Anamorphic f1.0 Lens?

[Eric Durán]

Hi, forgive me if this question doesn't make much sense, I'm just a film buff, and curious. Was an 1.0f anamorphic lens ever made? I've been watching test videos on youtube of different lenses, and I really like the anamorphic look, and the 'natural' look of f1.0 lenses. So is there a lens that combines them? Thanks.

[David Mullen ASC]

If you like the look of f/1.0 spherical and the look of anamorphic, if you are using the same width of film / sensor, then 2X anamorphic generally uses focal lengths that are twice as long -- so you roughly get 2-stops less depth of field -- in other words, anamorphic at f/2.0 looks like spherical at f/1.0.

There are some f/1.4 anamorphic lenses and Panavision has a 50mm f/1.1 anamorphic.

Anamorphic lenses are made from spherical lenses so the question is how many f/1.0 spherical lenses were made for cinema? There are a scattered few (mostly just 50mm), plus Hawk has a line of T/1.0 sphericals:
https://www.vantagefilm.com/en/products/vantage-one

However, as I said, anamorphic lenses have less depth of field already so even the f/1.4 anamorphics can look pretty swimmy and soft when shot wide-open.

[Eric Durán]

Thanks!