Poor-man's anamorphic

A steady diet of films shot with anamorphic lenses has informed my imagination, to the point where my mind's eye visualises everything through an anamorphic lens, complete with ovular bokeh and blue-tinged horizontal lens flares:




If I could, I'd shoot everything in anamorphic, but since it was a format designed to give people in the 1950s a good reason to switch off their TV sets and head down to the local cinema, the unique anamorphic look is inextricably linked with big-screen consumption and 1980s action blockbusters like "Die Hard" and the "Indiana Jones" trilogy.

It's also an insanely expensive format.

Until now.

Thanks to a fluke of technology, you can shoot anamorphic on a Canon 5DmkII, and without modifying your 5D for PL-mount Panavision or Hawk glass.

So how is this possible? Well, it's quite simple: the Canon 5DmkII uses a full-frame CMOS sensor that, in video mode, becomes a 16:9 (1.78:1) sensor. By combining a 5DmkII (in video mode) with one of these bad boys --



-- a Panasonic 1.33x anamorphic adapter designed to give those with 4x3-sensor Mini-DV camcorders a 16:9 image without a loss of resolution -- you get an image with the anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio of 2.35:1 (1.78 x 1.33).

Below is a compile of test footage I shot with our Canon 5DmkII, a 24-70mm Sigma F/2.8 lens, an 82-72mm step-down ring, and of course, a Panasonic anamorphic adapter.

Click on the still to view the test reel: