It Takes Practice, But Know The Setup
An anamorphic lens is one that consists of two lenses. The first one is a wider prime, and the other one is the two times tighter lens. The 2x tighter is situated in front of the wider prime. Because the two lenses have varying depths of focus as well as the depth of field, it is hard for amateurs to learn how to focus them. Not surprisingly, it is the most common problem with beginners. While it requires a lot of practice to get the hand of an anamorphic lens, knowing the setup helps.
By understanding how the dual lens system operates, an amateur photographer can quickly grasp the concept of anamorphic photography.
How To Focus The Dual Lenses Of Anamorphic Lens?
- Mount the anamorphic lens cleanly on the camera.
- Find the object you want to focus on and keep it at the minimum focus distance of your lens. Generally, this is 1 to 3 feet going till infinity.
- Begin by adjusting the first lens of the dual system. The area you want to focus on should turn into a round bokeh. If you do not see the bokeh, then the object is not in the focus of the anamorphic lens.
- When the object does become an oval-ish bokeh, tweak the other lens of the camera to infinity. This will bring the background into clear focus.
You are good to go, at this point. At first, it takes a little practice to use an anamorphic lens, but when you get used to pinpointing what you’re looking for, it transforms into muscle memory. Just bear in mind how the focus marking of the two lenses of the system line up and from there on clicking will be easy as a pie.
