought about these lenses, both individually and as a set is that they’re still pricier than it should be. Especially with competing options from Vazen and Sirui. But the look is not a boring one. If anything it’s too cranked up, but not necessarily in an anamorphic way. Bokeh, although elongated, feels smeared and the chromatic aberrations throughout the iris range make it for a consistent look that you might not want over completely different projects.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/slrMFT70.jpg

Variable Diopter

https://bhpho.to/2PTiyWB

Let’s talk about anamorphic LENSES from SLR Magic, or the SLR Magic Anamorphot CINEs. We’ll be looking at the PL option, which is the pricier yet less squeezier of the two. These sets have been out since 2017 and I had a lot of folks asking about reviews over the years. Time to cross them off the list.

The set includes 35, 50 and 70mm lenses, which is a basic all-rounder combination of focal lengths, allowing you to easily do close ups and wide shots without too much hassle.

The images have a chromatic-aberration cranked up vibe to me, somewhat reminding me of video, like VHS video, and while their texture doesn’t always scream anamorphic, they definitely don’t look plain.

The lenses come in PL mount and they’re compatible with any PL-EF adapter, which means they’re fit for a lot of cameras out there. The 1.33 squeeze also helps usability with 16:9 sensors and avoiding extra monitoring gear since you can still see your framing fine in spite of the squeeze.

Honoring the CINE in the name, as a set, SLR Magic got a lot of things right. The lenses all have focus and iris gears, plus the placement of those gears is the same on all three lenses, as well as they share the same size, making it easier to do lens swaps on set without adjusting motors or follow focus back and forth.

The fronts all have 82mm threads which is great for screw-in filters. Minimum focus is a tough one though, at 3ft6, or 1.1m, across the set. While this is okay for the 70mm, it’s not a great thing on the 35mm, where you constantly want to get closer to people.

Focusing causes the front element to both rotate and telescope, which means that you can get some crazy polarizing effects if using a variable ND on big focus racks. On the upside, all the focus marks are the same for the three lenses, meaning no need to update your focus wheel after switching lenses.

They’re short and stubby lenses, which I like, and not thaaat heavy, at 1.1kg or 2.4 pounds each.

Now on the inconsistencies, the 35mm has a max aperture of T2.4, the 50mm goes to T2.8 and the 70mm is T4. Not the fastest lenses out there, and you’ll see why this makes shooting challenging during the sharpness test.

All the lenses also feature an oval insert to enhance the anamorphic bokeh when shooting wide open. I wonder where they got that idea…

Looking at sharpness, these are not the sharpest lenses wide open. Not by a mile. You usually have to stop them down one or two stops to get to their sweet spot. We also see plenty of chromatic aberration on high contrast edges. Blue and purple fringing galore. I think this contributes to the VHS look I was talking about and the overall texture of the lenses, but not the nicest touch to the picture if you’re trying to get something clean.

The flares are standard SLR Magic nuclear blue, with big blue blobs. No surprise here, as these lenses are essentially monoblocks of prime lenses locked at infinity, SLR Magic’s Anamorphot 1.33x-50 and their Rangefinder variable diopter. No changes in the glass or coatings will lead to the same flares as their adapters.

For coverage, a little more inconsistency. The 35mm only covers S35, while the 50 and 70mm can cover full frame. I guess that’s a bonus. Still, I feel these would get a lot more action if the whole set could cover FF. Being adaptable to EF, they could be speedboosted and get one more stop of light when shooting for S35. Just some thoughts.

For bokeh, the oval insert definitely helps when shooting wide open. We can see the ovals get shorter as we stop down, as the blades cut into that shape. Bokeh has a smeared texture to it and many times I feel I can see chromatic aberration on it.

Distortion is super interesting on the 35mm, where you can see warping on the sides of the frame . The 50mm is pretty dialed back already in that aspect, and the 70mm is super controlled.

Last, rack focusing introduces some breathing as the Rangefinder works as a wide-angle adapter at the front of the lenses. Just standard procedure here. It’s nice that you gain a bit of field of view when focusing closer.

So what do I make of this set? My first thought is it’s still pricier than it should be. Especially with competing options from Vazen and Sirui. Being compatible with EF gives this an edge, but the performance doesn’t come close to what we’re seeing from more recent offerings. The drop from the original 18k price also reflects that slr magic is aware of competition in this niche.

I dig the weird look and smeared out of focus areas. There is a blue fringe overall which I dialed down in post but here you can see a bit of back and forth on it. That's what I believe to be the biggest contributor to the video/VHS look.

The 35mm stands out as the most fun lens out of the three, with distortion being a key element to its look.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLRPL35.jpg

Variable Diopter

https://bhpho.to/3s4YZIb

Let’s talk about anamorphic LENSES from SLR Magic, or the SLR Magic Anamorphot CINEs. We’ll be looking at the PL option, which is the pricier yet less squeezier of the two. These sets have been out since 2017 and I had a lot of folks asking about reviews over the years. Time to cross them off the list.

The set includes 35, 50 and 70mm lenses, which is a basic all-rounder combination of focal lengths, allowing you to easily do close ups and wide shots without too much hassle.

The images have a chromatic-aberration cranked up vibe to me, somewhat reminding me of video, like VHS video, and while their texture doesn’t always scream anamorphic, they definitely don’t look plain.

The lenses come in PL mount and they’re compatible with any PL-EF adapter, which means they’re fit for a lot of cameras out there. The 1.33 squeeze also helps usability with 16:9 sensors and avoiding extra monitoring gear since you can still see your framing fine in spite of the squeeze.

Honoring the CINE in the name, as a set, SLR Magic got a lot of things right. The lenses all have focus and iris gears, plus the placement of those gears is the same on all three lenses, as well as they share the same size, making it easier to do lens swaps on set without adjusting motors or follow focus back and forth.

The fronts all have 82mm threads which is great for screw-in filters. Minimum focus is a tough one though, at 3ft6, or 1.1m, across the set. While this is okay for the 70mm, it’s not a great thing on the 35mm, where you constantly want to get closer to people.

Focusing causes the front element to both rotate and telescope, which means that you can get some crazy polarizing effects if using a variable ND on big focus racks. On the upside, all the focus marks are the same for the three lenses, meaning no need to update your focus wheel after switching lenses.

They’re short and stubby lenses, which I like, and not thaaat heavy, at 1.1kg or 2.4 pounds each.

Now on the inconsistencies, the 35mm has a max aperture of T2.4, the 50mm goes to T2.8 and the 70mm is T4. Not the fastest lenses out there, and you’ll see why this makes shooting challenging during the sharpness test.

All the lenses also feature an oval insert to enhance the anamorphic bokeh when shooting wide open. I wonder where they got that idea…

Looking at sharpness, these are not the sharpest lenses wide open. Not by a mile. You usually have to stop them down one or two stops to get to their sweet spot. We also see plenty of chromatic aberration on high contrast edges. Blue and purple fringing galore. I think this contributes to the VHS look I was talking about and the overall texture of the lenses, but not the nicest touch to the picture if you’re trying to get something clean.

The flares are standard SLR Magic nuclear blue, with big blue blobs. No surprise here, as these lenses are essentially monoblocks of prime lenses locked at infinity, SLR Magic’s Anamorphot 1.33x-50 and their Rangefinder variable diopter. No changes in the glass or coatings will lead to the same flares as their adapters.

For coverage, a little more inconsistency. The 35mm only covers S35, while the 50 and 70mm can cover full frame. I guess that’s a bonus. Still, I feel these would get a lot more action if the whole set could cover FF. Being adaptable to EF, they could be speedboosted and get one more stop of light when shooting for S35. Just some thoughts.

For bokeh, the oval insert definitely helps when shooting wide open. We can see the ovals get shorter as we stop down, as the blades cut into that shape. Bokeh has a smeared texture to it and many times I feel I can see chromatic aberration on it.

Distortion is super interesting on the 35mm, where you can see warping on the sides of the frame . The 50mm is pretty dialed back already in that aspect, and the 70mm is super controlled.

Last, rack focusing introduces some breathing as the Rangefinder works as a wide-angle adapter at the front of the lenses. Just standard procedure here. It’s nice that you gain a bit of field of view when focusing closer.

So what do I make of this set? My first thought is it’s still pricier than it should be. Especially with competing options from Vazen and Sirui. Being compatible with EF gives this an edge, but the performance doesn’t come close to what we’re seeing from more recent offerings. The drop from the original 18k price also reflects that slr magic is aware of competition in this niche.

I dig the weird look and smeared out of focus areas. There is a blue fringe overall which I dialed down in post but here you can see a bit of back and forth on it. That's what I believe to be the biggest contributor to the video/VHS look.

The 35mm stands out as the most fun lens out of the three, with distortion being a key element to its look.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/slrPL50.jpg

Variable Diopter

https://bhpho.to/39VUBVs

Let’s talk about anamorphic LENSES from SLR Magic, or the SLR Magic Anamorphot CINEs. We’ll be looking at the PL option, which is the pricier yet less squeezier of the two. These sets have been out since 2017 and I had a lot of folks asking about reviews over the years. Time to cross them off the list.

The set includes 35, 50 and 70mm lenses, which is a basic all-rounder combination of focal lengths, allowing you to easily do close ups and wide shots without too much hassle.

The images have a chromatic-aberration cranked up vibe to me, somewhat reminding me of video, like VHS video, and while their texture doesn’t always scream anamorphic, they definitely don’t look plain.

The lenses come in PL mount and they’re compatible with any PL-EF adapter, which means they’re fit for a lot of cameras out there. The 1.33 squeeze also helps usability with 16:9 sensors and avoiding extra monitoring gear since you can still see your framing fine in spite of the squeeze.

Honoring the CINE in the name, as a set, SLR Magic got a lot of things right. The lenses all have focus and iris gears, plus the placement of those gears is the same on all three lenses, as well as they share the same size, making it easier to do lens swaps on set without adjusting motors or follow focus back and forth.

The fronts all have 82mm threads which is great for screw-in filters. Minimum focus is a tough one though, at 3ft6, or 1.1m, across the set. While this is okay for the 70mm, it’s not a great thing on the 35mm, where you constantly want to get closer to people.

Focusing causes the front element to both rotate and telescope, which means that you can get some crazy polarizing effects if using a variable ND on big focus racks. On the upside, all the focus marks are the same for the three lenses, meaning no need to update your focus wheel after switching lenses.

They’re short and stubby lenses, which I like, and not thaaat heavy, at 1.1kg or 2.4 pounds each.

Now on the inconsistencies, the 35mm has a max aperture of T2.4, the 50mm goes to T2.8 and the 70mm is T4. Not the fastest lenses out there, and you’ll see why this makes shooting challenging during the sharpness test.

All the lenses also feature an oval insert to enhance the anamorphic bokeh when shooting wide open. I wonder where they got that idea…

Looking at sharpness, these are not the sharpest lenses wide open. Not by a mile. You usually have to stop them down one or two stops to get to their sweet spot. We also see plenty of chromatic aberration on high contrast edges. Blue and purple fringing galore. I think this contributes to the VHS look I was talking about and the overall texture of the lenses, but not the nicest touch to the picture if you’re trying to get something clean.

The flares are standard SLR Magic nuclear blue, with big blue blobs. No surprise here, as these lenses are essentially monoblocks of prime lenses locked at infinity, SLR Magic’s Anamorphot 1.33x-50 and their Rangefinder variable diopter. No changes in the glass or coatings will lead to the same flares as their adapters.

For coverage, a little more inconsistency. The 35mm only covers S35, while the 50 and 70mm can cover full frame. I guess that’s a bonus. Still, I feel these would get a lot more action if the whole set could cover FF. Being adaptable to EF, they could be speedboosted and get one more stop of light when shooting for S35. Just some thoughts.

For bokeh, the oval insert definitely helps when shooting wide open. We can see the ovals get shorter as we stop down, as the blades cut into that shape. Bokeh has a smeared texture to it and many times I feel I can see chromatic aberration on it.

Distortion is super interesting on the 35mm, where you can see warping on the sides of the frame . The 50mm is pretty dialed back already in that aspect, and the 70mm is super controlled.

Last, rack focusing introduces some breathing as the Rangefinder works as a wide-angle adapter at the front of the lenses. Just standard procedure here. It’s nice that you gain a bit of field of view when focusing closer.

So what do I make of this set? My first thought is it’s still pricier than it should be. Especially with competing options from Vazen and Sirui. Being compatible with EF gives this an edge, but the performance doesn’t come close to what we’re seeing from more recent offerings. The drop from the original 18k price also reflects that slr magic is aware of competition in this niche.

I dig the weird look and smeared out of focus areas. There is a blue fringe overall which I dialed down in post but here you can see a bit of back and forth on it. That's what I believe to be the biggest contributor to the video/VHS look.

The 35mm stands out as the most fun lens out of the three, with distortion being a key element to its look.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/slrpl70.jpg

Variable Diopter

https://bhpho.to/3Cctr94

SLR Magic's single focus solution shook the market due to their larger visibility and several posts across different photo/video blogs including the anamorphic community. What the Rangefinder does for anamorphics is transform a double focus lens into a single focus system, which is pretty awesome. In order for it to do its magic, you have to focus both your taking lens and anamorphic to infinity and add the Rangefinder to the front of the anamorphic!

The Rangefinder has a very simple setup, with 82mm front threads and 77mm rear threads that can attach to literally any lens out there. For the Kowa I had to dust off my Redstan clamps and everything went fine - this will be the case with most anamorphics, since they don't have standard threads. One of the coolest things about having standard threads is that you can attach the Rangefinder to spherical glass as well and override their focus ring with the Rangefinder's geared and marked ring. It's also a super compact adapter that you can fit in your pocket when not being used, and you can take out and put back at any moment.

Why would you take it out then? The Rangefinder adds a lot of vignetting, so whenever I had locked focus shots near infinity, I just unscrewed the thing off and shot without it, attaching it back for the next rack focus. Instead of seeing this as a negative, I think it's an added bonus, that you can get rack focusing for most of the time and, when you just need infinity, you get an even cleaner frame.

The Rangefinder weights 340g and feels pretty solid. Focus ranges from infinity down to 1.1m or 3'6, throw is around 270 degrees - better than most lenses out there! - and it extends good 2cm (just under an inch) from infinity to minimum focus. The rotating front element is one of the downsides, since you can't use NDs without some funkiness going on, plus the focus ring offers an uneven resistance, being lighter to spin near infinity and getting slightly harder near minimum focus.

It took me a little bit to get used to the Rangefinder "filter" style, and I ended up twisting the Kowa's focus ring quite a few times while trying to focus with the Rangefinder. After these occasions, I simply taped the Kowa and went on to the world test. I feel it a little softer than the Rectilux when combined with the same lenses, specially around the edges. Performance shines at f/5.6, but isn't that great at f/1.4 or f/2.8.

The Rangefinder adds a few blue elements to the flare. In the distance they disappear among the Kowa's orange flare but they show up when the light source is closer to the lens. They should blend in pretty well with any other lens that has cooler flares.

Pushing for a 2.4:1 crop I could go as wide as 63mm with the El-Nikkor, getting just slightly black corners. 50mm is way too wide, getting some heavy black edges, plus vignetting is heavier when focusing closer since the Rangefinder extends for good 2cm from infinity to minimum focus. 58mm with the Helios still shows vignetting. If you want a full 3.56:1 aspect ratio, 85mm is the widest you can go - and still get a little bit of vignetting. Of course, this is all for 2x stretch lenses and these numbers all change for 1.5x and 1.33x stretches.

Playing with the Rangefinder out in the field was a simple and straightforward experience. I really liked its small size and reduced weight. I even dusted off my follow focus for better pulls. In practical terms I didn't feel the difference in resistance while racking focus. I wished minimum focus could be closer, since I still felt the 50 and 85mm too similar in terms of framing, but not having to worry about double focus with the Kowa is as amazing as shooting with an Iscorama. Another thing I noticed was a certain softness during the night part of the test, when leaning towards faster apertures. Sharpening in post helps, but the full frame sensor doesn't forgive and some times I had to zoom in to check if the image was really in focus.

The CINE version has markings in feet. The Near/Normal version is much cheaper.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLRrangefinder.jpg

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLRrangefinder_1.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLRrangefinder_2.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLRrangefinder_3.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLRrangefinder_4.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLRrangefinder_5.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLRrangefinder_6.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLRrangefinder_7.jpg,http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SLRrangefinder_8.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/C9Kf19

Soft edges

Soligor’s alignment locking mechanism is on the rear ring that tightens or loosens the rotation of the squeeze.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/soligor.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/HVYeVC

Features a plastic body and easy alignment mechanism but no alignment-locking screw.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/sonyVCL.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/6VBMRv

A lot of chromatic aberration on the edges.

The front of the lens body can be unscrewed and replaced or modified to be able to hold 58mm filters. https://www.eoshd.com/comments/topic/583-sun-anamorphic-adapter-16/?page=2#entry32254

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/sun.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

https://ebay.us/pE0SsA

Anamorphics for phones first came to life in the end of 2013, through a small Kickstarter campaign by Moondog Labs. Their product was so different that there weren’t even apps for desqueezing the image on your phone at that time. “Tangerine” was an interesting movie shot with these lenses.

In 2018 Moment kicks their campaign online. They get funded in 40 minutes, reaching whooping $1.6M and sell almost 10 thousand phone anamorphics.

My theory is that the $1.6M Moment got in funding is the kind of money that motivates a market. Other companies realized there was money to be made from anamorphic lenses for phones and that is what expanded our options. The vast majority of these are 1.33x squeeze, with some very recent expansions into 1.55x by BeastGrip and 1.15x by Ulanzi.

Having options is great, but the inconsistent mounting methods are killing me. While many of them are offered in 37mm or bayonet mounts that fit your phone case, some brands insist on proprietary mounts and I would love to know why.

For beginners considering phone anamorphics as an entryway to shooting scope: these lack oval bokeh and many of the visual traits of anamorphics. You’ll get flares and a wider aspect ratio, maybe some barrel distortion, but that’s about it.

A basic 1.33x lens design has a simple formula: two cylinders that squeeze the image and no focus ajustment. It fails hardcore at close focus and fast apertures. Since our phones have very tiny sensors, the issue with fast apertures doesn’t come to play, only close focus still fails.

Since all these lens makers are using the same anamorphic design the different results come from different coatings. Coatings will determine light transmission, overall tone (warmer or colder), contrast, flare colors and fine resolution.

During my research for making this video I had a really hard time controlling my phone camera until I starteed using the FiLMiC Pro app. FiLMiC Pro gives you everything you have on a regular camera, plus it desqueezes the footage on the fly. It also provides you with zebras, focus peaking and it has great integration with gimbals and other gear. It sells for $12.99.

Then throw on a variable ND for some more light control - make sure your lens can take filters. Not all brands make them, so I made some for the lenses that didn’t have any. The process is the same I used to make the Moment filter holder. To be safe, I carry around a diopter kit too, although I barely use it.

Last, I got a gimbal stabilizer, the Zhiyun Smooth 4, for little over $100. Our phones are crazy sensitive to movement and that translates into the footage as shakiness.

My phone is a Google Pixel 2 and I’m using a Moment case which features a bayonet mount. I had to modify the Kapkur lens from its original bayonet into a standard bayo. The Sirui, MoondogLabs and Moment lenses are all bayo and Ulanzi came in 37mm, so I’m using a clip to secure it to the phone and removing the case.

I’m shooting everything in 4K and desqueezing through FiLMiC, which saves me a ton of time. The final resolution of the files is 3840x1620px. I’m trying, as best as I can to keep shutter at 180 degrees and expose to the right (ETTR), since this tiny sensor noise is awful.

Time to break them with close focus. Here is an attempt at minimum focus. Notice how we finally start to see some bokeh in the background? Do you also notice how it stretches the wrong way? That’s a consequence of fixed focus and having the taking lens - the phone - and the anamorphic focused at very different distances.

In terms of construction, these are all quite similar in terms of size and weight. The square format seems to be more popular, making the lenses more compact. The Kapkur is visibly bigger than the rest and so far it’s the only one that sort of fell apart, with the original bayo falling off - which turned out to be a good thing since it allowed me to remount it as standard bayo.

When it comes to filter threads, none of them offer them natively. Moment sells a filter holder for $30 that is held in place by pressure, Ulanzi sells theirs for $5, and it uses a screw to lock down, Moondog Labs sells for $35 and it features a locking clamp. Kapkur and Sirui don’t make filter holders so you gotta make your own. Mine are locked through a super-tight fit.

All lenses come with front and rear caps, but none of the caps support filter holders - as in, if you want to store the lens with the filter holder attached, figure out your own caps. Moment and Ulanzi give you little pouches that can hold the lens with the filter holder and that was good enough for me.

For the rest of the lenses, I figured a “safe enough” way to transport or took out the filter holder and used the lens caps.

Alignment is a hard thing. Here by far my favorite lens is the Sirui. It has a tiny button that allows you to quickly rotate between vertical or horizontal alignment and since the lens comes in bayonet mount, there’s no need for any adjustments in between these two orientations.

Moment’s has a tiny screw that locks its orientation, so if you wanna switch from horizontal to vertical, all you do is loosen this and adjust.

Moondog Labs and Ulanzi have this ring on the back that offers some resistance but allows you to spin them to any angle. While I appreciate the ability to do so, it mainly makes me worried I don’t have the lens perfectly aligned when mounted.

After looking at all this, it’s hard to objectively choose one of them over ther other. They are all similarly priced, they perform similarly and have similar constructions.

I’d highlight Sirui’s alignment mechanism as a great victory over its competitors. Kapkur’s original mounting method is only good if you’re using their case - which fits only specific phones -, and Ulanzi’s only mounts to 37mm threads, which are not featured in compact cases, and I truly disliked the clip I used to hold it in place.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ulanzi.jpg

Anamorphic Adapter

Rear threads are coarse 1.0 pitch. Markings in feet.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/unbranded35.jpg

Linear Compensator

https://bhpho.to/3C6GCZ0

The Vazen 28mm is tiny. It measures 10.7 cm - 4.2 inches - from mount to front and it weights 720 grams - 1.6 pounds. Construction feels super solid and it has that “trustworthy” feel to it. The lens comes only in MFT mount as that is Vazen’s narrow target market. It’s also aimed at folks making use of Anamorphic Modes on their cameras and shooting 4:3; as the 1.8x compression will come out as 2.39 after desqueezing.

Focus throw is 150 degrees, coming from infinity down to 2 foot 7 or 80 centimeters for minimum focus, featuring markings only in feet and on both sides of the lens. The front doesn’t rotate and the lens doesn’t change size while focusing. These two traits combined with its small size and weight make this lens great for gimbal work. Aperture ranges from T2.2 to T16. Both rings are super smooth and I could even ask for a bit more dampness on the iris. Both rings also come with standard gears for motors and have bright orange markings.

The Vazen 28 has 77mm filter threads and 80mm front outer diameter, which makes it compatible with all sorts of cine accessories. This is quite a change from the 40mm which has no filter threads and displays a 95mm front diameter, but even larger body diameter.

Just like the 40mm, the Vazen 28 comes in a nice little case that makes it easy and safe to carry it around. Besides that, there’s very few similarities. Let’s tackle the big question here: WHAT happened between these two lenses that the second one came out so different?

It comes down to how it handles focus. When dealing with anamorphics, there are a few focusing methods: we have Synchro focus, which is what Sirui does along with many older cine anamorphics, it synchronizes focusing for spherical and anamorphic blocks but it suffers from reduced squeeze at close focus. Then we have variable diopter focus, which is like having a built-in Rapido FVD or Rectilux into the front of the system. That’s how the Vazen 40mm works along with some of the Atlas line-up and even the Iscoramas. Variable diopters solve the changing squeeze factor but they add a lot more bulk to the lens. Just look at it. Last, there’s the linear compensator, which is a much more elegant solution than the previous ones, although more complex. This is where this 28mm lands.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/vazen28.jpg

Variable Diopter

https://bhpho.to/3jx9zWP

Vazen is a company based in Hong Kong and they first revealed their 40mm lens to the world at 2019’s Cinegear. This is a fully closed lens, call it “cine” if you like, as it has everything a “cine” lens usually has. 40mm is a very versatile focal length and it allowed me to do close ups and establishing shots alike.

The lens weighs 1.8 kilograms or 4 pounds - which is quite heavy! - and it measures 17.5cm or 7 inches from mount to front. Construction is super solid and I’d actually love if this was a little big lighter! Iris ranges from T2 to T16 and focus comes down to 0.8m or 2 foot 7 inches in about 300 degrees of throw. Markings display focus distance in feet and feature bright orange color. Both focus and iris rings are buttery smooth and geared for motors. Oh, and the lens doesn’t change size while focusing and the front doesn’t rotate. I love those things.

The front of the lens has a 95mm outer diameter, which is compatible with lots of clip-on matteboxes. The downside is the lens has no filter threads. Vazen offers an attachment on their website that gives you 95mm threads for $50. With 10 minutes of modeling I 3d printed my own attachment for 86mm threads - which is borderline vignetting.

The mount on the Vazen 40mm is Micro Four Thirds ONLY. This makes this lens even more niche than my own content, severely limiting its user base. On the bright side, they don’t have to deal with e-mount shooters going “how do I desqueeze in camera?”. Any proper MFT camera (by that I mean GH5 5s, Z Cam or Blackmagic Pocket 4K) offers in-camera desqueeze and 4:3 shooting. The GH5 goes as far as offering anamorphic-specific stabilization.

Speaking of anamorphic, this is not a traditional 2x scope. This lens has a squeeze of 1.8x. Why 1.8x of all numbers? Well, 1.8x on a 4:3 sensor will stretch out to perfect 2.4:1 aspect ratio, or Cinemascope, while a 2x lens will give you 2.66:1 aspect ratio. 1.8 squeeze is to 4:3 sensors the same as what 1.33x lenses are to 16:9 sensors: cinemascope machines.

The downside of 1.8x is that alll cameras offer only 2x internal desqueeze, meaning you’ll be looking at the footage a little too overstretched. The only option for proper review on set are monitors that allow you to manually control desqueeze.

For resolution, again I’m doing a bunch of different focus distances with diopters to assess the lens’ performance over the focus range.

At close focus we can see some red fringing when wide open, although the image is pretty sharp. Corners get blurry and there’s some light falloff going on. As we stop it down, light distribution improves considerably.

For mid-range, around 5 feet or 1.5m, wide open seems less sharp and the corners lose sharpness more quickly. There’s some cyan fringing on the corners too.

For infinity I see considerably inferior results across the board, which makes me think the cheap +1 diopter I was using is greatly responsible for the image quality loss moving away from the center.

I’d say the sweet spot for iris on this lens is around f/4, although performance at faster apertures isn’t bad.

Vazen’s flares are nice and blue, super sci-fi, with a handful of streaks. You can also see the teal mirrored flares which are a reflection from the focusing glass.

Starting with bokeh on both edges of the frame shows that there’s some cat-eye/bean shapes going on in those areas, but as soon as the out of focus lights hit center frame they look smooth and have a great shape.

Distortion is pretty pronounced, which I like, especially considering this is a crop sensor. See how the center pops out compared to the edges? This is a strong anamorphic trait and it adds a lot to the look.

On the Sirui review I did a squeeze variation test, checking the stretch factor over the focus range. The Vazen uses a different focusing mechanism based around a Variable Diopter. This ensures the squeeze will remain constant through the rage. The side effect of variable diopters is they tend to have a slight wide-angle effect when comparing the frame at minimum focus and infinity. The Vazen is no exception, and the field of view at close focus is the same as having a 0.9x wide angle adapter.

I still find it a little odd to make such an expensive lens for such a small mount ecosystem as Micro Four Thirds. If you really think about it, the lens is more expensive than any of the cameras it mounts to. Even the S35 Z-Cam with MFT mount costs shy of $3000. Still, Vazen seems to be doing alright which I admire. Footage recently started coming up about their 28mm which shows some big differences from the 40mm design and I’m very curious to test it out too.

I love the build quality and the images it delivers are pretty clean - almost requiring some extra filters to dirty it up a bit. I think the only limiting factor to making this lens a true hit is its mount. Even supporting other mirrorless mounts would do wonders in terms of user base. I’m not talking about EF mount which, again, is out of the question, but e-mounts and x-mounts, which have shorter flanges than MFT.

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/vazen40.jpg

Linear Compensator

https://bhpho.to/3nRBQYX

The 50mm is Vazen’s second lens in their full frame line up, following the 85mm I reviewed in September of 2020.

That’s the mindblowing fact right there. I’m shooting at 50mm open gate on the S1H, with 1.8x compression. So this feels a lot wider than a “regular’ 50mm in video mode. The nearest option to this kind of coverage in anamorphic lenses are Cooke’s 1.8X Anamorphic /i , at roughly 35 thousand dollars. And before you try to argue for DIY setups, I can’t clear 50mm open gate using the famous Kowa B&H!

Shooting with the Vazen 50mm was *NOT* as easy as I thought, and that was mostly because 50mm on open gate is really wide, so I had a hard time nailing focus. The setup is also heavy and I thought I could wing it handheld. It was not as smooth as I hoped. These challenges are more of newbie mistakes of me than the lens’ fault.

Looking at the this 50mm’s construction, I see a lot of similarities with the 85mm, which is good, but I also see Vazen has addressed lots of notes on it, like the font choices, overall text design and - most importantly - the markings are now in feet and inches instead of the previous fractions of feet. Good job there! They also got rid of that carbon fiber accent at the front that we had on the 85mm, which looked pretty odd. They didn’t, however, flatten this bubbly lens cap that makes the lens wobbly when you place it facing down. Sad.

As you’d expect in a cinema lens, iris and focus rings are geared and offer a nice resistance. Focus throw is around 120 degrees and minimum focus sits at 1.1m or 3 foot 6. Iris goes from T16 to T2.1 and depth of field just feels shallower when shooting on the open gate mode since the image is so large.

The front has a diameter of 95mm for clip-on matteboxes and you get 86mm filter threads.

The lens weighs 1.5kg, or 3.5lbs, which is not that heavy. When I throw it on the S1H, this still looks like a small setup, but is actually pretty hefty to lug around.

The lens comes with a hard case, with a PL mount and an additional EF mount and some shims so you can use it on different cameras.

While the lens is pretty sharp when you get it right, I feel critical focus is pretty hard to nail down without an external monitor.

On the flare field, this 50mm matches the rest of the Vazen set, with nice blue streaks that show up rather easily and feel good. I also noticed some white-ish streaks on the sides, so I went investigating. In this shot, these streaks are actually reflections from a window outside of the frame, as you can see here. If I block the left side of the frame, the reflections disappear. I don’t think this is intentional, or what exactly is causing it, but I can see complaints about it. I enjoy it though.

For coverage, if you got a sharp eye, you might’ve noticed the aspect ratio of this episode is a bit wider than usual, and that is because I’m shooting everything 6K Open Gate 3:2 with the 50mm, which yields a 2.7:1 aspect ratio. Unusual, yes, undesirable? Definitely not. I can easily crop down to 2.39:1.

Distortion is an awkward thing. On the real world tests, I didn’t feel it as much, but when we were shooting a couple samples for the Cookbook, the bulging was very noticeable. It really depends on the type of camera move you’re doing, and the objects around you - organic stuff, like trees and flowers are more likely to not look warped when compared to walls, for example. Also, this much distortion can be easily fixed in post!

Did I say this thing feels super wide on full frame? I wanted to shoot it all at minimum focus, because that’s when you get the extra vibe of how shallow depth of field is here, but the tiny camera screen and the strong squeeze factor required an external monitor that I wasn’t carrying on the day I shot the tests. Definitely something for a next shoot!

The Vazen 50mm is a unique offering. It’s definitely NOT cheap, but we’re starting to get to lenses I’d love to have for my regular shoots. I’d use this over Sirui in a heartbeat, but then, can I justify paying ten Sirui lenses for this one lens?

One more cool thing I can do with this lens is mount it sideways on the camera, for portrait-mode shooting on Open Gate, and then desqueeze to 6:5 aspect ratio. It’s a little bit wider than a square, and the picture feels huge. It’s super annoying to deal with desqueeze on set for this though...

http://www.tferradans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/vazen50.jpg

Variable Diopter

https://bhpho.to/3rat0qF

Our subject today is Vazen’s conclusion to their Micro Four Thirds lineup, their 65mm T2 1.8x anamorphic lens.

In terms of usability on the field, this 65mm is a very fun and straightforward lens. Just plug your camera behind it and head out to shoot. Focus is easy and smooth, as well as iris. Considering the current availability of MFT cameras, you’ll definitely get better use of the Vazen on ZCam or Panasonic bodies as opposed to Blackmagic’s, just because of the difference between their anamorphic modes.

Sticking to their original plans, Vazen’s 65mm was made for MFT mount only and it looks a lot like the 40mm, but a big longer, at 18.5cm, or 7.3 inches. It’s a fairly heavy lens, weighing 1.7kg or 3.75 pounds, and, after playing with the 28mm, it feels bigger than it needs to be.

Aperture ranges from T2 to T16 and focus comes down to 1.1m, or 3 foot 7 inches with a throw of 180 degrees. Both iris and focus rings have standard gears on them. Here we also see that thing I pointed out on the 85mm review, where the imperial distance scale is measured in fractions of feet, instead of feet and inches. An easy fix that will make AC’s all over the world happier.

Unlike the 40mm, this lens has an 86mm front thread for filters which is great, and an outer diameter of 95mm which is compatible with a wide range of cine accessories such as clamp-on matteboxes.

The squeeze factor here is 1.8x, which is a perfect match to cameras capable of 4:3 recording. In the MFT universe, that is Panasonic’s GH5, GH5s and more recently, the BGH1 box camera. Pairing a 1.8x squeeze with 4:3 recording will give you a 2.4:1 aspect ratio right out of the box in post-production, without the need for any cropping.

The lens costs the same as the other ones in the set: $3250 dollars and you can get it at Vazen’s website as well as B&H Photo and other retailers.

About performance, Vazen's 65mm is a good performer, with good sharpness across the frame. You can see some chromatic aberration at play with green and magenta peaking on high-contrast edges.

Flares are consistent with the all the other Vazen lenses, cool purple/blue tones. No surprises here.

When it comes to sensor coverage, while featuring an MFT mount, this particular lens on the lineup is capable of covering S35 sensors. Unfortunately the only situation where you can make use of this extra coverage is when shooting with Z-Cam’s full frame models and using the MFT mount… On regular MFT sensors, this 65mm gives you a 72mm horizontal field of view and 130mm vertical field of view!

Distortion is pretty controlled since it’s such a long focal length on a crop sensor. Barely any line-bending can be seen.

Due to the shared focusing method with the 40mm, using a variable-strength diopter, your field of view changes through the focus range widening by about 10%. This is much better than having a change in squeeze factor through the range. The squeeze remains the same: 1.8x.

Since we’re talking about a set here, it’s worth pointing out a few things Vazen did good and other things they could’ve improved on their first full set.

The lenses are visually consistent in terms of color rendition and flares. That’s a good start. No weird color changes between them.

The 28mm is tiny in comparison to the other two. That’s the result of a different focusing method. This gives a different feel to the footage as it affects how the lenses breathe as they racks focus. I think this would’ve been a much stronger set if they all followed the style of the 28mm, which would make for smaller and lighter lenses as opposed to the big sizes we have now.

The inconsistent sizing is a big deal for me, especially when compared to a cine-lens environment. A consequence of the different sizes is the placement for all the gears is slightly different in each lens, meaning you’ll have to adjust your motors every time you switch lenses. This might be a minor thing to some, but it’s a big deal as you move up the budget line.

This same issue applies to consistent filter threads and mattebox compatibility, which ended up being different on every lens (77mm on the 28, 86mm on the 65 and no threads on the 40). It would be cool if Vazen offered some sort of attachment for all the lenses to normalize this if you buy a full set from them.

Now onto the good stuff! The 1.8x squeeze factor is pretty awesome. Pairing it with an exclusive MFT mount is very clever for 4:3 shooting, although limiting in the number of potential users.

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