With the iPhone-shot Unsane as inspiration, smartphone lens accessory maker Moment announced a new series of products built specifically for cinematographers. Called the Filmmaker Collection, it combines four accessories that push beyond the limits of your phone’s built-in camera, promising cinematic results like never before.
The heart of the collection is a new 1.33x anamorphic lens adapter that works with Apple iPhone (including the iPhone X), Google Pixel, and Samsung Galaxy phones via Moment’s Photo Case. This is a true anamorphic optic, widening the high-definition 16:9 aspect ratio to the cinematic standard of 2.40:1 without cropping away any pixels. Like professional anamorphic lenses, the resulting image will need to be “de-squeezed” to look normal without distortion, which can be done in the updated version of Moment app or Filmic Pro, a popular filmmaking app that offers advanced controls.
Anamorphic widescreen is a hallmark of cinema, a format originally invented to further differentiate the movie theater from a home television. It produces a wider field of view (in the horizontal dimension) than what you would normally expect from a lens of a given focal length, giving cinema a unique look that simply can’t be emulated.
Typically, anamorphic lenses are very expensive, but Moment’s compact adapter is $149. It still has a somewhat niche appeal, but filmmakers who have wanted to dabble in the anamorphic look now have an affordable option.
The remaining products in the Filmmaker Collection include the Gimbal Counterweight ($39), Lens Filter Adapter ($39), and an iPhone X Battery Photo Case ($99). The counterweight is designed to balance the additional weight of using the anamorphic adapter or other accessory lens when shooting with a handheld gimbal. While it should work with most smartphone gimbals, Moment said it “officially” supports the DJI Osmo Mobile, Zhiyun SmoothQ, and Evo Shift. Gimbals perform best when perfectly balanced, but smartphone gimbals generally don’t offer as much control for balancing non-standard phone setups. The counterweight, which attaches easily via a Velcro strap, solves this problem.
The filter adapter (also $39) lets users attach standard 62mm filters onto any Moment lens, including the anamorphic adapter, while the iPhone X Battery Photo Case ($99), the first of its kind from Moment, adds an extra 3,100mAh to keep you filming longer (Moment says it can recharge the phone to 90 percent).
Moment is accepting preorders for all new products now, and expects to begin shipping in June.
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