Hey guys, Tito Ferradans here for one of the last reviews of 2020. Our subject today is
Vazen’s conclusion to their Micro Four Thirds lineup, their 65mm T2 1.8x anamorphic lens.
After the review of the 65mm, I’m looking at the 3-lens set as a whole, so if you wanna
skip straight to that, use the markers in the video timeline or check the description.
In terms of usability on the field, this 65mm is a very fun and straightforward lens.
Just plug your camera behind it and head out to shoot. Focus is easy and smooth,
as well as iris. Considering the current availability of MFT cameras, you’ll
definitely get better use of the Vazen on ZCam or Panasonic bodies as opposed to Blackmagic’s,
just because of the difference between their anamorphic modes.
Sticking to their original plans, Vazen’s 65mm was made for MFT mount only and it looks a lot
like the 40mm, but a big longer, at 18.5cm, or 7.3 inches. It’s a fairly heavy lens, weighing
1.7kg or 3.75 pounds, and, after playing with the 28mm, it feels bigger than it needs to be.
Aperture ranges from T2 to T16 and focus comes down to 1.1m, or 3 foot 7 inches with a throw of
180 degrees. Both iris and focus rings have standard gears on them. Here we also see that
thing I pointed out on the 85mm review, where the imperial distance scale is measured in fractions
of feet, instead of feet and inches. An easy fix that will make AC’s all over the world happier.
Unlike the 40mm, this lens has an 86mm front thread for
filters which is great, and an outer diameter of 95mm which
is compatible with a wide range of cine accessories such as clamp-on matteboxes.
The squeeze factor here is 1.8x, which is a perfect match to cameras capable of 4:3
recording. In the MFT universe, that is Panasonic’s GH5, GH5s and more recently,
the BGH1 box camera. Pairing a 1.8x squeeze with 4:3 recording will give you a 2.4:1 aspect ratio
right out of the box in post-production, without the need for any cropping.
The lens costs the same as the other ones in the set:
$3250 dollars and you can get it at Vazen’s website as well as B&H Photo and other retailers.
About performance, Vazen's 65mm is a good performer
with good sharpness across the frame.
You can see some chromatic aberration at play with green and magenta
peaking on high contrast edges.
Flares are consistent with the the other Vazen lenses, cool purple/blue tones. No surprises here.
When it comes to sensor coverage, while featuring an MFT mount, this particular lens on the lineup
is capable of covering S35 sensors. Unfortunately the only situation where you can make use of this
extra coverage is when shooting with Z-Cam’s full frame models and using the MFT mount… On regular
MFT sensors, this 65mm gives you a 72mm horizontal field of view and 130mm vertical field of view!
Distortion is pretty controlled since it’s such a
long focal length on a crop sensor. Barely any line-bending can be seen.
Due to the shared focusing method with the 40mm, using a variable-strength diopter,
your field of view changes through the focus range widening by about 10% at close focus. This is much better
than having a change in squeeze factor through the range. The squeeze remains the same: 1.8x.
Since we’re talking about a set here, it’s worth pointing out
a few things Vazen did good and other things they could’ve improved on their first full set.
The lenses are visually consistent in terms of color rendition and flares.
That’s a good start. No weird color changes between them.
The 28mm is tiny in comparison to the other two. That’s the result of a different focusing method.
This gives a different feel to the footage as it affects how the lenses breathe as they racks
focus. I think this would’ve been a much stronger set if they all followed the style of the 28mm,
which would make for smaller and lighter lenses as opposed to the big sizes we have now.
The inconsistent sizing is a big deal for me, especially when compared to a cine-lens
environment. A consequence of the different sizes is the placement for all the gears is
slightly different in each lens, meaning you’ll have to adjust your motors every time you switch
lenses. This might be a minor thing to some, but it’s a big deal as you move up the budget line.
This same issue applies to consistent filter threads and mattebox compatibility,
which ended up being different on every lens (77mm on the 28, 86mm on the 65
and no threads on the 40). It would be cool if Vazen offered some sort of attachment for
all the lenses to normalize this if you buy a full set from them.
Now onto the good stuff! The 1.8x squeeze factor is pretty awesome.
Pairing it with an exclusive MFT mount is very clever for 4:3
shooting, although limiting in the number of potential users.
In terms of pricing, the Vazens are much more affordable than
other anamorphic lenses out there, but they still feel pricy compared to Sirui’s offerings
or the initial investment of a DIY adapter setup. This, combined with the limited
mount availability puts this set in an awkward position, market-wise.
If your main camera is MFT, then this is a good choice. But if you’re shooting like me
where your B-cam is MFT and your main camera has a bigger sensor, it’s a harder call.
This can change in the future depending on Vazen’s full frame line up.
It might make for a pricier main set,
but a more affordable B set. If the looks are consistent, it could be a winning strategy
not only for anamorphics, but also a boost into the MFT size in general!
There’s lots to discuss here. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the Vazen lineup in the comments
below. If you got any questions about the 65mm, also shoot them here and I’ll do my best to reply.
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Thank you so much for hanging out and I hope you have a great week! Tito Ferradans, out.