I recently watched a video by ALT CINE in which they took an inexpensive anamorphic adapter designed for smartphones, and mounted it onto a 28mm Viltrox lens. Inspired by their anamorphic abomination, I decided to pick up my own anamorphic adapter.

I decided to use my TTArtisan 40mm F2. It is far from a perfect lens, but it has been a great lens for me. I love the flexibility of the 40mm focal length, and it has plenty of sharpness for the work I do. I paired it with the NEEWER LS-75, a 1.55x blue flare anamorphic adapter designed to be mounted on a smartphone.

For those unfamiliar with anamorphic lenses, an anamorphic lens compresses the image along the horizontal axis. This requires you to stretch the image back out in post. The non uniform construction of the lens causes aberrations that can create interest beyond what you would normally get from a spherical lens. Additionally, it necessitates the use of the black bars that we often associate with Hollywood films.

Before I got to use the adapter on my lens, I needed to design a mounting solution. The adapter comes with 16mm threads for use with the smartphone mount that comes included with the adapter. The most straightforward method for mounting the adapter would have been to create a step down ring that would fit the filter threads on the lens. The problem with that method is that I would need to level the adapter every time I attach it, which introduces the opportunity for human error.

Instead of using the threads that come on the adapter and creating a step down ring, I decided to recreate the mechanism that mounts a lens hood onto the front of the lens.

I am still running my creation through its paces, but I have been having a lot of fun with it. So far, I have not been able to find an excuse to use it on any larger projects. When you put the adapter on a 40mm, the horizontal field of view is closer to 25mm. I also love shooting on wide angle lenses like my 18mm f5.6, but shooting on wide angle lenses does require a bit more effort. Part of the reason I love 40mm so much is because it has some of the same characteristics as a 50mm, but it still necessitates careful composition and planning. I am still learning to compose shots with this new lens configuration, but I am enjoying the challenge and I think the results will be fantastic when I get it figured out.

Thanks for reading.