au8ust

Create compelling widescreen films and photos with your iPhone

Anamorphic lenses were introduced for filmmaking in the 1950's to create an immersive, panoramic experience intended to compete with the widespread adoption of television.  In addition to a wide aspect ratio, the anamorphic aesthetic is characterized by horizontal flares, distortion that creates a unique sense of depth or dimensionality, and oval "bokeh" or blur for out-of-focus areas. For these artistic reasons, anamorphic filmmaking has been enjoying a decades-long renaissance.  However, due to the complexity and expense of the optics involved, anamorphic lenses are not readily available to most independent filmmakers.  We believe there are stories best told with an anamorphic aesthetic, so we have developed an affordable 1.33x Anamorphic Adapter specifically for the iPhone 5/5S.

How does the Moondog Labs 1.33x Anamorphic Adapter work?  The built-in iPhone camera captures a 16:9 aspect ratio in video mode, like this:

Nominal iPhone video capture format, 16:9 aspect ratio

Shooting with the 1.33x Anamorphic Adapter optically “squeezes†a 33% wider scene onto the sensor, creating a raw image that looks like this (note the wider view, but thinner looking objects):

Raw anamorphic video capture before "de-squeeze"

When you restore or "de-squeeze" your video to the proper scaling in software, your final video looks like this:

Anamorphic video after de-squeeze, 2.4:1 aspect ratio

The Anamorphic Adapter works the same way for still photographic mode, transforming the native 4:3 aspect ratio to panoramic 16:9.

Native 4:3 photo format:

Nominal iPhone photo capture format, 4:3 aspect ratio

Shot with our 1.33x Anamorphic Adapter and de-squeezed to full 16:9:

Anamorphic photo after de-squeeze, 16:9 aspect ratio

There are many free or paid software packages available to de-squeeze video or still images created with an anamorphic lens – for example Final Cut Pro or Handbrake for video, and Adobe Photoshop or GIMP for still images.  For the best workflow, we are working with FiLMiC Pro to incorporate a 1.33x anamorphic de-squeeze in their first quarter 2014 release for full in-app compatibility with the Anamorphic Adapter.  To help you through the de-squeezing process, we will post simple instructions on our website and link to them here on our Kickstarter project page.

The Moondog Labs Anamorphic Adapter beautifully exhibits the wide aspect ratio and the classic horizontal purple flares and distortion that are characteristic of vintage anamorphic lenses.  Unfortunately, the short focal length lenses used in mobile phone cameras lack the shallow depth of field needed to create significant bokeh in most situations, including the oval bokeh traditionally associated with anamorphic lenses.

• 1.33x afocal anamorphic adapter
• Expands camera horizontal field of view (FOV) by 33%; vertical FOV is unchanged
• Increases video aspect ratio from 16:9 to 2.4:1 (with software de-squeeze)
• Increases still image aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9 (with software de-squeeze)
• Compatible with iPhone 5/5S
• Precision all-glass optical design
• Single layer anti-reflection coatings
• Precision CNC-machined aluminum housing
• Secure clamping attachment mechanism, compatible with screen protectors
• Mass: 49.4 grams (1.74 oz)
• Overall dimensions: 32 x 26 x 38.5 mm (21.32 max. extension from iPhone)
• Patent pending design
• Designed & assembled in the United States
• Compatible with Glifâ„¢ tripod mount

Our third-generation protoypes shown on the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5

We have early-bird pricing reward levels, and all Kickstarter backers will receive a significant price break compared to the expected retail price of the Anamorphic Adapter, so check out the reward levels in the right sidebar.

Holiday Gifting - If you are a thoughtful gift-giver planning to share an Anamorphic Adapter with some lucky filmmaker or photographer for the holidays, we will have a professional photo gift card describing the Anamorphic Adapter available for download so that you can print it and wrap it in time for holiday giving.

Based on our experience with camera lens design for photography and filmmaking, we started exploring this concept in 2011.  We have assembled and tested several prototype versions of the Anamorphic Adapter to refine the final product design presented here. We are confident that we have a great design that is robust for production. We have vetted domestic and international suppliers for quality and capability of each component, and have qualified sample quantities from them.  The Anamorphic Adapter will be assembled in Rochester, NY by our experienced optical manufacturing and assembly partner with components from both domestic and international suppliers.  We would love to be 100% U.S. sourced, but the economics of making an affordable Anamorphic Adapter require international sourcing for some components.

Project funding will go toward component tooling and assembly process fixtures that will allow us to scale from small quantities to production, and will also go directly toward buying components in volume to build units for our backers. 

Anamorphic Format (Wikipedia)

Films Shot Anamorphically (Wikipedia)

The Changing Shape of Cinema: The History of Aspect Ratio (FilmmakerIQ)

Everything You Need to Know to Start Shooting Anamorphic (NoFilmSchool)

The EOSHD Anamorphic Shooter’s Guide (EOSHD)

Video soundtrack by Aled Roberts Music