Vazen’s new 135mm T2.8 1.8x anamorphic lens completes their full-frame anamorphic trio
Apr 27, 2022
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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Vazen has unveiled their new 135mm T2.8 1.8x anamorphic lens for full-frame cameras in EF and PL mount. This completes their 3-lens 1.8x full-frame anamorphic lineup adding to the Vazen 85mm T2.8 1.8x anamorphic full-frame lens announced in August 2020 and the Vazen 50mm T2.1 1.8x anamorphic full-frame lens announced last May.
As with Vazen’s previous full-frame 1.8x anamorphic lenses, this one’s not cheap, coming in at the same $8,000 price tag as the last two, although you can buy the complete set of three in a nice custom hard case for the bargain price of $19,999 (a $4,001 discount). If you’ve already bought some, though and end up getting the 135 to complete your set, the case is available separately for $300.
Vazen says the new 135mm T2.8 is designed to cover “large format” cinema cameras like the Red Monstro, Alexaa LF, Finefinity Mavo LF and Z-Cam E2-F8 fully and offers a user interchangeable EF and PL mount to cater it to the system you’re using. It features the same 86mm diameter filter thread on the front as the Vazen’s other full-frame 1.8x anamorphic lenses, allowing you to easily swap between them using the same set of gear. It also has standard 95mm front diameter for mounting a matte box.
| Focal length | 135mm |
| Max aperture | T2.8 |
| Min aperture | T16 |
| Angle of view | Around 32.2° (Horizontal) |
| Format | Full-Frame / Vista Vision |
| Mount | PL/EF (user interchangeable) |
| Lens type | 1.8x Anamorphic |
| Focus type | Manual Focus |
| Focus throw | Unspecified |
| Min focus distance | 1.52m |
| Optics | Unspecified |
| Filter size | 86mm |
| Aperture blades | Unspecified |
| Dimensions | 95 x 236mm |
| Weight | 2kg |
It has a 32.2° horizontal field of view similar to that of a standard 75mm rectilinear lens. The 1.8x squeeze allows for a 2.39:1 aspect ratio when paired with 4:3 sensors and when paired up with a 16:9 sensor, it requires less cropping than when using 2x anamorphic lenses to get the desired 2.39:1 aspect ratio. It has a minimum focusing distance of 1.52 metres, or around 5ft, and delivers “buttery smooth oval bokeh” with the typical blue horizontal flare seen with anamorphic lenses.
The Vazen 135mm T2.8 1.8x Anamorphic full-frame lens is available to buy now from the Vazen website for $8,000 or as part of the complete set of three lenses, including the 50mm T2.1 and 85mm T2.8 1.8x anamorphic lenses for $19,999.
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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