Vazen 85mm T2.8 1.8x Full-Frame Anamorphic Lens (PL/EF-Mount)

Coming from spherical lenses - the price tag might seems high - especially for a relatively unknown brand. But it's actually very affordable compared to the competition ! Anything cheaper for full frame will fake some of the characteristic of anamorphic lenses, and have no or very low squeeze. I wish it had a 2x squeeze - but the 1.8 squeeze probably allow to slightly more affordable price - while being optimal for 16:9 sensors, that are most likely what you'll use it on... Paired with a A7siii the image quality is amazing ! I recommend pairing this with a monitor that allow you to see the desqueezed image, as it can be fairly hard to focus without it, and framing as well can be challenging. For an anamorphic lens, it's very sharp, even wide open, I mostly shoot at T4 though mostly because it can be challenging to nail focus with this kind of lenses, as they're slightly softer than spherical (not in a bad way, image is very pleasing), similar to using a light diffusion filter. Overall, I totally recommend this lens, hopefully we see a 2x version soon too ! Also, if you're in a limited budget, I would recommend the 40mm MFT version paired with a Blackmagic pocket 4K... the package would come to .4500 vs .12000... for a little more than 1/3 of the price, result is very close. The A7siii has an edge in low light obviously but if you're using even minimal lighting (which you should), it shouldn't be an issue. The blackmagic has the advantage of having a bigger screen - easier to manually focus without monitor. Both are fantastic combos - and a lot cheaper than Cooke paired with an Alexa ...