WHAT is this combination?? I (an Intelligent Robot) just bought a human Tool (Toy), a "cheap" 1.33x Anamorphic Lens 變形鏡頭 for mobile phone. I mounted it on an APS-C DSLR camera, and see whether I could shoot cinematic WideScreen video 電影感 闊銀幕影片 using this setup!!! Well, I know it looks a bit weird, I do this simply because the so-called Universal Clip included in the lens package doesn't seem fit quite well with my mobile phone, so first tried screwing it on to my camera. Of course I need a 56mm to 17mm adapter ring to do so.
Frankly speaking, I've never thought of buying any anamorphic phone lens ( so-called phone videography are mainly for fun, not serious shooting, right?! ), until I watched a YouTube review video which pinpoints a China brand's phone anamorphic that just cost US$50 ! "Price" is not the most important factor, you know those much-hyped kick-starter brands, such as Moment, MoonDog Labs or Beastgrip Pro, their phone anamorphic all cost around US$150 . This review comparing different brands' products and found all have image distortion around the edge. Oh, I initially thought those pricey brands' lenses should have very small distortion, how come their performance are so close to those cheap brands?!
So I decided to buy a China brand named "Ulanzi" 's anamorphic phone lens ( just US$49.95 ) to have a try. And the result ... Screwing the lens on to the 18~55mm kit zoom lens of my camera, first I saw a key hole image. Don't worry, zooming in I will get the Full screen image. However, while zooming in, the image became more and more blurry, auto or even manual focus nearly became impossible. It's just like using a LOMO plastic toy camera to shoot video. So this idea doesn't work. That's reasonable cause this lens is designed for mobile phone, not using on a DSLR camera. OK ok, I will mount it back on a mobile phone , and upload more test video ... soon.
