Atlas Mercury Series 54mm, 95mm, and 138mm – Pre-orders Open on November 14th

Lens News

by Francesco AndreolaNovember 13^th, 2023

Atlas Lens Co. has just announced that they will soon start taking pre-orders for 3 new focal lengths in their Mercury 1.5x full-frame anamorphic lens series. This second group of lenses includes 54mm, 95mm, and 138mm. Delivery is expected in Q3 2024.

The Atlas Mercury 1.5x full-frame anamorphic lens series first debuted ahead of IBC 2022 with three focal lengths: 36mm, 42mm, and 72mm T2.2. On last year’s show floor, Atlas’ designer Forrest Schultz gave us an extensive overview of this family of lenses. You can watch our interview here.

Then, at NAB 2023, the company showcased a prototype of the 54mm T2.2 1.5x, which will be available to pre-order in the upcoming days, next to a 95mm and a 138mm.

Atlas Mercury Series Group II – overview

In a nutshell, the Mercury series packs warm, vintage anamorphic tones into lens bodies that are extremely tiny and lightweight compared to those of the company’s iconic Orion 2x anamorphic set.

Unlike Orion, Mercury lenses are designed to natively cover full-frame and large-format sensors without the need for an expander, and they have a less extreme 1.5x squeeze that plays a significant role in their compact design.

This second group of lenses (54/95/138mm) is claimed to have the same “hallmark character and matching color tones” as the initial trio. This should translate to golden flares, carefully calibrated barrel distortion, and close-to-zero chromatic aberration.

The Mercury lenses are only available in ARRI PL mount and have unified mechanical specifications, including a front 95mm diameter and a modern cinematic housing with standardized gears.

Price and availability

Group II of the Atlas Mercury Series will be available for pre-order starting from November 14th, 2023. According to the company, the complete range of lenses should start shipping in Q3 2024.

For reference, the Group I lenses (36/42/72mm) currently retail for $7,995 each, while the 3-lens set costs $23,985.

For more information, please visit Atlas’ website here.

Have you ever shot on Atlas anamorphic lenses? What do you think of this second group of Mercury focal lengths? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below!