Hawk Anamorphic Zooms

10/19/12 | by Jon Fauer
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Vantage Film showed 5 Hawk Anamorphic Zoom Lenses at Cinec last month:

2x Anamorphic Zooms

Hawk V-Plus 2x Squeeze Front Anamorphic Zooms

  • V-Plus 45-90 mm T 2.8 – T 16
  • V-Plus  80-180 mm T 2.8 – T 16
These are “traditional” 2x squeeze anamorphic lenses for viewing a 2.40:1 aspect ratio image from a 1.20:1 squeezed original (usually on a 4:3 sensor or aperture). Anamorphic 2x is the format traditionally associated with classic oval bokehs. But many anamorphic zooms previously lacked these oval out-of-focus highlights. That’s because many earlier zooms put the anamorphic cylinders in the back, behind the spherical elements, to keep the size manageable. Most classic anamorphic primes put the cylinders in front.

The new Hawk Front Anamorphic Zoom Lenses put the anamorphic elements in front of the spherical ones. The resulting image displays all the anamorphic blur, shallow depth of field, elliptical highlights, streaks and flares, geometric curvature and barrel distortion, and distinct planes of focus familiar to the look of traditional anamorphic primes.

See the PDF chart of Hawk 2x Anamorphic Zoom Specs.

1.3x Anamorphic Zooms

Hawk V-Plus 1.3x Squeeze Front Anamorphic Zooms

  • V-Plus 2:1 30-60 mm T 2.8 – T 16
  • V-Plus 2:1 45-90 mm T 2.8 – T 16
  • V-Plus 2:1 80-180 mm T 2.8 – T 16

Hawk 1.3x Anamorphic Lenses are used for viewing a 2.40:1 aspect ratio image from a 16:9 original. By squeezing 1.30x, the image fills almost the the entire sensor area of a 16:9 digital camera or 3-perf film camera.

By the way, you can also use 1.3x Anamorphics on a 4:3 negative or sensor and stretch the image to 1:78 (16:9). For 2.40:1 from 16:9 or 16:9 from 4:3, Hawk 1.3x Anamorphics cover 33% more sensor/negative area than standard spherical lenses.

Bokehs from the 1.3x Hawk Anamorphics will be slightly less egg-shaped than classic 2x anamorphics.

See the PDF chart of Hawk 1.3x Anamorphic Zoom Specs.

Hawk Anamorphic Zooms

The Five Hawk Anamorphic Zooms all open to T2.8.

Traditional rear anamorphic zooms typically sacrifice one stop of light loss. The Hawk design does not lose any light, which is why they are considered fast for an anamorphic zoom.

They all focus quite close: the 45-90 focuses to 2’6″,  the 80-180 focuses to 3’3″, and the  30-60 goes down to 2′.

To build smaller anamorphic zooms, Vantage designed and created every element–these are not conversions of existing lenses. And they match Vantage’s huge line of Hawk primes.

Hawk Anamorphic Zooms and Primes are available for sale or rent from Vantage Film. Vantage is the company; Hawk is the lens.

No parallax: focus scale and index mark are on the same plane

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