Blazar Announces New Viper Series of Full-Frame 1.5x Anamorphic Lenses

The full-frame anamorphic lens segment continues to grow at an impressive clip. Blazar, which just announced the Talon series of full-frame 1.5x autofocus-equipped lenses less than two months ago, has unveiled yet another new series of anamorphic lenses: the Viper.

The Blazar Viper series lenses feature a unified, fast T2.1 aperture, 1.5x anamorphic squeeze, and cover full-frame image sensors. Unlike the recent Talon lenses, the Vipers are manual focus, as is typical for anamorphic cinema lenses. As CineD reports, Blazar is positioning the new Viper lenses as a “more modern, lighter alternative” to Blazar’s Remus series.

While the Viper lenses may be designed as an alternative to the Remus primes, there are actually interesting similarities between the Viper and Talon lenses. Blazar has used the same optical designs in both new series, which makes a lot of sense. By removing autofocus, Blazar has been able to shrink the lenses a bit. There are three focal lengths in this initial release: 35mm, 50mm, and 75mm, and all three of them weigh less than 633 grams (22.3 ounces). As Blazar says, this makes the Viper lenses a compelling choice for shooting handheld or on gimbals.

Although Blazar has not yet shared full specifications for its new Viper anamorphic lenses, the company has made some promises regarding image quality. Blazar says that compared to the older Remus anamorphics, the new Viper lenses are sharper, delivering a cleaner overall look. As for whether that’s good or bad depends on the user, but Blazar has engineered its latest cinema primes to be optically superior.

The new Viper lenses are slightly longer and lighter than the Remus primes, and they feature a longer 200-degree focus throw, versus the 150-degree throw of the Remus series lenses. The company has also reduced the minimum focusing distance across the board. In the case of the 35mm T2.1, for example, the Viper focuses as close as 0.37 meters (1.2 feet), down from 0.68 meters (2.2 feet) on the Remus. That’s a significant improvement.

In many other ways, the lenses are similar. They all feature unified front diameters, cinema-ready designs with 0.8 MOD gearing, and the trademark oval bokeh and flare of anamorphic lenses.

The Blazar Viper lenses deliver the classic flare pattern of other anamorphic lenses.

The Blazar Viper 1.5x Anamorphic lenses will be available in PL/EF mount and are expected to launch soon. Blazar has not yet shared precise availability or pricing information, but as a reference, the Remus lenses are around $1,000 each, and Blazar historically launches its lenses in discounted bundles. While the Blazar Viper lenses are not yet available to preorder, once they are, they will be available at B&H.


Image credits: Blazar