Sankor New Anamorphic Type-5e

• Anamorphic Adapter by Sankor
• Double Focus
• Mount: N/A

The footage coming out of this lens reminds me a lot of the Isco Ultra Star, it's quite sharp, has a pronounced 2x bokeh and it's coming from a golden-looking lens. The biggest difference I could spot was how this Sankor handled flares - or failed to. Direct sun hits flooded the frame with white and when I could get it just right, an interesting green streak would show up. I used the HCDNA for these shots, because no one has the time for double focusing anymore.

It's a compact adapter, feels slightly shorter than the Ultra Star and weighs 580g, almost 1.5lb. It's a 2x stretch projection lens, which implies double focus. The focus ring is smooth and it comes down to 1.5m over 240 degrees of throw. There's also a handy focus-locking screw, for setting it to infinity and coupling to a single focus solution.

There are no front or rear threads, so you'll need clamps for attaching filters and connecting to a taking lens. Due to the size and weight, I recommend using rails on this one - or almost any projection lens, for that matter.

Image quality is outstanding, even in the corner areas, performing well at fast apertures and any focal length, which makes me think even more of the Isco Ultra Star. It displays a sensible improvement when stopped from 1.4 to f/2.8 and I don't think you can get much sharper past that point, it might even be a taking lens limitation!

Flares are nice and green. I think this is my first green-flaring lens ever. There's a fair amount of blooming around light sources, which is not great, but I'd take these flares over the non-existing flares of the Ultra Star any day. There are many different coatings for both glass elements in this lens, creating multiple different flare colors and mixes.

Vignetting was interesting, like a Kowa chart. We have a bit too much at 40mm but Almost clears full frame at 50mm, definitely clears 2.4:1, which is a rare trait for projection lenses. Then all clear at 85mm. The big glass and short body certainly helped here.

This scope has a lot of impressive results: nice flares, great image quality, can go pretty wide for a 2x adapter. Too bad it's almost impossible to find! The world could benefit from more of those floating around. This time I'm not putting down a double focus projection scope. Good scopes get good reviews.