Laowa Proteus 2X Anamorphic 35mm T2 is a series of anamorphic lenses with a constant compression ratio of 2X, made for Arri PL and Canon EF mounts. With these mounts, it has a wide range of camera bodies available for use.
As it has Super 35+ sensor coverage and can cover a sensor height of up to 21.6mm, the entire series is compatible with some full frame cameras and most Super 35 cameras, including the latest Arri Alexa 35. All lenses in this series can be quickly interchanged as they have the same distances between the focus and iris rings. It also has a backfocus adjustment that can be changed with the lens mounted on the camera.
This lens features a patented anamorphic design, the
Laowa Proteus is composed of anamorphic and spherical blocks, thus offering modern image sharpness and vintage anamorphic characteristics, including elliptical bokeh and characteristic flare at the same time. The bokeh is achieved thanks to the large
T2 aperture, which also makes the lens suitable for use in low-light environments. A characteristic feature of anamorphic lenses is their horizontal flare, with this Laowa, the flare is achieved in blue, amber and silver which gives the output a special character.
This lens has an iris with a wide range of apertures, from T2 to T22, making this Proteus series usable on any shooting set in any light condition.
Both anamorphic and spherical blocks are fixed, and a front variable spherical glass is added for focusing. A similar optical design is used in Vantage Hawks, Cooke Anamorphic and Atlas Orion. This lens has a 2X compression ratio, so it will have a 2.66:1 on a 4:3 sensor and a 2.4:1 on a 6:5 sensor after compression. The 2X compression ratio provides an ultra-wide screen cinematic look that is highly desired by the motion picture industry. The compression ratio remains constant at any focus distance to avoid anamorphic bulges.
The
Laowa Proteus 2X Anamorphic 35mm T2 lens has exceptional sharpness and impressive contrast at wide aperture, the Laowa Proteus series is capable of adapting to the most demanding shoots. On the other hand, if we talk about the focusing distance, it should be noted that the minimum focusing distance is 55cm from the subject, so it creates cinematic close-up scenes with amazing sharpness.
The rotation of the focus ring is 300º which provides a finer and more precise change of the focal length. Also important is the filter diameter, which is shared across the Proteus range and is 105mm.