Laowa Proteus 2x Anamorphic

[Luka Sanader]

Things are coming out and i wanted to start the tread.
Currently i am testing a set for Laowa and as soon as they give me green light i will post some tests

 

[Zack Birlew]

Honestly, I’m not sure I would use the T2 very much based on the test video I saw with the 45mm but I totally get why you would want the speed in case you need it. With anamorphics and adapters, I’m used to stopping down to F4 or 5.6 so more tests in that range would be interesting to see. Also, not a fan of S35 only, FF would at least give the option of going down to S35 but, again, I get it, price/size/etc. Overall, great to say how exciting it is that we’re getting so many anamorphic options these days, very cool time!

 

[Luka Sanader]

I agree T2 is problematic but stopped down at 2.8 they are totally usable. about T4 lens is in its full performance. this is still one stop improvement over some othere options on the market. Laowa is preparing VV 2x Anamorphic as well.

 

[Luka Sanader]

some more testing but still no green light form Laowa to share the tests

 

[Björn Benckert]

Really good invention with the back focus adjustment ring as it super critical on Anas to have correct back focus to get a sharp image. That I think is something that will put these lenses in a category of its own. The image I think could have been more pleasing, a lot of chromatic abbreviations and pin cushion distortion and looks to lack some separation between what's in / out of focus. But if the price is right, which I think it will be, then these will sell like hot cakes.

Now the myth is kind of broken, making great anas does not need to cost tens of thousands of dollars per lens. The optical elements needed is widely available and quite a few got the solid works skills and knowhow now to cobble them together with good tolerances etc in a nice housing. The part that is still quite difficult is to create a line up for a whole range / set.

 

[Luka Sanader]

...a lot of chromatic abbreviations and pin cushion distortion and looks to lack some separation between what's in / out of focus. ...

thye have far more pleasing image then Atlas whrn it comes to CA and over all Bokah. There is somthing odd in them and to me they feel more "anamorphic" then they should actually. Bokah is elongated and bit bunchier then on Atlas or my Lomos.

But yes myth is broken and i think we will see a new wave of sub 5k super nice anamorphic primes

 

[Scot Yount]

some more testing but still no green light form Laowa to share the tests

Looks like a ton of vignetting in your photo of the model and the camera monitor.

 

[Luka Sanader]

Looks like a ton of vignetting in your photo of the model and the camera monitor.

yes because what you see on the monitor is image that is Monstro VV 3:2 2x. Protheus is designees to cover 35 format sensor but the prototype i had covere VV at 6:5

 

[Scot Yount]

yes because what you see on the monitor is image that is Monstro VV 3:2 2x. Protheus is designees to cover 35 format sensor but the prototype i had covere VV at 6:5

they why is it vignetting?

 

[Luka Sanader]

well i dont know how to explaint his to you in andy other way... Monstro is Vista Vision camera, so 8k "open gate" is designed for lenses that have 46mm of coverage. classic anamorphic is way smallert than that 27mm. Hight on Red Vista vision is 21.60mm wile horizontal on 3:2 A35 22mm. in the other words your Hight on VV is equal to the horizontal on Academy 35... i hope you understand it now

 

[Lee Poston]

in interviews they are saying this is a super35 lens but it goes up to 22mm?? kinda confusing. What size image circle does it produce? specificallly will it work with komodo which is only 14mm? sounds like image circle is a lot bigger than komodo so could mount it but you will lose significant light?

 

[Kyle Dones]

Excited to see the results of the anamorphics

Which lenses are in the set? Just the three in picture?

 

[Mike P.]

Very curious to see the price (I’m hoping they’re competitive with greatjoy pricing but have non-variable 2x instead of 1.6~1.8x), and very glad to see the floodgates finally opening on anamorphics.

 

[Luka Sanader]

Its Proteus time! Today Laowa just launched the new Proteus line and i am sure that it will be a fun seeing all the content that will pop up in next few days i wanted to do my modest contribution to the madness
Good folks from Laowa sent me the first prototype a few months back and I was amazed with the quality of the lens. It was a Prototype and prototypes in general have this level of attention. but when I received production lenses from them, i was reassured that those guys and gals from Laowa know how to make a lens. I still didn't know the price point and they left me hanging, Am i looking at 9000$ product or 5000$ or 3000$? There was nothing cheap or inexpensive about it and the way that they are built is on par with with all other anamorphics out there. For the first time ever Laowa introduced a F.A ring, the focus adjuster that allows lens to be fine tuned. I can't stress enough how important this is for font anamorphic. Just the fact that you can dile in flange to focal distance and get that maximum performance out of your scope is a fantastic improvement
I really like the Silver flair. its less intense then Blue or Amber and what is most important it will take a characteristic of the input light. if you give it blue light flair will have a slight blue hue. This is realy nose for a change. I am shooting anamorphics for more than 20 years now and a die hard anamorphic fan only thing that i dont like about Anamorphic is the strong flair. New Proteus is still too strong for me and I would like to see less flairs on any of the new budget lenses.
Proteus is 2x lens that has good resolution, Classic-modern character and medium flairs in color of your liking. There are still some minimal CA and some anastigmatism that are breaking up modern character of the lens and without it Proteus would be boring. Proteus has a bit more coverage than a Atlas but far less then Xelmus and barely allowing use of FF on shorter aspect ratios. Optical performance on A35 format and on Alexa Open gate is optimized and lens looks at its best. Also one strong point is that Proteus has its maximum aperture executive usability . IMO none of the budget lenses are usable at T2 but Proteus has superior performance at T2.8 compared to all other budget anamorphics that we have tried it against. Is this to a FFD adjuster or over all optical build, but it outperformed everything we have tried (Xelmus, Atlas, GrateJoy) Only bad side to all this is a size and weight compared to some other options.
In Conclusion: I have fiddled with 2 different Proteus so far and I am impressed by what I have seen so far. They are starting with 4 lenses making it a usable set from the beginning of the adventure.
The key question to answer is: would I shoot a feature film with them? Last film I shot we used Xelmus Apolo, one before that Lomo, one before that Hawk... so I have my preferences when it comes to the look and Proteus falls out of that bracket. However I am sure that I can make them look less modern and classic without the gimmick of "vintage" that we see a lot today.
Definitely I like them and I will be shooting my next project, not because Laowa sent me a set or because Laowa payed me to do so, but rather because i think its worthy lens set and because this silver flair-modern looking 2x lens set inspire me.

 

[Luka Sanader]

 

[Luka Sanader]

 

[Zack Birlew]

Alright, after looking at the footage, it looks like a lot of the promo was at T2, not great but then when some of the more cinematic stuff came up near the end and was clearly stopped down then these lenses really shined like top of the line anamorphics! Very nice and certainly an option but dang, near $20K for the set still hurts! While these new sets are nice, I'm eager to see if someone drops a new 2X adapter for the lower end anamorphic users.

 

[kevin_laowa]

If you are curious of its coverage on V-RAPTOR, check this out!

 

[Luka Sanader]

If you are curious of its coverage on V-RAPTOR, check this out!

hey Kevin the test i did on Monstro that is in fact same sensor as Monstro. Onlly differance is that i have shoot full hight of the sensor on 8k

 

[kevin_laowa]

More footages.