I too have this lens, great that you are doing the review... oh, and I've had mine for quite a few months, so technically, I beat you to use it on the OM-1....
Does the OM-1 has a way to de-squeeze the image in the viewfinder? It's worth mentioning, I own the 24 and 50mm versions, they didn’t came with the extra gear rings, only the 35mm does. Had to purchase those separately from 3rd party. Also, apparently the 35mm has a different coating than the rest of the kit, and it shows, with a tiny colour shifts compare to the others.
Cine lens manufacturers often make a big thing about consistency across their range so your last point is going to be a big turnoff for many potential users.
I purchased this lens from Adorama, NYC, after watching your review. I managed to get a close up shot of a 1/48 scale model at less than 2 feet away, and only lighted with 2 tiny SMD, LEDs. I will mainly us it for model railroad photography. It is a cool lens with lots of potential, and it is very well made. a bit heavy on my Olympus OMD 10, 2 . But I do like it very much'...
I’m using the Sirui anamorphic 35mm 1.8 for a couple of years, first in the Olympus M1 mII only for two videos because this cons: the crop factor, 70mm was a little long for me, and the de-squeeze factor is not as bigger in large sensor, my sweet spot was the aps-c (super 35) sensor. In video, for my Olympus I prefer spherical optics and more wide lenses.
Thanks for your input. I am ok with the squeeze on M43. Super 35 would be nice but sometimes I find too restrictive. But to me, the lack of choice is the killer for M43 platform, especially on the wide end.
I bought my Sirui 35mm f1.8 anamorphic when it was released and it is a very niche lens but I’m glad I have it. Also I seem to recall that the lens works better at 4k than C4k, I can’t recall the exact details but I think the image circle is designed for a 16x9 readout and more data is captured at 4k than at C4k 🤷
Hi Jimmy I already have the Sirui Anamorphic M4/3 lens 😊😊😊. Amazing for cinematic wide screen video. I have used the lens both with a hand held gimbal and on my fluid head tripod. Yes it is a little on the heavy side but not a problem. I also have follow focus motor on gimbal with rubber toothed ring on lens. The blue flare from the sun is super. Hopefully catch up with you again if you do another photo walk in London. Best wishes to you and family. Peace ✌️✌️
Been using 50mm F1.8 Sirui on M5.MkIII for cosplayer portraits for over a year. For me its something like specialized portrait lens which delivers movie-like quality. Bit too long (35mm would be better option), i really would like to have desqueeze option on camera. Grip is a must, or to use M1x instead. Focusing require focus assist and sometimes even punch-in digital zoom ... Definitely the most complicated lens to work with, but the results are unique.
I've had my fully manual 50mm Siuri for about 4 years. And for most of that time the lens has sat unloved in my Lens Box. Even though I have a Panasonic camera, which is the Dream Combination, it's a pain in the proverbial in post production. I use Davinci Resolve and have found it a hassle to desqueeze the footage. I tried to mathematicaly work this out. But the only useful method I found was to make a Test Card of circles, from the Arri website, and then eyeball the desqueeze process. Life can be so much simpler if I film with a normal spherical lens but use crop lines for an anamorphic style aspect ratio. Quite a few Hollywood Blockbusters have been filmed with spherical lenses and cropped to a wide-screen aspect ratio. Or I'm just lazy and don't want to put the effort in.
I was wondering about software support. Obviously in The Olden Days films were shot and projected using anamorphic lenses, but now we have to shunt pixels around things are a bit more tricky. Maybe Jimmy would care to share his workflow . . .
That's awesome thank you for the review. I've currently been messing with bluemorphic filters and they are nice but get very linear with too bright of light. This might be a nice addition if I keep using it for stills and video as I am still experimenting.
Cheers mate. Yes, this is unique and I alway love how anamorphic footage looks like. This is the first time I use it on M43 despite I had previous experience in larger cameras. So this is pretty cool.
I took a series of anamorphic portraits a few years back. Worked well on a stage and in scrub behind the beach with the artist either in the far left/right corner or eyes close up dead centre with a lot of background left and right. I think they used them on the banner of their website, hence anamorphic. Those flares seriously enhance the impression of wideness. Shame about the minimum focus distance. Ah, well, can always crop with a regular lens... Cheers & stay creative!
I have budget to buy one, but I lack the talent to use one! Thanks Jimmy, but I will need to improve my basic skills, first. I have 1 question for, though. If i want chromatic abberation, vingetting and flares in a portrait shoot, why not just use a cheap 25mm f1.8 lens?
No, there's a certain 'characters' that this lens has and just can't be replicated in any other photography (or spherical) lenses. You can see the sample footage, you can get some crazy flatten streak flares that you can only get with anamorphic.
I've got a couple of books of photos taken on 6×17 film cameras. (Four exposures on a roll of 120.) One day I'll get round to simulating the format using a very wide angle lens and cropping to the 617 ratio. As for anamorphic - not really for me. I do appreciate the unique characteristics though. I tend to associate anamorphic lenses with those old westerns; sweeping vistas of The Big Country and so on.
I was hoping you would discuss how to desqueeze the video. Olympus doesn’t have a way to desqueeze internally. Panasonic does. I have a GH4 and GH5. I don’t have any anamorphic lenses but I wouldn’t buy one for the Olympus. Maybe for the Panasonic cameras.
I too have this lens, great that you are doing the review... oh, and I've had mine for quite a few months, so technically, I beat you to use it on the OM-1....
hahah great mate! You beat me to it hahah
Does the OM-1 has a way to de-squeeze the image in the viewfinder?
It's worth mentioning, I own the 24 and 50mm versions, they didn’t came with the extra gear rings, only the 35mm does.
Had to purchase those separately from 3rd party.
Also, apparently the 35mm has a different coating than the rest of the kit, and it shows, with a tiny colour shifts compare to the others.
Cine lens manufacturers often make a big thing about consistency across their range so your last point is going to be a big turnoff for many potential users.
I purchased this lens from Adorama, NYC, after watching your review. I managed to get a close up shot of a 1/48 scale model at less than 2 feet away, and only lighted with 2 tiny SMD, LEDs. I will mainly us it for model railroad photography. It is a cool lens with lots of potential, and it is very well made. a bit heavy on my Olympus OMD 10, 2 . But I do like it very much'...
I’m using the Sirui anamorphic 35mm 1.8 for a couple of years, first in the Olympus M1 mII only for two videos because this cons: the crop factor, 70mm was a little long for me, and the de-squeeze factor is not as bigger in large sensor, my sweet spot was the aps-c (super 35) sensor. In video, for my Olympus I prefer spherical optics and more wide lenses.
Thanks for your input. I am ok with the squeeze on M43. Super 35 would be nice but sometimes I find too restrictive. But to me, the lack of choice is the killer for M43 platform, especially on the wide end.
I'm pairing my OM-1 with Atomos Ninja V+ for ProRes RAW video... This lens is a must, isn't it?
I bought my Sirui 35mm f1.8 anamorphic when it was released and it is a very niche lens but I’m glad I have it.
Also I seem to recall that the lens works better at 4k than C4k, I can’t recall the exact details but I think the image circle is designed for a 16x9 readout and more data is captured at 4k than at C4k 🤷
Nice and informative video!
Hi Jimmy I already have the Sirui Anamorphic M4/3 lens 😊😊😊. Amazing for cinematic wide screen video. I have used the lens both with a hand held gimbal and on my fluid head tripod. Yes it is a little on the heavy side but not a problem. I also have follow focus motor on gimbal with rubber toothed ring on lens. The blue flare from the sun is super. Hopefully catch up with you again if you do another photo walk in London. Best wishes to you and family. Peace ✌️✌️
Been using 50mm F1.8 Sirui on M5.MkIII for cosplayer portraits for over a year. For me its something like specialized portrait lens which delivers movie-like quality.
Bit too long (35mm would be better option), i really would like to have desqueeze option on camera. Grip is a must, or to use M1x instead.
Focusing require focus assist and sometimes even punch-in digital zoom ... Definitely the most complicated lens to work with, but the results are unique.
I've had my fully manual 50mm Siuri for about 4 years. And for most of that time the lens has sat unloved in my Lens Box.
Even though I have a Panasonic camera, which is the Dream Combination, it's a pain in the proverbial in post production.
I use Davinci Resolve and have found it a hassle to desqueeze the footage. I tried to mathematicaly work this out. But the only useful method I found was to make a Test Card of circles, from the Arri website, and then eyeball the desqueeze process.
Life can be so much simpler if I film with a normal spherical lens but use crop lines for an anamorphic style aspect ratio. Quite a few Hollywood Blockbusters have been filmed with spherical lenses and cropped to a wide-screen aspect ratio.
Or I'm just lazy and don't want to put the effort in.
I was wondering about software support. Obviously in The Olden Days films were shot and projected using anamorphic lenses, but now we have to shunt pixels around things are a bit more tricky. Maybe Jimmy would care to share his workflow . . .
That's awesome thank you for the review. I've currently been messing with bluemorphic filters and they are nice but get very linear with too bright of light. This might be a nice addition if I keep using it for stills and video as I am still experimenting.
Cheers mate. Yes, this is unique and I alway love how anamorphic footage looks like. This is the first time I use it on M43 despite I had previous experience in larger cameras. So this is pretty cool.
Hi, may I ask which video format you shoot with.is there a de squeeze option in the options? I am looking to upgrade from E M1 mark1
I took a series of anamorphic portraits a few years back. Worked well on a stage and in scrub behind the beach with the artist either in the far left/right corner or eyes close up dead centre with a lot of background left and right. I think they used them on the banner of their website, hence anamorphic. Those flares seriously enhance the impression of wideness. Shame about the minimum focus distance. Ah, well, can always crop with a regular lens...
Cheers & stay creative!
Is that a MR-G square Jimmy? Looks nice!
Wow, good eye!!! Yes it is :)
I have budget to buy one, but I lack the talent to use one! Thanks Jimmy, but I will need to improve my basic skills, first. I have 1 question for, though. If i want chromatic abberation, vingetting and flares in a portrait shoot, why not just use a cheap 25mm f1.8 lens?
No, there's a certain 'characters' that this lens has and just can't be replicated in any other photography (or spherical) lenses. You can see the sample footage, you can get some crazy flatten streak flares that you can only get with anamorphic.
I've got a couple of books of photos taken on 6×17 film cameras. (Four exposures on a roll of 120.) One day I'll get round to simulating the format using a very wide angle lens and cropping to the 617 ratio. As for anamorphic - not really for me. I do appreciate the unique characteristics though. I tend to associate anamorphic lenses with those old westerns; sweeping vistas of The Big Country and so on.
hahaha yeah, it's a marmite affair if you ask me. Some don't like it or even bother about it. I do, but I rarely use them on M43 until now.
At the risk of sounding OCDish missing PC socket covers disturb me 😀.
I was hoping you would discuss how to desqueeze the video. Olympus doesn’t have a way to desqueeze internally. Panasonic does. I have a GH4 and GH5. I don’t have any anamorphic lenses but I wouldn’t buy one for the Olympus. Maybe for the Panasonic cameras.
How come he is looking to the right (or his left), not directly at the camera.
WEX are selling them for over £900 new, but they lose their value fast as MPB is selling them for £349.
Really? I am certain you can get it cheaper. But you can get some great used deals with MPB