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On a recent photo tour, a lens another photographer used caught my attention because of its golden color and no manufacturer name I know being visible.

Unfortunately, I was busy taking some shots myself and only took this quick picture. When I had finished, the guy was already gone and I couldn't ask him in person anymore.

Does anyone know what lens this could be?

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It's a Iscorama anamorphic adapter from a projector attached to what is probably a 50mm or 85mm prime lens via a clamp (the bit with the two screws coming out). The adapter compresses the frame in the horizontal direction by a factor of 2 to get a widescreen image into a standard super 35mm frame.

Anamorphics are commonly used for cinematography but rarely for stills photography where shooting a multi image panorama or using a panoramic film format is a better way to get wider shots.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Panoramas work only when your subject is static. Say if there are waves or wind going through the trees it might be tricky to stitch it back together, I'm not even talking about wide portraits. \$\endgroup\$
    – Andrew
    Commented Jul 31, 2014 at 11:50
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Andrew true, but the point is there is with stills you can usually upgrade to a larger format / higher resolution sensor when you want a wide image, whereas shooting moving pictures on film this isn't possible (the cost of moving from 35mm to 70mm for a production would be pretty huge). with digital cinema cameras now sporting resolutions of 5K and upward this restriction doesn't exist, if anamorphics are used it is for effect, either for the squished bokeh or lens flare (see any J.J. Abrams film). \$\endgroup\$
    – Matt Grum
    Commented Jul 31, 2014 at 12:20

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