Wide anamorphic lenses are quite rare. Nevertheless, Atlas has published a beautiful comparison between its two most recent lenses: 25mm and 21mm. Check it out below. BTW, the 21mm is now available for pre-order and its price is like the 25mm, which is $15,000. Read on. 

Atlas Orion 21mm: Available for order

The most recent lens from Atlas, which is the Orion 21mm, is now available for pre-order. The Orion 21mm offers a pleasing level of character in a lightweight and compact form, all with a 124º horizontal field-of-view which is the widest horizontal field-of-view of any Cinemascope format 35mm motion picture camera lens in production (as claimed by Atlas). The Orion 21mm T2 is optimized for use on both film and digital sensors and is characterized by a low distortion. The lens covers traditional anamorphic 4:3 film and digital sensor formats up to 24.89mm x 18.66mm and covers full-frame formats edge-to-edge with Atlas 1.6x LF Extender.

Key features:

1. Low distortion for an incredibly wide lens
2. Horizontal Field of view
3. 129º horizontal field-of-view with 2x anamorphic squeeze
4. 18” (1.5’) minimum/close focus
5. Pleasant spherical aberration
6. Beautiful shallow depth-of-field
7. Complements the Orion Series family of lenses (25/32/40/50/65/80/100)
8. Interchangeable Mount System with native PL or EF mount options
9. Works with E-mount or Micro 4/3 camera with appropriate adapters
10. Covers full-frame (FF), large format (LF), or Vistavision with our 1.6x LF Extender
11. Focus has a deep 270° travel rotation
12. Cine pitch 0.8 mod gearing on both iris and focus ring allow for simultaneous drive control

Price

Atlas has just announced the price of the 21mm. The price stays the same compared to the 25mm: $14,995. You can pre-order the lens on the Atlas website here. 

Wide-angle anamorphic comparison

Furthermore, atlas has published a video comparing the 21mm to the 25mm. This comparison is quite intriguing since it demonstrates very well the main differences regarding FOV between these two lenses. If you’ve thought that 25mm anamorphic is wide, then you should see the 21mm side by side. The demonstration was shot on the RED V-Raptor. Check it out below:

Atlas 1.4x LF Expander

Atlas has also introduced a new 1.4x Expander. According to Atlas, the LF Expander allows Orion Series lenses to provide 36mm x 24mm full-frame coverage. Hence, the 1.4x expansion offers new creative freedom with a stylistic falloff when compared to the 1.6x LF Extender. The expander can be paired with ARRI LF, Sony VENICE, RED V-Raptor, and other full-frame, Vistavision, and large-format camera sensors.

Key Features: 

• 1.4x magnification
• 1 stop light loss
• PL mount in, PL mount out
• The index-marked adjustable back focus for optimal lens performance
• Back focus can be used for creative lens tuning depending on your lens
• Includes clearance check gauge for the rear element
• Not compatible with EF mount

When using the LF Expander with Atlas Orion series:

• Orion 21mm + 1.4x expander = ~29mm
• Orion 25mm + 1.4x expander = ~35mm
• Orion 32mm + 1.4x expander = ~45mm
• Orion 40mm + 1.4x expander = ~56mm
• Orion 50mm + 1.4x expander = ~70mm\
• Orion 65mm + 1.4x expander = ~91mm
• Orion 80mm + 1.4x expander = ~112mm
• Orion 100mm + 1.4x expander = ~140mm

Price

The price of the 1.4x LF Expander is $2,499 and can be ordered on the Atlas website as well.

Post game video

Although not connected to the Orion 21mm, we thought that you might be interested in watching this one. Atlas has published a video shot on the recently released Fujifilm X-H2S (article here) paired with the Atlas Orion SE (Special Edition) lenses. This video is so cool, and the fact that it was shot mirrorless (and not on a cinema camera per definition) makes it even greater. Check it out below:

What are your thoughts on wide-angle anamorphic lenses? Also, what do you think about the combination of the X-H2S and Atlas? Comment below.