Anamorphic

A lens that squeezes the image sideways onto the sensor or film, which is later stretched back out to make a wide widescreen frame. Early CinemaScope squeezed by 2x; today there are ratios like 1.3x and 1.8x. It is most often linked to the 2.39:1 aspect ratio. Because of this process, out-of-focus lights behind turn into tall ovals, and bright lights throw long horizontal flares. What sets it apart from an ordinary lens is not the field of view but this sideways squeeze.

Camera position seen from outside. On a street at dusk, the blue camera frames the bunny from the chest up, with a string of small bulbs behind him. The change in the shape of light shows only in the camera view.

Camera view. Black bars appear at the top and bottom, widening the frame to 2.39:1. The bulbs behind become tall ovals, and a blue horizontal streak cuts across the bright lights. In the comparison it switches to an ordinary lens’s 16:9 frame, the bokeh turns round and the streak disappears.

How it feels

Big-screen cinema
Grandeur
Wide vision
1980s style

When to use it

Frames with a wide landscape or several characters together
Turning night street lights into long, stretched bokeh
Giving a sci-fi or 1980s-style thriller or action feel

In the movies

Star Trek (2009) · Source: Paramount Movies (YouTube) · Original video

Star Trek 2009
According to the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC), cinematographer Dan Mindel wanted the anamorphic format, and director J. J. Abrams was won over by the focus falloff in a 50mm anamorphic test. Lens maker Cooke also ties horizontal flares to this film.

Not to be confused with

Widescreen Crop: Cropping the top and bottom of an ordinary lens image also gives a 2.39:1 ratio, but no oval bokeh or horizontal flares.
Wide Lens: Wide angle is about how much you take in; anamorphic is about aspect ratio and the shape of light. There are narrow telephoto anamorphic lenses too.
Lens Flare: Lens flare covers every kind of light spill from strong light entering the lens. The long blue horizontal streak is one shape that anamorphic lenses tend to make.

Prompt

Keyword

anamorphic lens

Descriptive

Anamorphic 2x lens, 2.39:1 widescreen. Oval bokeh from the string lights behind the subject, a thin blue horizontal flare across the frame.

Try these combinations

Anamorphic + night street: neon and streaks of light
Night city street, anamorphic 2.0x lens, shallow DOF, volumetric light, neon signs glowing behind the subject
Anamorphic + landscape: several figures at sunset
Anamorphic widescreen shot of three riders crossing a desert at sunset, 2.39:1, horizontal lens flare from the low sun