

But, when used correctly, the results are pretty wild. I wouldn't describe using it as fun or easy - it's for prosumers and professionals. The sort answer is yes, with several caveats.

Anamorphic lenses compress linearly on the horizontal axis.īut you're not here for an optics lesson, you're here to find out whether Moment's anamorphic lens can give your smartphone photos or videos a sweet new look. Normal wide-angle lenses compress the scene radially, leading to a sort of GoPro-esque look.

There's also a more subtle effect: Anamorphic lenses give you a larger field of view without adding barrel distortion. Think Michael Bay but less over the top in Moment's case. Anamorphic lenses offer fashionable lens flares for those looking for a bit more visual flourish. So why would you want to do this? The short answer: style. In fact, the technique was popularly used to squeeze widescreen video onto 35mm film, which has an aspect ratio of 3:2 instead of the now-ubiquitous 16:9.Ī standard photo vs the expanded anamorphic shot. This curve effectively squeezes 33 percent more of the scene onto the sensor. That's because the elements inside are rectangular, and if you look closely, you can see the glass inside bend around horizontally. The first thing you'll notice about the Moment Lens Anamorphic is that it's rectangular instead of round, like most lenses. But what is an anamorphic lens? And why does it look so weird? After all, the film Tangerine was shot on an iPhone 5S using an anamorphic lens from Moondog Labs, so I was excited to try my hand at a more cinematic look. When Moment announced an anamorphic lens, it really caught my attention.
