Anamorphic vs. Spherical:
What your lens choice says about your priorities.
We bought a set of anamorphic lenses because someone else was going to rent them. That's the whole origin story. What we did with them — and why they stay in the van for most corporate shoots — is the point of this post.
How we ended up with anamorphic glass.
A client was pricing out a rental on the Remus set. The rental cost and the purchase price were close enough that buying made more sense than watching someone else use them for a weekend. So we bought them. The Remus 33, 50, and 100 now live in the van — alongside gear that sees significantly more regular use.
This is not a story about chasing a look. It's a story about a math problem that worked out. But since the lenses were now ours, we figured we should actually understand them — which led to the video above.
What anamorphic glass actually is.
A standard spherical lens captures a circular image that fills the sensor evenly. An anamorphic lens works differently — it horizontally compresses a wider image onto that same sensor during capture, which is then stretched back out in post to produce the wider cinematic aspect ratio you recognize from film.
The byproduct of that squeeze is a set of visual characteristics that don't exist in spherical glass:
Oval bokeh instead of circular. Horizontal lens flares when direct light hits the front element. A particular kind of depth and dimensionality in the image that's hard to replicate in post. These aren't artistic choices — they're optical physics. The glass does it whether you want it to or not.
These characteristics are immediately recognizable to anyone who watches a lot of film — even if they can't name what they're seeing. When something looks "cinematic," this is usually a significant part of why.
Anamorphic vs. spherical — what actually changes.
Why this glass stays home
for corporate work.
Anamorphic glass is a creative choice. It imposes a look on the image. That look says: this is a film, this is a story, this is art.
Corporate event video — panels, keynotes, conferences, brand content — doesn't need to say that. It needs to say: this happened, these people said these things, and here is the evidence. The look should serve the content, not compete with it.
For that work, we shoot on Sony FX6 and FX9 with spherical glass. Clean, color-accurate, broadcast-trusted. The image gets out of the way and lets the speaker, the room, and the moment do the work. That's the right call for events like Axios Mixing Board Live or a multi-day corporate conference. Nobody watching a panel recording needs to be thinking about the lens.
If you watched the video above and thought "this looks nothing like what HBP typically delivers for clients" — you're right. That's not an accident.
What the gear choice
actually signals.
Every piece of equipment we bring to a shoot was chosen for a reason. Not because it was available, not because we wanted to use it, and not because it photographs well in a behind-the-scenes post.
The Remus set is in the van. It stays in the van for most jobs. That's not a limitation — it's a decision. The same decision-making that keeps the anamorphic glass at home is the same decision-making that determines which camera goes on which position, which lens covers which angle, and which microphone goes on which speaker at your event.
Gear is a means. The deliverable is the point. We think about that distinction before we pack anything.
Bringing an event to Austin? The right gear shows up already planned.
(512) 893-2709