SIRUI 50mm T2.9 1.6x Full-Frame Anamorphic Lens Now on Indiegogo

Lens News

by Francesco AndreolaOctober 12^th, 2021

SIRUI’s Indiegogo campaign for their recently announced 50mm T2.9 1.6x Full-Frame Anamorphic Lens is finally live. The company’s first full-frame anamorphic lens will take independent filmmakers one step closer to large format anamorphic cinematography. The pre-sale price is $1199.

A few weeks ago, we covered the announcement of a brand new SIRUI 50mm T2.9 1.6x Full-Frame Anamorphic Lens. After revolutionizing the world of anamorphic shooting with their APS-C lineup, the company is now setting a milestone in the field of large-format cinematography.

In fact, this lens is truly the first reasonable option for independent filmmakers who want to approach anamorphic shooting on full-frame cameras. Another option is the recently-released Great Joy 60mm T2.9 FF 1.33x lens, but it seems to be a little more cumbersome to work with. So the let’s do a quick recap of what this SIRUI lens can do.

SIRUI 50mm T2.9 1.6x: large format anamorphic lens

This Full-Frame Anamorphic Lens is designed for full-frame sensors. Its 1.6x squeeze factor is more extreme than the 1.33x of the APS-C line.

This choice will result in a 2.8:1 aspect ratio image when using the lens on a 16.9 sensor, thus creating an immersive experience that tries to emulate that of the IMAX format.

Furthermore, a 2.4:1 aspect ratio can be achieved by using a 3:2 portion of the sensor. Such mode is supported, among many other cameras, on the Panasonic S1H and RED Komodo 6K.

As a growing number of full-frame cameras now support 8K recording, I’m wondering whether this lens will live up to this task. According to SIRUI, it is sharp enough to produce crisp images even when shooting at such high resolutions.

SIRUI 50mm T2.9 1.6x: available mounts

SIRUI currently offers four mount options for this lens: RF, L, E, and Z-Mount. This variety makes the glass compatible with many popular full-frame cameras, like the Panasonic S1H, BS1H, the RED V-RAPTOR, the Canon EOS R5, and the Sony FX6, just to name a few.

I’ve personally had a great experience shooting with the SIRUI APS-C lenses on my Sony FS5 over the past year. Now that I switched over to the RED Komodo and Canon R5, I’ll definitely be in line to purchase an RF-Mount version of this 50mm.

Cinematic design and optical construction

Another great selling point of this product is its design. The lens features a cinematic aluminum housing with geared focus and iris rings. The step-less aperture should allow for smooth iris pulls. Moreover, a 1/4”-20 threaded hole at the bottom of the lens ensures extra support.

The lens will produce the famous anamorphic look with oval bokeh and blue light streaks. The barrel hosts 16 elements divided in 13 groups. The front element has a waterproof film and protective nano-coating.

Key features

• 1.6x Anamorphic Squeeze Factor
• 2.8:1 or 2.4:1 aspect ratio images
• For full-frame
• RF, L, E and Z-Mount
• 16 elements in 13 groups
• Aluminum body
• Cinematic housing
• Minimum focus distance: 75cm
• 82mm filter thread
• 1/4”-20 threaded hole
• Aperture blades: 10
• Front diameter: 88mm
• Weight: 1030g (E-Mount)
• Size: 88×141.3mm

Price and availability

SIRUI’s crowdfunding campaign for this 50mm T2.9 1.6x Full-Frame Anamorphic Lens is now live on Indiegogo. The super early bird price is set at $1199.

Later on, the lens will start selling for $1499. Considering the popularity of the APS-C version, I’m pretty sure this lens will sell out quickly. So hurry up and benefit from this 20% rebate when pre-ordering today.

Future Full Frame Anamorphic Lenses from SIRUI?

The 50mm T2.9 1.6x full-frame anamorphic lens is the first in SIRUI’s 1.6x FF anamorphic lineup. All future SIRUI 1.6x FF anamorphic lenses will be engineered with the same unified focus and iris position as well as consistent T-stops and 82mm filter threads and available in RF-, L-, E- and Z-mounts. Future lenses will consist of 75mm T2.9 1.6x, 35mm T2.91.6x, and 100mm T2.9 1.6x. All new lenses are planned to come out during 2021. 

Final note:

Although there is an established company behind this campaign, we feel obliged to say this at the end of every crowdfunding-related article: please be aware of the risks when backing a project on a crowdfunding platform. Please read Indiegogo’s terms of use – especially the section about “Backing a campaign”. Keep in mind that there can be significant delays when delivering the product. Some products even don’t get delivered at all.

Have you ever used SIRUI anamorphic lenses? What do you think of this new full-frame anamorphic lens? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!