American Cinematographer - May 2018 - 14

SHOT CRAFT
I

Recent Anamorphic Lenses
By Jay Holben

Atlas Lens Co.
The Atlas Lens Co. (atlaslensco.com) was formed by the
two-man team of entrepreneur Dan Kanes (formerly of Paralinx)
and lead designer Forrest Schultz, both of whom are cinematographers. The duo demonstrated a prototype of their 65mm Orion
lens at the NAB Show in 2017; the initial three-lens set, shipping
this summer, also includes 40mm and 100mm focal lengths, all
at T2, with more focal lengths to follow in 2019. Featuring a
mechanically robust and optically pleasing design, the Orions are
being offered at the low price point of $7,999 per lens, or
$23,995 for the set of three primes. The lenses feature a 2x
anamorphic squeeze and boast a striking "waterfall" bokeh -
an elliptical bokeh effect from front-anamorphic lenses where
the highlights take on an elongated shape that looks like little
waterfalls. The mount can be changed for PL, EF or Micro Four
Thirds. Additional features include a 270-degree focus rotation,
and standard 0.8 mod gear rings for focus and iris. The image
circle for all three primes covers Arri's Alexa Open Gate.

P+S Technik
Among the offerings from P+S Technik are the Evolution
2X anamorphic lenses (www.pstechnik.de/lenses/evolution-2x).
The company has deconstructed the optical design and characteristics of the ever-popular Kowa Prominar anamorphic primes
that were produced in the 1980s, and have reconstructed them
with brand-new optics and optomechanical design. P+S has also
announced two additional focal lengths - a wider angle (either
32mm or 35mm) and a 135mm - to expand the original four
focal lengths for a set of six Evolution 2X lenses. The 40mm,
50mm, 75mm and 100mm are available now. The lenses feature
200-degree rotation on the focus and 100-degree aperture rotation. An 80mm front diameter on all six lenses means they're
compact enough for Steadicam, gimbal or drone work. The
standard mount is PL, but they are also available in EF, E and
Micro Four Thirds.

In addition, P+S Technik has promised to expand its line
of CS 1.5X anamorphic lenses, designed to bring the character
of traditional "CinemaScope" lenses to 16:9 sensors
(www.pstechnik.de/lenses/cs-lenses). The 1.5x squeeze on a
14

May 2018

American Cinematographer

Opening image courtesy of the AC archives. Lens-flare images courtesy of Markus Förderer, BVK.

Once upon a time, anamorphic photography was like an
exclusive club, home only to the top cinematographers in the
world. In large part, this was due to the limited availability of
anamorphic lenses around the globe. Today, however, more and
more companies are entering into the anamorphic-optics
market, and in so doing, they're enabling large numbers of filmmakers with substantially more choices.
This survey looks at just some of the newer anamorphic
lenses that have entered the marketplace in recent years, as well
as a few that have been announced and will soon be available.
It's not by any means a complete list, but it illustrates how diverse
our options are today - and we're sure to have more soon!

http://www.atlaslensco.com http://www.pstechnik.de/lenses/evolution-2x http://www.pstechnik.de/lenses/cs-lenses

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - May 2018