Written and Recorded by Glenn Aitken

Lessons

The first thing that struck me when I opened the Moment anamorphic lens case for the DJI Mavic 2 Pro was "wow that's a beautifully made piece of kit ". The second thing that struck me was "how was that ever going to fit..." - it just seemed too heavy... too big...too cumbersome for the gimbal to manage.

But fit it did. Just. Here's the thing - don't follow the video guidelines on YouTube from Moment. They forget to tell you this vital piece of information. Practice it First. Practice putting the lens on and taking it off the gimbal until you are blue in the face and can do it in your sleep. With the drone turned off. The gimbal is a fragile piece of kit and this will ensure that the first time you actually use the lens the fitting goes like clockwork. So study their method but do it like 20 times until it fits and you are comfortable with the procedure. The other point to make is you need to squash the rubber strips on the inside of the counterweight for the first fittings - otherwise it really is a too-tight fit.

When using it proper - with the drone powered up - you will find after fitting that the drone needs to calibrate the gimbal, which you do through the drone gimbal settings. What I found initially was that after calibration I got jello wobble in the image - similar to rolling shutter. On reaching out to Moment they ensured me that was just when the drone motors weren't running - when powered up the gimbal would stiffen and this would be gone. Happy to say this is indeed the case. Included in the set were the Moment ND filters - 8 to 64. When I first attempted to use them (following Moment's guidance) they proved too much for the gimbal and it didn't calibrate. The secret is this. Calibrate the gimbal as advised after fitting the lens. When that completes, just clip the ND filter on. The gimbal will fall down but it will rise up again in 2-3 seconds on its own. Then you're good to go.

Best Settings

Settings? Use 4k HQ Mode - it's effectively a 56mm lens and in 10 bit HLG delivers some really great footage. I was stunned in how little noise it gives - I actually believe that the compression lens let's more light in somehow. It's astonishingly clean. Not quite the level as the inspire 2 with the Xenmuse X7 but it gives some serious punch for such a small form factor.

I have used this lens flying mainly in Tripod mode - which I find to be the best mode on the Mavic 2 pro for cinematic footage. I would never use it in Sport mode - I get the feeling the gimbal might try to part company with the drone.

The lens flares beautifully with that classic blue line that identifies itself proudly as an anamorphic lens. It's only 1.33x squeeze - but that still gives you a 5.2k image once desqueezed in Premiere Pro (just interpret the footage as HD Anamorphic 1.33x)

Compared to the Inspire 2 + Xenmuse X7

I fly an Inspire 2 with the X7 as well as M600 with other cameras - but I have to take my hat off here to Moment and say that it's a pretty amazing piece of engineering and a very good resultant image quality to come out of the tiny Mavic 2 pro. It really is! I am confident that at a squeeze it would fit in reasonably well with the inspire 2 footage - but I could never have dreamed of shooting anamorphic with it. Until now!

The footage was shot in the Maldives at Mirihi island resort - where a shoot got extended due to the lockdown caused by the Coronavirus. Shot in 10bit HLG, 4k HQ Mode. 25p and 100 ISO.

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