Sirui 24mm Anamorphic Lens Review: Cinematic Photography and Video on a Budget

The Sirui 24mm Anamorphic Lens (APS-C) isn’t just for video—its unique characteristics make it a great tool for creative photography as well. The 1.33x anamorphic squeeze adds a cinematic, widescreen look with a 2.4:1 aspect ratio, ideal for environmental portraits, landscapes, and urban shots. The lens produces horizontal flares and oval bokeh that give photos an atmospheric, film-like quality. While it’s manual focus only and performs best with good lighting at f/2.8, it’s a solid choice for photographers looking to bring a fresh, cinematic perspective to their still images.

The Sirui 24mm Anamorphic Lens is designed to bring the coveted cinematic look to APS-C sensor cameras, making it accessible for creators who want professional-quality visuals without the cost of high-end anamorphic options. Known for its sleek build and unique imaging qualities, this lens has garnered attention from filmmakers, photographers, and hybrid shooters alike.

Design and Build Quality

Sirui’s build quality on the 24mm anamorphic lens is superb, providing a well-balanced mix of durability, portability, and usability. Constructed from solid metal, the lens body feels sturdy and well-engineered. The lens is compact, making it an excellent choice for mirrorless cameras without adding bulk. This is a big advantage for run-and-gun shooting styles, as it won’t weigh you down during long shoots. The design also offers a reassuring premium feel, which is especially important for creators who plan to use it frequently in various environments.

Aesthetically, the Sirui 24mm has a sleek, matte-black finish and minimalistic branding, which adds to its professional look. The 1.33x squeeze factor is cleverly integrated into its design without compromising the lens’s compactness. This squeeze factor allows for a cinematic 2.4:1 aspect ratio, a characteristic look that has become synonymous with the anamorphic format. For content creators who want an easily manageable lens that still produces high-quality images, the Sirui 24mm is an excellent fit.

One notable aspect of its design is the manual focus ring, which operates smoothly and has a sufficient level of resistance for precise adjustments. The ring is ribbed, offering tactile feedback to help maintain control, even when working quickly. This feature is beneficial for videographers who want to focus on particular subjects without digital autofocus noise or interference, as well as photographers looking for that classic manual focus feel.

Optical Design and Image Quality

When it comes to image quality, the Sirui 24mm excels at creating images that have a unique anamorphic look. Unlike traditional spherical lenses, anamorphic lenses capture images with an elongated perspective, creating stretched lens flares, dramatic depth, and horizontally stretched bokeh. This gives images and videos an immersive quality, drawing viewers in with an artistic sense of space. For video, the lens allows for the sought-after horizontal flares that are a signature of the anamorphic look, contributing to a sense of depth and nostalgia in each shot.

Wide-angle and Cinematic Perspective

The 24mm focal length is versatile and suitable for capturing wide establishing shots or environmental scenes while providing enough compression to emphasize the subject within the frame. Paired with the 1.33x squeeze factor, this lens delivers a true 2.4:1 widescreen aspect ratio on APS-C sensors, providing a truly cinematic experience that’s perfect for narrative work, music videos, or travel films. The wider field of view also works beautifully in photography, where you can use the lens’s anamorphic qualities to craft visually engaging compositions that stand apart from standard stills.

Sharpness and Color Rendition

Regarding sharpness, the Sirui 24mm performs well across the frame, particularly when stopped down. Wide open, at f/2.8, there’s some slight softness around the edges, a trait common with many anamorphic lenses. This softness can actually enhance the filmic quality for certain styles, but stopping down a few stops results in crisp images that retain detail from the centre to the edges of the frame. The colour rendition is natural, with good contrast that provides a balanced, realistic look. With proper lighting, the lens captures vibrant, true-to-life colours without excessive saturation or artificial tones, making it a versatile choice for all kinds of subjects and lighting conditions.

Video Performance and Cinematic Effects

For video, this lens is a fantastic choice for creators who want an affordable entry into the anamorphic world. The 1.33x squeeze factor gives a moderately wide field of view with a cinematic crop that adds instant drama and presence. The lens is ideal for a variety of video styles, from documentaries and music videos to narrative projects and even travel vlogs.

Lens Flares and Bokeh

The Sirui 24mm produces the kind of lens flares that are often associated with high-budget, cinematic productions. When shooting into direct light sources, the lens flares horizontally, adding a distinctly anamorphic feel to the footage. These flares can be used creatively to draw attention to specific parts of the scene or simply to add atmosphere and a cinematic feel. The elongated, oval-shaped bokeh is another signature feature of this lens. It differs from the round bokeh produced by spherical lenses, giving a dreamy, immersive feel to backgrounds and helping separate subjects from their surroundings.

Low-Light Performance

With a maximum aperture of f/2.8, the Sirui 24mm is relatively versatile in various lighting conditions, though it may require additional lighting support in very low-light situations. The f/2.8 aperture allows for decent light-gathering, enabling shooting in moderately low light without excessive grain or noise. While it may not perform as well as lenses with wider apertures (like f/1.8 or f/1.4), the trade-off here is the anamorphic aesthetic, which is unique enough to make up for the slight limitations in low-light capability.

Practicality and Usability for Photography

Although designed with video in mind, the Sirui 24mm’s characteristics make it surprisingly suitable for photography as well. Anamorphic lenses add a different dimension to still photography, producing a wider-than-normal field of view and stretched bokeh that lends a cinematic quality to still images. This is particularly effective for environmental portraits, landscape shots, and urban photography, where the lens’s distinct characteristics can enhance the mood of the shot.

Manual Focus Experience

The Sirui 24mm is a manual focus lens, which may require a learning curve for those used to autofocus. However, the manual focus experience is highly satisfying due to the lens’s precise and smooth focus ring. With a bit of practice, photographers and videographers alike can achieve sharp focus and use selective focusing to highlight specific subjects or areas within the frame. The control offered by the manual focus ring allows for more intentional, creatively framed images.

Pros and Cons in Detail

Pros:

1. Build Quality: The metal construction of the Sirui 24mm gives it a robust and professional feel, making it a durable option for both fieldwork and studio use.
2. Cinematic Aesthetics: The lens provides classic anamorphic features such as horizontal flares and oval bokeh, instantly adding cinematic elements to video and photography.
3. 2.4:1 Aspect Ratio: The 1.33x squeeze factor translates perfectly to a 2.4:1 aspect ratio on APS-C sensors, providing a true widescreen look without cropping.
4. Versatility for Video and Photography: While it’s designed for video, the lens’s unique characteristics lend themselves well to still photography, allowing for creative experimentation.

Cons:

1. Edge Softness Wide Open: At f/2.8, the edges can show slight softness, though this can be an artistic choice in certain compositions. Stopping down improves edge-to-edge sharpness.
2. Manual Focus Only: This could be a drawback for photographers or videographers who prefer the convenience of autofocus. It requires practice and a steady hand, especially for dynamic subjects.
3. Limited Low-Light Performance: The f/2.8 aperture may be limiting in low-light settings, particularly when compared to lenses with wider maximum apertures.

Who Should Use the Sirui 24mm Anamorphic Lens?

The Sirui 24mm Anamorphic Lens is ideal for filmmakers, videographers, and photographers who are interested in exploring the anamorphic look without investing in high-end cine lenses. Its balance of quality, price, and cinematic capabilities makes it accessible for independent filmmakers, YouTube creators, and hybrid shooters. Whether you’re creating music videos, narrative films, travel vlogs, or dramatic still photography, this lens is well-suited to adding depth and uniqueness to your work. Its portability also makes it a great companion for on-the-go creators who want high-quality visuals without the weight of larger setups.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Sirui 24mm Anamorphic Lens is an impressive lens that delivers professional, cinematic aesthetics at a price that makes anamorphic filmmaking accessible to a wider audience. Its robust build, classic anamorphic features, and versatility for both video and photography make it an excellent tool for creative exploration. While the lens has some limitations in low light and lacks autofocus, its unique visual characteristics more than compensate, providing a level of creative control that many will find rewarding.

For anyone looking to expand their creative possibilities with anamorphic visuals, the Sirui 24mm is a valuable addition that will elevate both video projects and still photography with its unmistakable look.