Optics
Anamorphic Lenses
Anamorphic lenses are used to capture the Cinemascope image with an aspect ration of 2.35:1 or 2.38:1 on regular 35mm film material. It was invented in the 1950s. A single cylindrical lens element squeezes the image horizontally, there as the vertical image size remains unchanged. At the projector the opposite lens un-squeezes the image again to the proper image width.
 |
 |
real and projected image |
squeezed image on film |
 |
 |
image captured on film with anamorphic lens |
image projected with anamorphic lens |