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The Difference Between Anamorphic And Spherical Lenses Explained

In Depth Cine explains the difference between anamorphic and spherical lenses: how anamorphic squeezes a wide image onto the sensor, and what that does to bokeh, flares and the frame.

In Depth Cine · 9 min · Beginner · CIN · Cinematography · 2020

What you take away

Anamorphic is a whole look, not just a wider frame.

Watch it

Filed under

Shot anamorphic and wide

Oscar winners for cinematography

Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)
The Aviator (2004)
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
Road to Perdition (2002)

Books on cinematography

Kit for this lesson

Laowa Nanomorph 50mm T2.4 1.5x — The Nanomorph normal — still small enough to fly
SIRUI Venus 50mm T2.9 1.6x anamorphic — Full-frame anamorphic, the cheapest there is
SIRUI Venus 35mm T2.9 1.6x — The wide end of the cheapest full-frame anamorphic set
Atlas Lens Co Orion 40mm T2 anamorphic — The 2x anamorphic indie features actually shoot on
Canon RF 50mm F1.2 L USM — The portrait-adjacent normal
Canon RF 24-70mm F2.8 L IS USM — The RF standard zoom, stabilised

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Shooting “Moonrise Kingdom" (with Wes Anderson & Robert Yeoman) — Cinematographers on cinematography · 17m · Advanced
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