Clean 1.5X Full Frame Anamorphic! - Laowa Nanomorph LF 1.5X Anamorphic Lens Set

[@misterwhyte]

Your analogy at the end was absolutely perfect and it pains me to say I can totally relate to it 🤣 Happy holidays man and thanks for all the great reviews!

[@brianbeeson]

Merry Christma! Thank you for all your hard work to show these lenses and provide education on anamorphics. I've been watching your channel since the beginning!

[@steveschnetzler5471]

Amazing what is available on a "budget" these days, between the mics, bodies, lenses, and lights. It is fun to watch what is "new", but I don't need anything more. Thanks.

[@anamorphicalan]

Agreed

[@AnamorphicChannel]

This comment warms my heart! Something that motivates me is knowing people out there are staying informed, but making decisions on their own about what they need and what they don't care about! :P

[@agustinmunozrocha]

beautiful, so much better than the blazars

[@pdcorlis]

I always enjoy your videos. Thanks for adding so much to the anamorphic community. BTW - your color grades look absolutely beautiful.

[@AnamorphicChannel]

Thank you! I hardly do anything to it, keeping it natural. Essentially a LUT to Rec709 (a secret one) and some highlight/shadow adjustments.

[@pdcorlis]

@@AnamorphicChannel Secret LUTs? Tell me more!

[@AnamorphicChannel]

@@pdcorlis maybe we should have a conversation about the meaning of the word secret! hahahah

[@nelsonpuello8722]

Love the partner analogy 😂. Merry Christmas!

[@juliustubbsDP]

Just joind the facebook group. I see im going to love this channel!

[@VFXforfilm]

Excellent review, nice work man!

[@KamranJawaid]

Happy holidays and great review as always

[@mikemcglasson1286]

The part where you said they have a lack of funk but are not clinical seems like a perfect description as far as I can tell. It's fascinating that the budget world of anamorphics is seeing less and less compromise in design release after release. And in general, budget cine style lenses are getting better focus gears at lower prices all the time. We just don't have to settle for looser focus rings with only like 100 degress of rotation anymore! At least as long as tariffs don't send the prices skyrocketing...

[@Dude-gd5wm]

Sam Sulek got me to your channel. Wow amazing content. Thank you.

[@BrianMakesFilms]

Very interesting lens set. I'm torn on if I like them or not. Your analogy is perfect - because they absolutely look fantastic. But having spent the last couple months shooting on the Blazar Remus 50mm a ton, I'm used to the weird distortion and optical flaws. But these are also really intriguing when considering not having to worry about the issues of the Remus when shooting narrative productions. I'm constantly at war with myself between if I like a cleaner image or a flawed lens. If I decide the fishbowl pans and squished edges are driving me too insane, I could see myself grabbing either the 42 or 55mm to try out. What a time to be alive that we have so many options of budget anamorphic lenses.

[@alfonsojarago]

That last comment about partners and red flags had me cackling 😂

[@velvetsound]

Me too brother, me too….

[@aguirrehug00]

Sam Sulek sent me here

[@Behnam_Moghaddam]

Dito and thank you for a great year

[@driesvdg8743]

Sulek soldier checking in

[@mclarenf1V12]

Nice images my friend

[@DavidFlores]

Looking forward to the full frame zoom

[@marius_thsch]

Must say I’m considering getting both these and the Remus B set as they compliment each other pretty well! On one side you have the more clean subdued look, which might work very well for a lot of client work, then you have the more classical distorted look for more narrative and music video projects. What do you guys think? And thank you again for another great video, really appreciate everything you’ve done over all these years. Happy holidays! 🎉

[@LOMISFILM]

It looks like these lenses are the closest we have yet to "good and affordable" anamorphics, especially for FF & beyond. I'm just not sure we're 100% there yet. I'll still hold out for inevitable something even better in the near future, but It's great to see things getting closer to the dream though.

[@IanHavens]

A definite trade off in character/speed, but I like how compact the telephoto end is compared to the Atlas Mercury lenses (and how much more affordable)

[@FULLofJOHN]

dude love the hair, shit looks sick

[@OwenCrowley]

Looks like you and your sibling visited my humble island (Manhattan). I continue to like the look my Atlas delivers on my URSA 12K, but if I were to get some anamorphic primes for my BM Cine 6k these look good. Thank you for this.

[@AnamorphicChannel]

Not my sibling, but people do say we look alike! hahaha. My sister is in some other videos. We come to NY every once in a while for family visits. I also have a video around Christmas-time in Manhattan for when I reviewed the Atlas 40mm! hahaha

[@TheAlphaChannelYT]

Thanks for this great review/comparison to other options! Any idea what the distortion is @4:47, at the left edge of the checkerboard? Doesn't seem like lens distortion since it stays in one place through the pan, but I've never seen anything like it...

[@AnamorphicChannel]

FML, the retiming of the pan created this artifact. That is not part of the original footage, but Resolve's bad optical flow. Thanks for pointing it out!

[@TheAlphaChannelYT]

@@AnamorphicChannel Oh! I have seen this before then 😅 Thanks for the reply & a great video. Cheers!

[@anamorphicalan]

Nice happy holiday

they look amazing ... i am still looking for the perfect anamophics for my budget ... right now the sirui saturns are the most used, i sold my hypergonar, i sold my blazar set, i have the vazen fullframe lenses still but i will decide next year if i move on and try other anamophics like the nanomorphs... but i love the flares of the vazen... the flares of the venus are also amazing but no constant squeeze was the reasoni sold them, fine tuning every shot with a custom squeeze factor is just a deal breaker for me. ... yeah what are your favorite anamophics for under 10k for the set right now?

[@AnamorphicChannel]

Right now I'm enjoying the Catos a bunch, but it might be just a fling. hahaha. I try not to get attached to anything.

@@AnamorphicChannel Thanks for the answer :) i own the vazen fullframe 50mm and 85mm, what would you say in a catos vs vazen situation? I love that the 50mm covers fullframe completely on the vazen, the flares are beautiful... the catos on the other hand have a bit more squeeze, are not as heavy, more character, but not as wide angle because of the less coverage and i do not like the flare that much on the cato... should i switch? :/

[@lzafar]

so back to the budget scenario - I have the helios 44m with a Kowa Prominar 16S. The look is fantastic but only with big open spaces. What is the solution for medium shots (full body) in a small room? with the Helios 44 I literally half to be in the next room. Is there a 20mm or 35 that I can attach the same Kowa onto?

[@AnamorphicChannel]

No solution whatsoever for that setup.

[@BogdanSorlea]

what did you film with at @1:54 ? that artificial judder is crazy

[@AnamorphicChannel]

Trashy tripod + Resolve bad optical flow/retiming to match the duration of the VO. :(

[@Karlabacken]

What would the drawbacks (look wise) be to use these LF versions on a 35mm sensor instead of the dedicated 35mm versions? If any.

[@AnamorphicChannel]

None whatsoever. They're a bit bigger and heavier, but that's all.

[@izzieb]

The original Nanomorphs seemed very good for the price (particularly as their squeeze factor didn't change with focus, which I appreciate). The only downside for me personally was that they didn't cover full frame. Well, Laowa sorted that out huh if the rest hasn't changed? 😅

[@mikemcglasson1286]

They actually almost cover full frame when shooting in 16:9 or 17:9. Not so much 3:2. Doesn't take much cropping on the horizontal aspect ratios to clear the sensor though.

[@steve_arcenio]

How would this hold up on S35? like the FX30.

[@adonegiuntini2792]

I can’t chose between Cato 2x Remus 1.5x and these laowa now, for 6k Cinema would you recommend the Laowa ?

[@AnamorphicChannel]

Very different lenses for very different looks. As I answered in another comment: Different levels of distortion, completely different aberrations, flares, coating colors, optical designs, handling, size, weight, most of which compose the look of the lens. It's not just squeeze factor + sensor size.

[@adonegiuntini2792]

@ thanks for the reply. I think I like better the distortion and less sharpen feeling of the cato. But I keep thinking !

[@dukecha]

Not quite my taste, but I still appreciate that Laowa is offering different options in the budget anamoprhic space for those who need a cleaner look for their work.

[@tonehtheories]

Still hope somebody comes up with really good anas some day for not atlas lens prices

[@cws_dp]

you mean... like the ones in this review? 🙄

[@tonehtheories]

​@@cws_dpcheck out the classic anas or modern like vantage film hawk, kowas, elites, lomos, panavision and so on and experience the magic if you dont know what i am talking about. And look again at these budget offerings. They are not bad in every aspect but they cant compete with the big boys and dont reach the giants

[@cws_dp]

@@tonehtheories I'm a professional. You're hoping to get Panavision C-Series Anamorphic or Hawk V-Lite anamorphic quality from lenses LESS expensive than Atlas Mercurys? Keep dreaming. It's literally insane we have lenses as good as these Nanomorphs are, available to us for $1500 a lens. These are NOT supposed to compete with $250,000 lens sets. How is that hard to understand? A few years ago Atlas was the only manufacturer in the game making anything even CLOSE to affordable. Now we have comparable, clean anamorphic lenses at a fraction of the cost. It's time to be grateful. And no, no lens sub 10k is ever really going to compete with that old, legendary anamorphic glass. And also, a lot of that older glass is nowhere near as technologically advanced as what we have today.

[@mr.hikenrun493]

Sam Sulek sent me.

[@animusvisual]

Thoughts vs remus?

[@AnamorphicChannel]

Very different lenses for very different projects!

[@animusvisual]

@AnamorphicOnABudget why would you consider 2 lenses that have ff coverage both at 1.5 squeeze to be so different?

[@AnamorphicChannel]

Different levels of distortion, completely different aberrations, flares, coating colors, optical designs, handling, size, weight, most of which compose the look of the lens. It's not just squeeze factor + sensor size.

[@animusvisual]

Right i suppose that's the thoughts i was asking about. What your personal preference would be.​@AnamorphicOnABudget

[@cws_dp]

blazars are cheap as dirt and look like it... these aren't even 2x what blazars cost and the quality of the optics is far beyond the blazars. these are sharper wide open than the blazars are at t5.6

[@tronix2241]

Anyone here because of sam sulek?

[@teegooglycoffeemeat]

It's a wierd crossover episode

[@AnamorphicChannel]

Wait, what? Can someone explain, please?

[@ryanleethomas]

It’s a Netflix lens.

[@marcusphoenix594]

red flags 😂

[@JoeXu]

These new "cheap" anamorphic lenses are completely soulless.

[@misterwhyte]

I don't get this argument. Does a hammer have a soul? A paint brush? A pen? They're all just tools. It's up to you to use them creatively and insert soul into your craft.

[@tonehtheories]

Lenses are not a hammer man, what a comparison. Is making cinema like hammering. Of all tools you choose the hammer. Good luck with your movie. Happy hammering

[@misterwhyte]

@@tonehtheories Ever heard of sculpting?

[@TheOneTrueJack]

Agree to disagree. I find the Nanomorph font pretty cheesy. Not Blazar ridiculous, but still...

[@AnamorphicChannel]

It reminds me of the ALIEN font, and I like it. I find it a good retro classic reference.

[@TheOneTrueJack]

@ I definitely think that’s what they’re going for and I’ll certainly take it over Blazar’s Blade Runner nonsense (or maybe they were going for Tom Selleck’s Runaway). Regardless, I just find it hilarious that using really retro fonts has become such a thing with these smaller companies, particularly on anamorphic lenses for some reason. it’s all in good fun, but I do wish the lenses themselves had as much whimsy as their font choice. As you say, the image is almost boringly good, but without much character. I say that with full awareness that we’re living in a golden age of affordable anamorphics and I feel slightly ashamed for poking fun at any of these companies when they’re finally giving us what we wanted for so long.