With the rise of consumer-grade DSLR and Mirrorless cameras offering fantastic solutions to video content creation, many products once restricted to the cinema world are finding their way into the prosumer market. Sirui’s 50mm f/1.8 1.33x Anamorphic lens for Fuji X Mount is a sharp and fast anamorphic lens designed to bring that cinematic look to the hands of many. With its 1.33x Ratio, the lens takes full advantage of the 16×9 sensor crop that these cameras shoot video in to produce a 2.4:1 aspect ratio that is synonymous with theatre movie experiences. The lens uses an optically distorting anamorphic front element to squeeze the horizontal axis of the shot by 1.33 times which allows for more information to be fit onto the sensor. this is then stretched back out in post-production or in-camera (see manufacturers specs for compatibility) to create the wider field of view and ratio compared to a conventional aspherical lens. The often wanted side effect of that front element is the horizontal flares produced by light sources. The lens reproduces these flares beautifully whilst the coatings on the lens keep them from obscuring the entire frame. The lens has a fast aperture of f/1.8 to create a very shallow depth of field and therefore increasing the oval-shaped bokeh effect that is found in anamorphic lenses. this soft out of focus area is one of the many benefits that a true anamorphic lens brings over its filter counterparts or digital crop bars that are used to imitate the anamorphic ‘look’. The lens is available in Sony E mount, Micro 4/3 mount, and Fuji X-mount.
