Xelmus Releases 3 New Apollo Full Frame Anamorphic Primes

Lens News

by Florian MilzDecember 4^th, 2020

Subscribe to News

The new 50mm T1.7, 75mm T2 and 135mm T2 round up the range of compact and affordable Xelmus Apollo 2x anamorphic primes. There is even more choice now if you are shopping for affordable but high quality anamorphic cine lenses.

Xelmus, the company formed around founder Oleg Krasyuk and designer Igor Lobarev, went on a mission to bring compact, and high quality anamorphic lenses to filmmakers at an affordable price.

Xelmus Apollo 2x Anamorphic

The first three focal lengths were introduced in 2019: 40mm, 60mm and 100mm. The new focal lengths complete the total 6-lens-set including:

• 40mm T2.1
• 50mm T1.7
• 60mm T1.7
• 75mm T2.0
• 100mm T2.5
• 135mm T2.8

To familiarize yourself with the new Apollo primes, be sure to watch the lens test with the previous available focal lengths in the video below:

The lenses offer a 2x squeeze, and are only available for PL mount. They are relatively light for anamorphic cine primes (1.5 kg/3.3 lbs), they give focus pullers 270 degrees of focus rotation and have a claimed close focus distance of 0.9″ throughout the focal range.

Xelmus mentions that all Apollo lenses cover full frame sensors. All lenses have 14 aperture blades which result in smooth out-of-focus bokeh effects.

Pricing and Availability

All focal lengths are currently available for pre-order with deposits ranging from $5,999.00 for single lenses and $17,997.00 for a set of three lenses.

The actual prize for a single lens is $11,999.00 and the 3-lens sets cost $35,997.00. This is of course not exactly cheap, but compared to the offers of the big brands still somehow affordable when it comes to anamorphic primes.

All lenses can be ordered directly from the manufacturer: https://www.xelmus.com/store/

Shooting anamorphic is widley regarded as cinematic since you can’t really recreate that special look’n’feel in post. Furthermore, anamorphic lenses tend to be pretty expensive so it’s nice to see more and more affordable options in the market (such as Atlas Orion or Vazen). One thing to mention though: For the best results, you’ll need a 4:3 sensor. Otherwise you need to crop the resulting footage in order to fit the format of the sensor.

What do you think about the Apollo 2x anamorphic cine primes? Do you think filmmakers will buy these lenses at this price point or will these still be mainly rental items? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below.