The wide, flare-filled look of anamorphic film is now considered a modern hallmark of filmmaking, but the technology behind it has a far more unusual history. Anamorphic optics began as a military aid, were reinvented for cinema by a French astronomer, then sat unused for decades before becoming a staple of Hollywood when a studio was looking for a way to compete with television. This article traces that journey—from World War I periscopes to the compact, affordable anamorphic lenses filmmakers use today.
What Is an Anamorphic Lens?
An anamorphic lens uses cylindrical optical elements to squeeze a wider horizontal field of view onto a standard sensor or film frame, instead of the spherical elements used in conventional lenses. When the footage is “desqueezed” in post-production, it expands back into a wide cinematic format—usually with an aspect ratio of 2:1 or 2.4:1, although some systems produce even wider formats such as 2.39:1 or 2.66:1. This compression also creates the characteristic features of anamorphic lenses: oval bokeh, horizontal flares, and a pronounced sense of depth.
History of the Anamorphic Lens: From Military Equipment to Cinema
Early Military Use in World War I
Before anamorphic optics ever touched a film camera, cylindrical lens elements were already solving a very different problem: giving soldiers a wider field of view. During World War I, similar cylindrical optical designs were used in tank periscopes, where compressing a broad horizontal view into a narrow viewing slit gave crews better situational awareness without exposing them to enemy fire. This military application predates the use of anamorphic optics in cinema by nearly a decade and arose from a separate line of development from the invention that would later reach Hollywood.
Who Invented the Anamorphic Lens?
The anamorphic lens as it is used in film production today can be traced back to Henri Chrétien (1879–1956), a French astronomer and optical engineer. Chrétien began experimenting with optical wide-angle compression in the early 1920s and filed a patent for his design—the Hypergonar—on December 9, 1926. The lens’s first public demonstration took place at the Paris Opera in 1927 and showed a significantly wider field of view than the spherical lenses of the time could provide. Despite the successful demonstration, the French film industry showed little interest, and the Hypergonar was largely forgotten for the next 25 years.
How the Anamorphic Lens Came to Hollywood
Chrétien’s invention found its true audience in the early 1950s, when the rise of television began drawing viewers away from cinemas. Looking for something television could not offer, 20th Century Fox licensed Chrétien’s Hypergonar patent and marketed the technology under the name CinemaScope. Its commercial launch came in 1953 with The Robe (“Der Mantel”), offering cinema audiences a significantly wider, more immersive image than spherical lenses could provide at the time—without sacrificing resolution, as simple masking of the image area would have done. The gamble paid off: CinemaScope helped reestablish the cinema experience as something television simply could not replicate, and anamorphic cinematography quickly became a hallmark of big-budget films.
Squeeze Factor in Anamorphic Lenses: Then and Now
The squeeze factor—that is, how much a lens compresses the image horizontally—has changed considerably since Chrétien’s original design:
- Early CinemaScope/Hypergonar lenses: a uniform 2x squeeze
- Modern anamorphic lenses: a much wider range of squeeze factors, including 1.33x, 1.5x, 1.6x, 1.8x, and 2x, allowing filmmakers to determine more precisely how pronounced the widescreen character should be
This range is one reason anamorphic lenses have diversified so much in recent years. SIRUI’s own lineup reflects this range as well: the Astra series uses a 1.33x squeeze, the Saturn series uses 1.6x, and the IronStar series uses 1.5x—each designed around its own balance between widescreen character and everyday practicality.
Why Have Modern Anamorphic Lenses Become More Compact and Affordable?
For much of the 20th century, the anamorphic lens remained a specialized tool reserved for large studio productions. Compared with standard camera bodies, historical anamorphic lenses were large, heavy, and expensive, and they often lagged behind conventional lenses optically—in areas such as consistency and sharpness.
That changed over the past decade. Modern manufacturers—including SIRUI—have redesigned anamorphic optics, making them significantly lighter and more affordable without compromising image quality. In many cases, today’s anamorphic lenses are even noticeably sharper than their historical predecessors, making a technology once reserved for Hollywood studios accessible to independent filmmakers and photographers as well.
Conclusion
From a solution for tank periscopes, through the overlooked invention of a French astronomer, to the widescreen tool that helped cinema compete with television, the anamorphic lens has one of the more unusual origin stories in film technology. What began as a niche patent in the 1920s is now a widely accessible creative tool—a reminder that some of cinema’s most iconic visual languages needed decades to find their moment.
FAQ
Who invented the anamorphic lens?
Henri Chrétien, a French astronomer and optical engineer, invented the anamorphic Hypergonar lens and patented it in 1926.
When did anamorphic lenses become popular in film?
Anamorphic lenses became widespread in the early 1950s, after 20th Century Fox licensed Chrétien’s patent and introduced the technology commercially as CinemaScope in 1953.
What is a squeeze factor?
The squeeze factor describes how much an anamorphic lens compresses the image horizontally. Early CinemaScope lenses used a 2x squeeze, while modern lenses cover a range from 1.33x to 2x.
Are anamorphic lenses used only in cinema?
No. Although anamorphic lenses originally came from film production, modern, more compact designs have also made them increasingly popular among photographers.
