In a surprising move, lens manufacturer Vazen has just announced that they are officially ceasing operations. After only five years in the niche market of 1.8x anamorphic lenses, the company’s rise was as swift as their fall. So, let’s talk about Vazen’s story. Vazen is – or was – a Chinese lens manufacturer founded in 2019 in Shenyang. The company was established by Weizhen Liu, an optical engineer who saw a blind spot in the filmmaking industry: creating anamorphic lenses, not with a “traditional” 1.33x squeeze ratio, but making the screen wider with a 1.8x squeeze design. The Vazen brand was born, and the first lenses started to hit the market. Vazen Super35 1.8 anamorphic lenses’ initial roadmap. Image credit: Vazen Vazen Super35 1.8x anamorphic lenses Vazen started by releasing Super35 lenses for Micro Four Third and, later down the road, Canon RF cameras. The company had three lenses, all with a 1.8x squeeze ratio: 28mm, 40mm, and 65mm, all with a maximum T2.0 aperture. Back in 2019, these lenses immediately caught our attention, and my colleague Gunther did a review of the 40mm T2.0 that you can watch here. Now that the company had everybody’s attention with a price tag of around $3,250 per lens, it was time to go bigger. The Vazen 1.8x anamorphic full-frame 3-lens set. Image credit: Vazen The full-frame quest With the rise and gain of traction of full-frame and large-format cinematography, Vazen decided to start developing new 1.8x anamorphic lenses, starting with the 85mm...
Published By: CineD - Wednesday, 6 March, 2024