Lenses for cinema production

Since mid-2020, we have been working with other designers for Glaswerk, a company that develops and builds a series of anamorphic lenses for cinema productions. The Glaswerk one and Glaswerk one+ capture images with a horizontal compression ratio of 2:1, similar to old Cinemascope lenses.

These lenses are calculated using modern design tools and built using state-of-the-art technology. The series includes various fixed focal lengths. There is considerable interest in these lenses, as many cinematographers appreciate the special look of anamorphic optics and use them in cinema productions as well as in productions for Netflix series.

For us, this project is exciting not only because of the high complexity of the optics with their mix of spherical and cylindrical lenses, but also because the result of our work is evaluated not only according to hard metrics and MTF curves, but also strongly according to artistic criteria. As developers, we first have to understand statements such as ‘the look is too clean’ and then translate them into a merit function.

More information about Glaswerk lenses, including demo images and videos, can be found on this website.