Chinese camera manufacturer Blazar, formerly “Great Joy”, has announced its newest line of lenses. They’re the Blazar Cato 2x, and they’re full-frame 2x anamorphic cinema lenses. But Blazar says they’re the highest full-frame 2x anamorphic lenses in the world.
The series is launching with four focal lengths of 40mm, 55mm, 85mm and 125mm with maximum apertures of T2.0 for the two shortest, T2.8 for the 85mm and T4 for the 125mm.
Blazar Cato 2x Full-Frame Anamorphic Lenses
Blazar’s new Cato 2x full-frame anamorphic lenses were first shown off at NAB 2024 in April. It’s taken a while for them to come to fruition, but they’ve now finally been officially announced. It’s just a pre-order for now, though. So you’ll have a little wait to actually get them.
The range offers 40mm, 55mm, 85mm and 125mm focal lengths, which is a nice start. There are definitely a couple of wide-angle gaps there. Hopefully, Blazar will expand the range in the future as demand picks up. There are other 2x anamorphic wide-angle lenses out there, but you’re going to get a better match in your footage if they’re part of the same product line from the same manufacturer.
As well as being light on weight, these lenses are fairly light on price. While they’re not super-low-budget, they aren’t as expensive as one would expect to pay for full-frame 2x anamorphic lenses.
Blazar Cato 2x Full-Frame Anamorphic Specs
40mm T2.055mm T2.085mm T2.8125mm T4.0
Focal Length:40mm55mm85mm125mm
Aperture:T2.0T2.0T2.8T4.0
Lens Mount:PL/EFPL/EFPL/EFPL/EF
Squeeze Factor:2x2x2x2x
Focus Rotation:210°210°210°210°
Min Focus Distance:75cm76cm77cm80cm
Aperture Rotation:77°68.4°71.7°83.5°
IRIS Blades:16161616
Dimensions:95x105mm85x113mm85x123mm85x133mm
Weight:900g853g927g940g
Price and Availability
The Blazar Cato 2x full-frame anamorphic lenses are available to pre-order now. The 40mm T2.0 is $1,399, the 55mm T2.0 is $1,199, the 85mm T2.8 is $1,199 and the 125mm T4.0 is $1,199. At the moment, though, all four lenses have a $100 launch discount, so they’ll go up when that runs out.
You’re also able to pre-order the complete set of four lenses together for $3,999. This is a $600 saving over its regular retail price of $4,599 – which will still be a saving of $400 vs buying them separately. So, you can save a grand if you pre-order the whole set now.
