A $999 Anamorphic Lens vs. a $3,900 Cinema Lens: How Close Is the Gap?

Anamorphic lenses produce a look that's immediately recognizable: stretched bokeh, horizontal lens flares, and a cinematic quality that's defined Hollywood films for decades. The question most people face is whether that distinctive look is worth the tradeoffs compared to a conventional spherical lens.

Coming to you from Christopher Frost, this detailed video puts the Sirui 75mm T1.9 1.5x Anamorphic lens head-to-head against the Canon CN-E 50mm T1.3 L F cinema lens. The price gap between them is significant: the Sirui runs $999, while the Canon typically sells for around $3,900. Despite that difference, Frost makes a reasonable case that the comparison is more fair than it sounds, because the Sirui's 1.5x anamorphic squeeze gives it a horizontal field of view close to 50mm, putting it roughly in the same range as the Canon on a practical shooting level. The Sirui was actually slightly wider in his tests.

One of the more surprising findings involves sharpness. Spherical lenses generally have an advantage over anamorphic designs due to the added optical complexity of the squeeze element, and that holds true here. The Canon is sharper at maximum aperture, and that advantage widens when both lenses are stopped down. At T5.6, the Canon pulls noticeably ahead. That said, the Sirui holds its own in contrast, and its corner performance is competitive once both lenses are stopped down to similar apertures. Frost also notes that the Sirui's softer bokeh has less color fringing on bright highlights than the Canon, which is worth considering if you're shooting anything with strong specular points. The Canon EOS R5 Frost used for testing is six years old but still handles high ISO well, which matters since the Sirui's T1.9 maximum aperture lets in considerably less light than the Canon's T1.3.

The anamorphic flare characteristic is where things get subjective. Anamorphic lenses are built to produce horizontal streaks across bright light sources, and the Sirui delivers that effect clearly. The Canon, being an older design, also shows noticeable flaring and contrast loss, though without the intentional anamorphic quality. Both lenses show a moderate degree of focus breathing, which Frost points out is something you typically don't want in a cinema lens. The Sirui also includes a few practical features that don't show up in the image at all: you can adjust back focus without shims, and it ships with both Canon EF and PL mounts that you can swap yourself at home. Check out the video above for the full breakdown and side-by-side footage from Frost.