GEAR SIRUI 50MMT2.9 1.6X ANAMORPHIC
EXOTIC OPTIC
BEHOLD THE FILMMAKING GRAIL!
Full-frame shooting with a real anamorphic lens has long been unattainable to the masses – until now
WORDS ADAM DUCKWORTH
A sk anyone who’s studied the cinematic look of Hollywood blockbusters, and talk will soon head towards the last great obstacle for the vast majority of aspirational cinematographers. That’s an anamorphic lens to fit on a full-frame camera, for maximum quality and shallow depth-of-field. These rare, pricey beasts give a very different look to any normal ‘spherical’ lens, and not just with the trademark oval bokeh and blue horizontal flares they produce. The Cinemascope perspective is down to a super widescreen format, derived from a lens that ‘squeezes’ the image at the taking stage; then it’s de-squeezed in post. So, for example, you get the perspective of a 50mm lens, but the field of view is equivalent to a much wider lens. You just can’t get it by cropping a wide-angle shot and adding letterbox bars at the top and bottom.
In recent years, Sirui has offered various affordable anamorphics that only work on crop-sensor cameras, like MFT or Super 35/APS-C. Full- frame machines have to be set to crop-sensor mode. These lenses offer a 1.33x squeeze, giving 2.4:1 aspect ratio. Compared to a standard 50mm lens, the horizontal field of view is the equivalent of an APS-C 37.5mm lens. Sirui has now launched its first full-frame anamorphic, with the new Venus 50mm T2.9 1.6x lens at £1299/$1499. That’s less than a fifth of other so-called ‘budget’ full-frame anamorphic lenses like the Vazen – and a tenth of an Atlas Orion. Compared to premium versions like the Cooke, it’s a 25th of the price! Of course, there’s a reason this lens is so much cheaper, as some corners have to be cut. The
maximum aperture is T2.9, rather than anything super-quick. And, as the internal focusing mechanism for anamorphic lenses is complicated, the Sirui employs a relatively basic synchro-focus system, so the advertised 1.6x squeeze factor changes slightly through the focus range. At infinity it’s 1.6x, but closer to minimum it reduces to 1.51x. But,
TEXTBOOK LOOK The super widescreen aspect ratio and oval bokeh are anamorphic trademarks (top)
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