Canon Beetle 45mm T3.2 1.33x 45mm

The Beetle 45mm T3.2 is the most compact and affordable way to shoot real vertical anamorphic video, and the 1.33x squeeze gives that widescreen look you can't fake in post. Optical quality is a letdown, so think vintage character over sharpness. It's manual focus and unstabilized, so plan on rigging up. At $599 from the cheapest vendor, it's a low-cost ticket to anamorphic flair, especially for social media creators.

Let's be blunt about the optics, because they're the weak link. Our benchmarks put the Beetle in the disappointing zone, well below average for sharpness and contrast across the frame. At T3.2 you'll see some glow and smearing, especially off-center. This isn't a lens for pixel-peeping. But anamorphic shooting often leans into imperfections, so the look can actually benefit from that vintage softness if it's what you're after. Flares are prominent and silver-blue, oval bokeh is unmistakable, and the 1.33x squeeze factor gives a proper 2.39:1 desqueeze from 16:9 footage.

Build quality is a strong point, reaching the 75th percentile. The lens is mostly metal, compact at 266g, and the 0.8 mod gearing with 200° of focus throw is smooth and repeatable, perfect for follow focus rigs. Aperture performance ranks upper-middle, so it's not going to let you down in exposure consistency, though you're stuck at T3.2 which is decent in daylight but can force high ISOs indoors. The lack of any stabilization means you'll absolutely want a gimbal or at least a monopod; handheld footage gets jittery fast, especially in vertical orientation where the camera's IBIS can't help as effectively.

The Beetle's biggest competition isn't the zooms in our database like the Nikon Z 18-140mm or Sigma 10-18mm, those are versatile but completely miss the anamorphic point. The real rivals are other affordable anamorphic primes. The Sirui 50mm T2.9 1.33x is a direct competitor, offering a faster aperture and slightly sharper optics, but it weighs almost double and can't do vertical anamorphic without cropping. The Vazen 40mm T2 1.8x delivers a more dramatic squeeze factor for true cinema scope, yet it's larger and more expensive, typically over $1,000.

If you need the most flexible one-lens setup and can tolerate a zoom, the Nikon Z 18-140mm or Panasonic Leica 12-35mm are worlds apart in practicality, but you lose the anamorphic signature entirely. So the trade-off is simple: do you want the look and the vertical gimmick, or do you want reliable, sharp images with autofocus? The Beetle picks a lane and stays in it. For hybrid shooters who swap between photos and video, its lack of AF and weather sealing pushes them toward something like a Canon RF 35mm f/1.8 IS STM instead.

Price is where the Beetle gets interesting. Across vendors, it ranges from $599 to $814, a $215 spread that's worth shopping. At the lower end, you're getting a full-frame anamorphic lens with a party trick for less than many standard cine primes. Compare that to something like the Sirui 50mm T2.9 1.33x, which is faster but heavier and lacks the vertical flip, and the Beetle suddenly looks like a steal.

Is it the best anamorphic optically? Not even close. But for the money, it's one of the cheapest ways to inject real anamorphic character into your footage without carrying around a boat anchor. If you chase the $599 deal, it's a low-risk entry point that can add production value to small-scale productions, especially vertical social content where no other lens competes.

Anamorphic lenses used to be massive, expensive beasts you'd only see on big-budget sets. Then BLAZAR decided to shove one into something barely larger than a pancake prime and sell it for under a grand. The Beetle 45mm T3.2 1.33x is that weird little lens, and it's aimed squarely at indie filmmakers and content creators who want the oval bokeh and horizontal blue flares without a second mortgage. It covers full-frame on Canon RF, so it slots right into modern mirrorless rigs like the R5 or R6.

What makes it interesting beyond the size is a button. Press it and you can rotate the lens 90° to shoot vertical anamorphic video, something almost no other anamorphic can do. Instead of cropping and losing resolution for TikTok or Reels, you get a true 9:16 cinematic widescreen look out of the camera. It's such a simple idea that you wonder why nobody did it sooner. Our database scores it well for build quality, landing in the solid 75th percentile, and the bokeh is pretty decent too.

But it's not a flawless lens. The optical quality, in our tests, is where it stumbles. We rank it in the bottom 16th percentile, which means it's soft wide open with noticeable edge falloff and some chromatic aberration. It's also manual focus only, no stabilization, and not weather sealed. So this is a specialty tool, not a daily driver. If you're a photographer looking for a walkaround 45mm, you'll be miserable. If you're a filmmaker chasing character over clinical sharpness, you might fall in love.

Photographers who rely on autofocus and tack-sharp images should look elsewhere, this is a manual cine lens with soft rendering. Anyone shooting in rain, dust, or unpredictable weather is out of luck with zero weather sealing. If you need a do-it-all lens for travel or run-and-gun, the slow fixed aperture and lack of stabilization will frustrate you. Instead, grab something like the Canon RF 35mm f/1.8 IS STM for image quality and versatility, or if you need anamorphic but want better optics, the Sirui 50mm T2.9 offers faster light gathering and sharper edges, though you'll lose the vertical trick.

If you're a creator building vertical video for Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube Shorts and you've been dying to add anamorphic character without scaling down a massive rig, the Beetle is a no-brainer at its sale price. It's the only lens we've tested that genuinely makes vertical anamorphic easy, and the build quality is reassuring for a budget cine lens. The soft optics might even play as a feature, giving your footage a dreamy, filmic quality that stands out from the hyper-sharp smartphone crowd.

For traditional widescreen narrative work, the lens is competent but not class-leading. The lack of sharpness will bother anyone who values resolution, and the fixed T3.2 limits low-light flexibility. In that scenario, consider the Sirui 50mm T2.9 if you need more light-gathering or the Vazen if you want a stronger anamorphic squeeze. But if you're willing to work around its quirks, the Beetle delivers a lot of cinematic fun for the money.