SIRUI has become synonymous with bringing affordable anamorphic lenses to the masses. Their latest lens has seen substantial interest and now reviewers are getting the chance to be hands-on with it.
I find my adoration of the anamorphic look as difficult to explain to non-photographers as I do medium format. It has a quality to it that I thoroughly enjoy and I believe it adds something great to the footage, but on paper, it sounds worse than ordinary lenses. The issue for many of us was, however, that anamorphic lenses were far, far outside ordinary budgets. They were reserved for only high-end productions ordinarily and rarely in the hands of hobbyists and prosumers.
SIRUI was the first company to come to my attention with a solution to this problem, with their 1.3x anamorphic lenses that were affordable. They have proven popular and now they are releasing their ultra-wide perspective, 50mm T2.9 1.6x lens via crowdfunding, and it has been rather well received. At the time of writing this, the campaign is 7,011% over their funding goals, raising well over half a million dollars.
In this video, Kai W takes the lens to the streets of London to see how it handles and performs. For me, it's another situation where I don't need it, but I certainly want it. What do you make of it?
