The New Lens

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Mitch Gross said:
Ever seen Billy Wilder's The Apartment?

Any format can be used for any subject. It's all in how you choose to use it. Personally one thing I find about anamorphic is that it can be great for showing two people in frame for a fairly intimate two-shot. Spielberg did this a lot in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. He wanted to play up the relationship between father & son and liked keeping the two of them in frame together, but at the same time not be stuck with lots of medium-wide shots.
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Agreed about the framing possibilities for 2:39, but of course that can be done with spherical lenses and cropping to achieve similar compositions (allowing for the argument that the focal length differences and optical characteristics are added factors in how we perceive the frame). It is a funny era that we are in that aberrations and defects are now prized, and pristine optics are ridiculed. But as we have discussed--all things are cyclical and all trends will pass.
 
I think that any frame can be used for any reason, as long as the filmmaker tries to utilize it for a purpose.

Robert Altman liked anamorphic for a lot of his films, including comedies like M*A*S*H. It's just a tool like anything else.

The original points behind the use of larger formats and wider frames are no longer applicable. A larger frame no longer means higher resolution, lower grain or a brighter projected image. For frames wider than 16:9 at home or 17:9 in a cinema, the image will in fact be smaller and lower in resolution. When theaters went digital over the last decade or so, most no longer got a second lens for their new projectors. Instead they simply project a letterboxed image onto the screen, resulting in a smaller and lower resolution image.

A look is just that, a look. Use it for what you will. Do lots of people use it for some kind of cheap visual crutch? Sure, but there are a lot of people out there who use various camera moves and editing techniques as cheap crutches as well. And there are some who take these tools and tricks and use them quite effectively to create interesting work. To discount the use of any given tool seems pointless to me.

Except the Wilhelm Scream. I'm kinda over that one.
 
I saw another anamorphic-shot commercial on youtube today. I notice that a lot of commercials use anamorphic when they want to emphasize CINEMA, usually in a campy way because they're juxtaposing the serious and the silly.

This one was a beautiful formal opera performance in full costume and ornate sets interrupted by a man wheeled in shirtless on a reclining beach chair. He orders the singer to sing something else. Cut to the man in the chair by a pool, where he actually is. It was an ad for voice control of the amazon echo.

But what that tells me is that the anamorphic look is still associated with "cinema"...at least until everything has been vertical for so long that no one remembers anything different
 
In the manual focus bread and butter world, just no one else is touching the value they bring. For a second Rokinon, yes, but even then, their cine line costs more (even on sale)

The APO’s from SLR didn’t really flesh out their line yet. Though, they also seem really nice and comparably priced.


DZO has a lot behind the scenes, having been doing lenses successfully for a while in other markets. Given how much of lens design is computer based formulas, it is no surprise that these companies can just come out of the gate with glass that performs at this level.

Other brands that don’t have some popular “look” or are defined by being the best, seems like we’ll have to see more development and innovation in the AF arena or who knows what’s next. The manual focus cine lens market is now pretty stacked with great lenses and options at almost any price.
 
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They are killing it. These primes and their new super 35 zooms are impressive, and the user changeable mounts are pretty sweet.

I wonder how long it will take for them to release FF zooms. There is a to be continued placeholder on the home page so it might not be long.
 
Matt Allard reviewed the Vazen 85mm anamorphic lens in another one of his comprehensive writeups, that includes some test footage:
https://www.newsshooter.com/2020/11/27/vazen-85mm-t2-8-1-8x-ff-anamorphic-lens-review/

Vazen 85mm T2.8 1.8x FF Anamorphic Lens Example Footage:
https://vimeo.com/484311311

Vazen 85mm T2.8 1.8X FF Anamorphic Lens Flare Tests:
https://vimeo.com/459270151

Vazen 85mm T2.8 1.8x FF Anamorphic Lens Bokeh Tests:
https://vimeo.com/464469486

Vazen 85mm F2.8 1.8x FF Anamorphic Lens Breathing Tests:
https://vimeo.com/484325249

Vazen 85mm T2.8 1.8x FF Anamorphic Lens Chromatic Aberration Tests:
https://vimeo.com/484316407
 
Thanks Teddy, this thread is becoming a real asset with all of your contributions!
 
did we mention the new Veyzen full frame 1.8 anamorphics yet?

i also think Canon R and Sony G master lenses are competing with cine lenses, because the autofocus is such a powerful tool.
 
Atlas Orion released a "Silver" edition with neutral flare that takes on the color of the light source.
 
Teddy_Dem said:
Sirui 75mm F1.8 1.33x Anamorphic lens will be launching soon.
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Quite liking that look. I used to hate 1.33x anamorphic, because they seemed so middle of the road, but as vintage glass has become so expensive, I think these 1.33x stretch lenses are a great way to reduced aggressive details and create a more homogenize image. And the fast aperture helps give that 2x anamorphic depth of field feeling, without getting into banana bokeh on the edges.
 
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