GoPro’s Anamorphic lens makes it ...

GoPro’s Anamorphic lens mod is lastly that can be purchased, finishing the set of lenses the corporate teased when it introduced its Hero 13 action cam. On the time, probably the most vital change to the most recent version of its best-selling digicam was the power to connect a number of lenses and ND filters. Of all of them, I used to be most intrigued by the Anamorphic Lens Mod ($130), pitched as a lens for “professional-level inventive filmmaking.”

Similar to the remainder of GoPro’s HB-Sequence lenses, it’s straightforward to take away the Hero 13’s base lens and change it with the a lot thicker Anamorphic lens. (It additionally comes with entrance and rear caps to retailer it safely when not hooked up to the digicam.)

Given its measurement, it’s price noting that this might imply a few of your third-party circumstances and equipment won’t fairly wrap across the physique of the Hero 13 as soon as the lens is hooked up. Nevertheless, it didn’t notably have an effect on the load distribution once I mounted it on my tripod, however I used to be nonetheless cautious about how uncovered the entrance glass ingredient is.

As soon as locked in, the Hero 13 switches to the suitable digicam mode, maximizing settings and calibrating exactly to the lens. You continue to have latitude in video settings, although: You may seize video in 5.3K as much as 60fps and 4K as much as 120fps for slow-motion cinematic scenes. If you wish to go to city, you too can document GP-Log in 10-bit and in the event you’re shopping for a $130 accent, you are most likely eager to eke out every part the Hero 13 is able to.

Luckily, that is GoPro, and the corporate made it quite simple for even newbies to seize and share usable footage with its most uncommon lens. The Hero 13 Black de-squeezes the footage whereas being captured, making for simpler enhancing. (De-squeezing is correcting the oval-shaped distortion of your video footage brought on by anamorphic lenses.)

Not solely does this streamline enhancing post-production — it’s able to share after you’ve completed recording — it additionally means the video preview on the Hero 13 reveals it unfurled, making framing simpler, too. The lens can be appropriate with GoPro’s digital picture stabilizing tech, HyperSmooth, though the corporate recommends combining it with a gimbal for even smoother footage. If you’d like full management, you too can shoot in commonplace lens mode and manually de-squeeze footage in post-production.

And because it’s a real anamorphic lens (and never only a very, very huge lens), it might seize lens flares, too, with that anamorphic streak that’s turn into JJ Abrams’ trademark. It helps make my footage appear like it got here from a cinematic video digicam, not an motion cam.

The drawbacks are minor. As I discussed earlier, I fear about damaging the lens, though it does have a hydrophobic, anti-reflective coating. Additionally, I discovered probably the most enticing alternatives for exhibiting off these horizontal lens flares are normally capturing footage at night time, or sundown. Sadly, the Hero 13 isn’t probably the most succesful low-light digicam, that means my efforts to seize cool cityscape site visitors produced outcomes that have been a bit too shadowy. For the most effective footage, broadly, I’d max out ISO at 800 and shoot in 10-bit mode to try to salvage as a lot element as doable.

The HB-series Anamorphic lens mod is offered now for $130, whereas a $350 HB-Series Lens Collection bundle incorporates all three lenses and an ND Filter 4-Pack.