GreatJoy 1.8x Full Frame Anamorphic Lens Review! | Better Than The Blazar Remus 1.5x?! 

I like them, but they are so heavy and not fast enough, the Remus are light and create really nice bokeh. I hope they will make a 1.8X T2 lens next

I sold my set a few weeks ago, days before they dropped the price. These are a great first set, but the synchro focus design on the 50 and lack of consistency in the set… these will never be a long term solution for professional workflows. Really pleased with the outcome on the projects I used them for. Nice review

Congrats on the newborn baby! Those lenses are sweet, I think during the cyber Monday sales they were individually sold for a price a little over 1k each, I might have to start saving up again lol 😄

Great video bro! Totally agree, the 85mm is the jewel of the set, but the 50mm is probably the most useful; just wish it had the constant squeeze! Tempted to get the pre-order set of Remus, those look pretty amazing for sub-$1k 1.5x anamorphics!

Great Video as always, I think the new remus lenses are a bit more attractive with the barrel distortion and their cheaper price tag.

Fantastic video! I have the BMCC6k. Would you suggest I get the L mount version or PL along with a PL -> L mount adapter? I am gravitating toward the L mount, because Im reading about having to potentially shim the lens if it ends up not being sharp at infinity. You also talk about the adapter choice contributing greatly to the vignetting. Wouldnt getting the L mount version defeat that headache and just provide with the best possible lens in this case?

Nice review! I love mine, wish they were even T2.4 though... But still the GOAT for budget full frame anamorphic for me..... time will tell with the Blazar 2x :)

I’m actually surprised and somewhat impressed with the Nero adapter. I went in with mixed feelings before getting it because I heard people saying it was too soft. What I’ve learned is that people were probably going too long on the focal length and/or using old vintage taking lenses that aren’t soft in the first place. It has a nice amount of character and I’m able to use my artisans at f2 and still have sharper look but not TOO sharp like the sirui lenses. The main issue with the Nero is that it’s not as versatile with different focal length taking lenses. 50mm is pretty much the sweet spot on full frame. 50mm looks great and constant squeeze. Anything long it gets too soft for my liking. It’s also super small and light so it’s much more pleasing to use hand held and doesn’t feel like the other overly big and heavy adapters. I pretty much call it a 50mm lens even though it’s an adapter and I’m fine with that since 50 is the most useful for me anyway. So far I think I like the combo of the Nero and a sharp taking lens over the sirui and the Greatjoy 50. I’m got my to actually return my Greatjoy 50mm and save the money. Thinking about keeping my 85mm though because I can’t get that 85 to look as clean on the Nero. Check out the Nero and Artisans50mm f2 if you get your hands on one and tell me what you think!

This is awesome! Do you prefer these over something like Aivascope? 😊

My issue with the 50mm is that at close focus it’s actually pretty much 1.6x stretch if I’m not mistaken. Rarely am I even focusing to infinity with anamorphics so i struggle even considering that lens to actually be 1.8x stretch at all. I will say it certainly has more character than the sirui lenses at least.

I love the look of the great joy lenses and do want them so bad. I don’t really care for flares, mostly just the other unique character found in anamorphics. The Remus are some of the first budget ones that don’t have pin cushion, but I do think the aberration and distortion might be a bit over the top, but I do like a bit of barrel distortion. But, barrel distortion is easily added in post, at the sacrifice of a little more image. Only great joy complaint is 50mm has mumps issues. Given most all the other anamorphic budget lenses(including the other great joys) don’t have mumps at a similar or lower price sometimes makes me want to choose different ones over the great joy.

Nice one! How do they compare in looks and usability to your Aivascope?

I think these are the best anamorphic lenses you can buy at this price point. They are maybe a little too clean for me and inconsistent across the set but not a massive deal breaker, considering the cost - almost picked up a set in the recent sale, but I want to wait to see how the Remus pan out once they're in more people's hands. The whole marketing of those lenses has been a car crash - I don't know why anyone would pre-order them based on the scarce and inconsistent sample footage. I'm cautiously optimistic about the Remus, but deffo wont be dropping any money until I see more sample footage. If they're not great it'll be a shame as they really will have missed a great opportunity and I'm sure many people would have been happy to pay a bit more if it meant slightly improved optics.

i agree with my husband, i got the 50mm during the sale for a grand. only problem is the 1.6 to 1.8 change

I had the Greatjoys for about a month. They were good - but for some reason just did not hit the “feels” the right way for me. I get the same vibe but worse from the Sirui’s I have owned and the Nanomorphs I tried out last September. I have seen some great results with reshiming the Remus lenses. I’m sort of an anamorphic junkie. I started with projector lens builds before moving on to a bunch of different budget Sirui’s, finally getting a proper set of Vazen 28 / 65mm 1.8x and then finally two atlas Orions. IMO the Vazens are the most underrated. I think they perform better than the Atlas at a much lower cost. All that said I think. My absolute favorite combination to date is my Aivascope 1.75x paired with Voitlanders APO glass. After trying the Aivascope with a slew of lenses over the last couple of years ( I started with the Aivascope 1.5x ) including Contax Zeiss/ Leica Rs, Canon FDs and Nikkor AIS lenses the Voitlgtlander APO 35 / 50 / 90 are incredible. The 35 and 50 have an APO design that eliminates CA and the image is incredibly clean which is something your going to want as almost any anamorphic block is going exaggerate CA etc. This combination has fantastic controllable flares that have great texture and complexity to them without looking like streak filters ( I’m looking at you nanomorphs ), bokeh is very nice, elongated and has a great waterfall texture without looking nervous in higher frequency areas of background detail. Barrel distortion is pleasing and the image is detailed without looking overly sharp and clinical. You can use the Aiavascope adapter to create a budget Voightlander 3 lens set for about $5k that has competitive image IQ with dedicated scope sets I have used that cost upwards of $65k or permanently attach 3 aivascopes to the 3 Voigtlanders for convenience and have an incredible set of 1.75x f2 ( 35 / 50 ) and 2.8 ( 90 ) that are gorgeous even wide open.

Thank you for a good video, and I like your opinion. God bless you.

Sleeper lenses for sure!

I would rather get these than the Sirui Saturn line, but I plan on doing a lot of gimbal work with the DJI RS3 Mini and A7S III camera. The 35mm Great Joy coupled with the A7S III nearly reaches the 4.4lbs weight limit of the RS3 Mini. So I am forced to get the Sirui Saturn 35mm. As for my tripod rig, I'd like to get the Greatjoy 85mm, but I don't think the footage will cut well with footage taken with the Saturn 35mm due to the different stretch factors, so I am forced to get the Sirui Saturn 75mm.

I got the GJ 50mm 2.8 1.8x to go with my Panasonic S5 2x using the Open Gate mode. Generally liked it, but was bummed out because the image circle didn't quite cover the 3:2 sensor. Had to crop both sides to get rid of the vignette. Cropping reduces resolution... defeats the purpose of Open Gate in the first place. Starting to wish I got the Sirui 1.6x version instead, which delivers full Open Gate. But then, I got the GJ lens at $998.00 on sale, so maybe I can live with that.

So are you done with your Aivascope then?

To inconsistent for my taste. I did however purchase the newly announced Remus set. The Remus lenses look awesome.

I am shooting my Feature film on this lenses With arri mini LF

idk i love flares and interesing bokeh and softness in the corners... for everything else i have the gm lenses ... if a client wants clean image i got gm if the client wants something interesting i give him a big opposite of the gm. the in betweens havetheir place but i like it to do that way

They have color shift

Love these lenses…. Blazar is bringingout the new Remus series …. Ordered it directly. Atlas will cry 😅

The BLAZAR is more good than that