GoPro releases Anamorphic Lens Mod for HERO13 Black

It's been a while coming, but GoPro has finally released its long awaited Anamorphic Lens Mod for the HERO13 Black.

While we're working on a review of the new lens mod, here's the lowdown on this latest announcement from GoPro. Back in September last year, GoPro released the HERO13 Black, and one of its USPs was the HB Lens Mod system, which allowed different lens attachments with auto-recognition by the camera to be attached.

On release, there was the Ultra-Wide Lens Mod, which was an auto-recognition version of the Max Lens Mod 2.0, a Macro Lens Mod, which allowed close focus with a defocussed background, and a set of ND lenses. The latter were particularly good, since the camera could tell you whether to increase or decrease the ND amount depending on lighting conditions, and the camera could be set to prioritise motion blur or balance between HyperSmooth stabilisation.

The Anamorphic Lens Mod however, wasn't available straight away, but now it is finally here. The Anamorphic Lens Mod would appear to have several positive things going for it. For starters, it's possibly the only fully waterproof and tough anamorphic lens solution out there. Granted, third party companies have made anamorphic attachments for GoPros before, but the way in which GoPro's own product interacts with the camera makes things much easier.

For one thing, the camera performs the de-squeeze in camera, giving a 21:1 final letterboxed aspect ratio. The lens uses the full height of the sensor, so the result is oversampled. 

An example of a shot taken with the Anamorphic Lens Mod

Using the anamorphic lens attachment on the GoPro gives an ultra-wide image without any of the fisheye distortion that is usually associated with action cameras. Thus, if you are intercutting with larger cameras, but need a device you can mount in dangerous or vulnerable positions, or in extremely confined spaces, then this could be a very useful tool, particularly when combined with GP-Log recording.

The GoPro Anamorphic Lens Mod is now available for $129.99, while an HB Lens Collection bundle, which includes all Lens Mods is available for $349.99.