Anamorphic Shooting Without The Crop Factor And For Under £800

Posted on Feb 11, 2014 by Alex Fice

SLR Magic has introduced the Anamorphot 1.33x 50 anamorphic adapter.

In the past, many indie filmmakers who wanted to shoot anamorphic had to depend on rare vintage lenses, which were not always reliable. To achieve the much loved 2.35:1 scope aspect ratio, (which gives a pleasant, epic effect) filmmakers must crop the top and bottom of standard 16:9 footage when using spherical lenses with modern digital cameras. As a result, 25% of sensor/negative information is discarded.

SLR Magic developed a 1,33x anamorphic adapter to help filmmakers maximize image quality by preventing this loss of vertical resolution. The 1,33x squeeze factor uses the entire 16:9 sensor/negative area to achieve the desired 2.35:1 aspect ratio. It does this by compressing a 33% wider field of view to fit the width of the 16:9 sensor/negative without compressing image height.

Modern professional cinema cameras have large sensors capable of capturing an image in the 2.35:1 format directly, using spherical lenses, but film makers still want the anamorphic “look” which often limits them to using rare vintage lenses. These present a number of difficulties in practice such as size, weight, lack of close focus, availability, and high price.

The Anamorphot allows for anamorphic shooting without restricting the vertical resolution.

The SLR Magic Anamorphot 1,33x – 50 create a unique “artifact” such as horizontal lens flare, commonly referred to as anamorphic streaks, and may create slightly elongated ‘bokeh’ when achromatic diopters are used. Over the history of cinema, these same stylish effects have contributed to the cinematic “look” of epic motion picture photography. Characteristics that shape this anamorphic “look” come from “front-mounted” anamorphic adapter designs such as the SLR Magic Anamorphot while “rear-mounted” anamorphic designs have more suppressed anamorphic characteristics.

Anamorphot is available in March for £749.