Moment presents their new Kickstarter campaign: The Filmmaker Collection for smartphones which includes some goodies to transform your phone into a “filmmaking machine”. We all know that a real anamorphic lens costs a fortune and as the pursuit for flares never stops, maybe now we can afford it – at least for our smartphone – as the crown jewel of their kit is the anamorphic lens.
The Filmmaker Collection
The Filmmaker Collection by Moment, which is now on Kickstarter, includes an iPhoneX battery case, universal gimbal counterweight, filter mount and an anamorphic lens. I must admit that every product in the collection looks solid and when combined it looks rather cool, but of course the highlight of this kit is the supplied anamorphic lens.
Moment’s anamorphic lens for premium phones
Anamorphic Lens Specifications
- Magnification: 1.33x Horizontal Squeeze
- Aspect Ratio (video) after de-squeeze: 2.40:1 Cinemascope
- Lateral Color: Minimized
- Flare: Vintage style anti-reflection coatings create desirable horizontal flares
- Orientation: Unidirectional — Mount can be rotated 90 degrees depending on the mobile device
- Works on Moment supported devices by connecting to a dedicated photo case. Moment offers cases for premium phones (iPhone 6,7,8,X, Galaxy 8,9 and Pixel 1,2)
Other products in Moment’s Kickstarter campaign
iPhone X battery photo case
Wireless-enabled battery photo case with a shutter button and 3,100 mAH battery allows for shooting twice as much video without recharging. The battery photo case is only compatible with iPhone X.
Gimbal Counterweight
Universal counterweight which is compatible with most major gimbals.
Filter Mount
The Filter Mount lets you attach a standard 62mm filter to any of your Moment lenses.
The very long (about 25 minutes) Kickstarter video is 99% focused on the lens itself. Moment knows that the lens is the main product here, as stated:
“Our anamorphic lens is the sexiest product we’ve ever made. This is the holy grail of filmmaking. Sweet horizontal flares and that widescreen, letterboxed look. Typically, super expensive, we made anamorphic affordable. Now you can shoot like the pros, on your phone.”
Watch the whole campaign video:
Prices
There are a lot of different combinations available for purchase when backing the project. Head to the Moment Kickstarter campaign for more information and planned final prices.
Note that in order to attach the anamorphic lens to your smartphone, you will need to purchase the case for supported phones (iPhone 6,7,8,X, Galaxy 8,9 and Pixel 1,2), meaning that you have to purchase both, the case and the lens for $145.
iPhone X users have the option to purchase the lens with the battery case for $199.
Final thought
From what i’ve seen in several videos, the lens does provide a real and impressive anamorphic look. In order to achieve the same results with a camera, you would need to buy one of SLRmagic’s products or a true anamorphic lens, which is extremely expensive.
The bottom line here is that this is a lens for smartphones. You get the anamorphic look indeed, but you get a “smartphone look” as well, which is not cinematic at all. Not that this is always a bad thing – take for example Steven Soderbergh’s “Unsane” that was shot with Moment products on the iPhone 7 and is currently in theaters.
What are your thoughts on this lens? Is it just as a gimmick or can you see yourself using it in a professional way?
