In this video I want to talk about a really cool lens that I've been shooting with over the last couple of weeks. It's an anamorphic lens on a budget if there is such a thing. If you ever wanted to get into anamorphic kind of video shooting but you didn't want to hurt your wallet then you've probably already heard of this company. This is SIRUI.
The Anamorphic Features of the 50mm and the New 35mm
They've previously released a really good lens which is this one. It was a 50 millimeter f 1.8 and it was the first ever on the market affordable true anamorphic lens. Meaning there's no adapters no filters or things like that. It's an actual anamorphic lens with a 1.33 squeeze aspect ratio.
Well now they followed up their successful lens with this baby. This is the 35 millimeter. Also f 1.8. And if you're wondering how does it compare to the 50 millimeter, the previous version. It is just as good and maybe not even better.
What I mean by that is that you're gonna get the real anamorphic sort of characteristics with this lens just as you would with the other lens from SIRUI. So you're getting the nice, wide aspect ratio. If you're shooting a 16x9 camera which most cameras these days shoot in that aspect ratio, then you're gonna get that cinema scope aspect ratio once you d squeeze it to 1.33. But you're also going to get this kind of nice subtle oval bokeh and a really really nice anamorphic flares. I would say maybe even a slightly better than the 50 millimeter version even though this was already really good.
The flares are there if you really point it at you know like a really strong light source but they're a little bit kind of I would say more organic looking. Especially when you have the lens, you know off to the side a little bit, from the main light source and it just have the kind of the the light kind of hitting the the front of the lens at an angle, you're gonna get these nice little glows and these kind of blooming effects within this lens. So personally I think it looks really nice and looks very cinematic.
Parameter Features
Now in order for SIRUI to go from a 50 millimeter focal length to 35 they obviously have to change the optics inside. You might be wondering again does that affect the build of the lens and and things like that. Well the quality and the build of it is just as good as the original lens. The build of the focus and the aperture rings are nice and smooth. They feel solid at the same time though you're still getting the nice compact size that you got with the previous version. And now one thing maybe is that it is slightly bigger the E-mount version of both of these that I have. So slight difference maybe half an inch maybe not even longer than the front diameter is 67 millimeters and it's the same on both of these lenses.
When it comes to the weight this one it is slightly slightly heavier than this but again it's very minimal and again if you're gonna compare this to any other standard anamorphic lens on the market these lenses are tiny. So really if you want to get into anamorphics you're not going to find anything else out this small and in this light.
Actually this whole video watching right now is also shot on the 35 millimeter f 1.8 anamorphic lens from SIRUI. That's because I haven't mounted there on my packet 4k camera and that one of course is a micro four thirds version. This one is an E-mount version. But again doesn't matter which version you pick they're identical and the way that they're built the only difference is on the back obviously the mount.
Another cool update from SIRUI is that this time they're actually offering geared rings for both the focus and the aperture. So if you want to work with this lens kind of more like a cinema style lens and let's say you have a follow focus or a wireless follow focus system then you'll be able to use it with these lenses.
Shooting Experience
The 35 millimeter lens from SIRUI just as their previous 50 millimeter lens I think are a great way to get into anamorphic. If you're interested in that kind of stuff this lens is nice and sharp again the same as the 50 millimeter version which is something that's very hard to find on most anamorphic lenses. It creates a nice clean image even though at the same time it also gives you slightly more organic looking flares. And also flares that I think are a little bit more subtle than maybe the 50 millimeter version.
Conclusion
Overall I've loved shooting with this lens so if you're wondering, if you should grab this one and for example maybe you already own the 50 millimeter version and you like it well you're gonna love this one. Now if you haven't actually tried any of the lenses from SIRUI then definitely give this one or the 50 millimeter version a try and you will not be disappointed especially like I said if you're looking for those more cinematic looking images.
