Anamorphic Lens

Today, I created my own Anamorphic Filter. I started off by buying some plain black card from Wilkinson and some cheap fishing wire from Hobby Craft. First, I placed the 85mm lens on the black card, I started with the 85mm because I had heard the larger the lens the better the outcome with the anamorphic filter.

I drew around each of the different lenses to make at least six Anamorphic filters. I did six because I figured I would at least make a mistake on some of the filters.

Next, I measured the diameter of the lens to get a good understanding of how big the oval in the centre of the filter would be. I had seen that the oval had to be not quite as long as the diameter of the lens and had to allow for some room at either side of the oval.

Once I was happy with the shape of the oval I stuck it to some of the spare card to give the oval some sort of thickness so I was able to draw around it. I drew around it with a pencil, trying slightly different versions on each one.

I used a Stanley knife to cut out each of the ovals for the lenses. I tried to be as neatly as possible, but the knife I had was a little blunt so it made the cuts a little rough, but I cleaned these up once I had got the oval out of the card.

Finally, I cut the full circles out using just simple old scissors to cut the full lens filter. Then labeled each of the filters to there appropriate lenses.

In terms of securing the lens, that is where the fishing wire comes in. I laid the fishing wire along my make shift lenses. To secure the filter I used an elastic band to wrap around the actual lens, then put the wishing wire underneath the elastic band.

Here is the finished Anamorphic Filter attached to the 35mm lens.