Blazar Mantis vs Remus vs Apex:
Which Anamorphic Should You Rent?

The Short Answer

As of July 2026, Viva Camera in Toronto stocks two of Blazar's three anamorphic lines: the Remus 1.5x primes (33, 45, 65, and 100mm, Silver Flare, PL mount) at $125 a day each and the Apex 1.33x autofocus pair (35mm and 50mm, Sony E) at $100 a day each. The Blazar Mantis, the brand's full-frame 1.33x flagship, is not in our inventory. We cover it anyway, because knowing what the Mantis does is the fastest way to decide whether the Remus or the Apex covers your job. Everything above sits in our anamorphic lens rental in Toronto collection with live availability, and all rates are CAD before tax.

Three Blazar Lines at a Glance

Blazar builds its anamorphic catalogue in distinct lines, and the three in this comparison split cleanly on squeeze factor, sensor coverage, and how you focus them. Here is the whole picture in one table before we go lens by lens.

One practical note that makes matte box planning easy: all three Blazar lines (Mantis, Remus, Apex) share an 80mm front diameter, and the Remus and Apex both take 77mm screw-in filters. Rig once, swap lenses all day.

Blazar Mantis: The Full-Frame Flagship Viva Camera Doesn't Stock

The Blazar Mantis 25mm T2.4. Photo: Blazar.

Let's deal with the elephant first. Viva Camera does not carry the Blazar Mantis. Renters keep asking about it anyway, so here is what the lens actually is, verified against Blazar's official site and CineD's coverage of the announcement in April 2025.

The Mantis is Blazar's full-frame 1.33x anamorphic prime line: six focal lengths (25mm T2.4, 35mm T2.0, 50mm T2.0, 75mm T2.0, 100mm T2.4, and 135mm T3.2), all covering a 36x24mm image circle. The headline trick is a rear-mounted oval 14-blade iris that keeps its oval shape through the entire stop range, so the out-of-focus areas stretch like a 2x anamorphic even though the squeeze is a gentle 1.33x. You get the classic stretched bokeh without the extreme width penalty of a true 2x lens. Fronts are a consistent 80mm with 77mm filter threads across the line, weights run roughly 650 to 790 grams per lens, and the mount is interchangeable across PL, E, EF, RF, L, and Z. Blazar's spec sheet lists the Mantis flare character as amber.

Pricing is the other reason the Mantis gets talked about. As of July 2026, the lenses list at $999 USD each on Blazar's own store, which is remarkably low for full-frame anamorphic primes. That number changes the rent-versus-buy math in a way that matters for this comparison.

Who should actually seek out a Mantis

• Owner-operators building a permanent kit. At $999 USD a lens, three Mantis primes cost less than many single anamorphic lenses did five years ago. If you shoot anamorphic monthly, buying this line beats renting anything.
• Full-frame shooters who need the whole sensor. The Mantis covers 36x24mm at 1.33x, so a full-frame 16:9 recording desqueezes to roughly 2.35:1 with zero cropping and no APS-C mode. If your delivery spec wants the whole sensor in scope, this is exactly the job the Mantis was built for.
• Anyone chasing 2x-style ovals in a small package. The consistent oval iris is the differentiator. No other line here fakes the 2x look this deliberately.

If that is your shoot, buy one or borrow one. What we can do is cover the two jobs people usually want a Mantis for. Need full-frame Blazar anamorphic with autofocus in Sony E? Our Blazar rental lineup includes the Talon 35mm and 50mm T2.1 full-frame 1.5x autofocus lenses at $125 a day each. Need the oval-bokeh 2x look from a modest squeeze? The DZOFilm Arcana primes we stock do exactly that, and they appear later in this guide.

Blazar Remus 1.5x Primes: The PL Narrative Set

The Blazar Remus set is the anamorphic workhorse on our shelf, and it is the one to book when the job says cinema camera, controlled sets, and a focus puller (or at least a director of photography with patient hands). We stock four focal lengths, all Silver Flare, all PL mount, at $125 a day each.

The four-lens bundle at $350 a day saves $150 against booking the lenses separately, and on a narrative job you want the full spread anyway: 33mm for establishing and tight interiors, 45mm as your default, 65mm for coverage and close-ups, 100mm for compression and inserts.

Image character and format math

The Remus covers a full 36x24mm image circle, so it runs on Super 35 and large-format PL bodies alike. The 1.5x squeeze is the sweet spot argument for this line. On a 16:9 sensor region it desqueezes to 2.66:1, wider than scope, which gives you healthy room to punch in or reframe before delivering at 2.39:1. On a 3:2 open-gate sensor it lands at 2.25:1. Compared with a 1.33x lens, the ovals are more pronounced and the horizontal flares carry more energy, and compared with a 2x lens, the Remus is smaller, lighter (the 45mm is about 1.6 pounds), and far easier to find focal lengths for.

Our units are the Silver Flare version, which keeps streaks neutral white instead of tinting them amber or blue. Neutral streaks grade cleanly, which colourists appreciate when the client has strong brand colours and nobody wants a blue stripe across the packshot. Focus and iris run on standard 0.8 MOD gears, so any follow focus in your kit drops straight on.

Mount is the one commitment. PL is the cinema standard, and the natural pairing in our inventory is the ARRI Alexa Mini, which takes PL glass natively. RED bodies run PL glass through a mount adapter, so if you plan to hang the Remus set on a Komodo-X, tell us when you book and we will make sure the package leaves the shop ready to shoot.

Blazar Apex 1.33x Autofocus: Anamorphic That Keeps Up

Anamorphic shooters spent years asking why this stuff can't autofocus. The Apex pair is Blazar's answer, and CineD's review called it great quality for the price. The Apex 35mm and 50mm are T1.8, 1.33x squeeze, native Sony E, and they focus themselves. We rent both at $100 a day.

The focus system is focus-by-wire with a proper AF/MF switch, so you can let Sony's subject tracking drive a moving interview or music video performance, then flip to manual and pull by hand for a controlled dolly move. A 16-blade iris keeps the bokeh smooth, each lens weighs about 720 grams, and the 77mm front thread takes ordinary screw-in NDs and diffusion.

The coverage caveat, in plain terms

The Apex covers Super 35 and APS-C, not full frame. Run it on the full sensor of a Sony FX3 ($230 a day) and you will see vignetting in the corners. This is not a defect, it is the design, and there are two clean ways to shoot around it. First, put it on a native Super 35 body: the Sony FX30 at $200 a day is the tidy match and keeps the whole package cheap. Second, switch a full-frame Sony body into APS-C crop mode and carry on. Either way, the 1.33x squeeze turns a 16:9 sensor region into a roughly 2.35:1 scope frame with no cropping in post, which is the whole appeal of the 1.33x format: scope delivery, full vertical resolution, nothing thrown away.

Character-wise, the Apex flares are subtle, natural streaks rather than a bold signature, and the ovals are gentler than the Remus, more hint than statement. For weddings, event recaps, branded social content, and any shoot where the camera moves fast and refocusing by hand would mean missed moments, that trade is exactly right.

Which One Fits Your Shoot

Rent the Apex pair if

• You shoot Sony E and want autofocus doing the work on moving subjects.
• The job is a music video, wedding, or social campaign with a small crew and no focus puller.
• You are anamorphic-curious and want the look for $100 a day before committing to a bigger package.
• You are pairing with the FX30 or an FX3 in crop mode and delivering scope for the first time.

Rent the Remus set if

• The camera is a PL cinema body and someone on set owns focus as a job.
• You want the stronger 1.5x character: bolder ovals, wider native frame, real reframing room at 2.39:1.
• The project is narrative, a commercial, or anything with a colourist who will thank you for neutral silver flares.
• You need a matched set across four focal lengths so shots cut together without the glass changing personality.

Seek out the Mantis if

• You need full-frame coverage at 1.33x, using every millimetre of a 36x24mm sensor for scope delivery.
• You want 2x-style oval bokeh from the consistent oval iris and are prepared to buy, since no shelf at Viva Camera holds one.
• You shoot anamorphic often enough that $999 USD per lens beats any rental math.

The in-betweens: Talon and Arcana

Two more lines on our shelf fill the gaps. The Blazar Talon 35mm and Talon 50mm (both $125 a day, Sony E) are full-frame 1.5x lenses with autofocus, which is the closest thing in our inventory to what Mantis shoppers usually want: whole-sensor anamorphic on a mirrorless body without manual pulls. And if the draw of the Mantis was the 2x-look ovals, the DZOFilm Arcana 32mm, 45mm, and 75mm ($175 a day each, PL) use a hybrid 1.5x design built for the same goal: bokeh character close to a 2x lens with full-frame coverage, T2.1 speed, and a squeeze that holds steady from close focus to infinity. When anamorphic is not the answer at all, our spherical cine lens rentals start at $65 a day for the DZOFilm Vespid primes.

What a Toronto Anamorphic Package Rents For

Here is how the day rates assemble into real bookings, using live prices from our system. Both packages below leave the shop as one pickup, and every rate also appears on the product pages of our full lens wall, so you can swap lines and re-run the math for your own shoot.

Sony anamorphic starter, 1 day

Two autofocus anamorphics, a body that matches their image circle natively, and sticks. For a music video or a branded short, this is the least expensive route to a true scope frame in Toronto that we know of.

PL narrative package, 1 day

A 6K body, four matched anamorphic primes, and the filtration to hold exposure outdoors. Remember the mount note from earlier: the Komodo-X needs a PL adapter for the Remus set, so flag it when you book and we will sort the package before pickup. If the budget stretches, swapping the bundle for three Arcana primes at $175 each moves the glass line to $525 and buys the stronger oval character.

Two booking rules soften multi-day numbers. From day 6 of any rental, each day bills at half rate. And the noon rule wraps free time around your shoot: pick up after 12 noon and the pickup day is not charged, return before 12 noon and the return day is not charged. You see the exact price for your dates before you book. Punch your dates into the anamorphic shelf and both packages price themselves.

Anamorphic Rental FAQ

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