Anamorphic lenses are becoming better known and more widely applied by people other than top tier movie and TV producers.
They have become quite affordable and the support from cameras and software also more common.
They have several characteristics that are often actually perceptual evolutions of forced compromises, such as oval shaped Bokeh balls, horizontal highlight streaks and other odd optical behaviours, but they exist for a reason and that reason is wide screen.
A recent cast interview of the school version of The Cursed Child shows the full potential of anamorphic lenses (it looks a little flat after screen shot-ing). Oval Bokeh is largely absent, there is only a hint of a streak on the right side and there is a little bowing on the edges, but none of these are so extreme they preclude me using the lens for real world jobs.
To be honest, when I bought the 24mm anamorphic, I was expecting to use it rarely and only for my own projects. It turns out, the lens is a lot more useful and empowering than that.
The shot above was taken with the 24mm Sirui on the GH5s, my “A” cam. The focal length is equivalent to a full frame 45mm in height, so a very natural perspective, but almost 30mm in width, meaning that with little effort, I managed to get the entire stage area of the theatre in from half way down the aisle while keeping the perspective and magnification natural.
This is the key take away. It is not extra width you are chasing, any wide angle can do that, it is width without the side effects which are stretched perspective, ever shrinking backgrounds and unwanted distortions.
The 24mm specifically was chosen because it is a normal lens in M43, but also because it is a well controlled anamorphic. Streaks, oval Bokeh and other oddness is kept within relatively normal bounds, or can be exaggerated when wanted. It is a “clean” lens by anamorphic standards.
Will I use anamorphic lenses a lot?
Probably not and I need two to do dual cam shots.