Moment, a company that makes high-quality photo gear for smartphones, has started a new crowdfunded project called Moment Air, which they are using to expand into the drone market by making a new line of products for the DJI Mavic 2 Pro and DJI Mavic 2 Zoom.



The project brings introduces three new products. We will talk about them in detail in this article.

DJI Mavic 2 Anamorphic lens



Firstly, we have a very interesting little gadget, an anamorphic lens for drones with a 1.33x horizontal ‘squeeze’.



If you haven’t heard about anamorphic lenses before, basically they distort the image that reaches the sensor, squeezing it horizontally while leaving the vertical aspect unaffected, allowing you to get that cinematic 2.39:1 look with true black bars, without having to manually crop the image and lose resolution.

You are using your WHOLE sensor when filming with these lenses, therefore you get the best quality image with a 2.39:1 aspect ratio.

NOTE: You must stretch the footage horizontally in post-production or in order to properly see the footage.



Moreover, a unique aspect of anamorphic lenses is that they can give your image long horizontal lens flares, and oval bokeh.

Bolex Anamorphot Collection by Yan Kezyr, licensed under CC BY 2.0

Moment’s Drone Anamorphic Lens is special due to its construction. If too much weight is put into the camera it might throw the drone out of balance, and so to address this issue Moment produced the lens from the “aerospace-grade composites and metals”, and they named this design Featherlight.

Another cool feature is the Lock and Balance Mounting System. Basically, this system allows you to attach the lens over the camera, while adding a counterweight on the other side, preventing the gimbal overload.



The Drone Anamorphic Lens is currently the only one available at the moment. (pun definitely intended)

You will find them here on Amazon as soon as they are available.

ND & CPL filters



Moment has developed an ND (neutral density) and CPL (circular polarizer/linear) filters for the DJI Mavic 2 series drones.

You use the ND filters to help control the amount of light that reaches the sensor. We have an amazing guide that will explain every detail about ND filters for drones, so go check it out as well.

You use the CPL filters to reduce glare and bounce light away from different angles.

Other features the Moment filters have are ‘scratch-resistant and anti-reflective glass’ with ‘advanced hydrophobic coatings’, held in a ‘shatterproof’ construction.

In English, this essentially means the lens will be hard to scratch, water (like raindrops) will slide off it, and you’ll have a hard time breaking the lens even if you wanted to try. (I don’t see why you would, though)

The filters are colored in ‘fire engine red’; Moment claims it’ll make your drone look faster, and we’re inclined to agree.

The Airlight Drone Filters are available as the anamorphic lens and as the regular ND Filter lens on the camera of the drones. They aren’t interchangeable though, as the two versions have different mounting mechanisms.

Smartphone case



We’ve got a new phone case from Moment. While Moment has been making cases for a while, as they’re needed to use their camera lenses, this one is different from the rest. Usually, Moment’s cases are pretty bulky, making it difficult to use with a drone controller or tripod.

The new Ultra-Thin Photo Case fixes this problem with a simple solution: by being really thin. The case is only 0.75mm, and it is made from a polycarbonate composite and TPU material. Moment calls it the “fits in your drone controller iPhone case”, and with good reason. At that size, it should be able to fit into any drone controller, gimbal, or mobile tripod without much trouble.

Currently, the case is only available for the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR. It retains the same M-series mounting system so you can attach Moment lenses to the case.

Accessories



Additionally, Moment has also made 3 drone accessories for the Mavic 2 series.



We have a drone carry case, large enough to fit your drone, controller, anamorphic lens or extra batteries, and other accessories; we get a drone battery case, which can carry up to four Mavic 2 batteries and the charger; and a landing pad, which does exactly what you might expect out of a landing pad.



We don’t have information on the retail price of these accessories (they may be Kickstarter exclusives), but the price of the Drone Carry Case, Drone Battery Case and Landing Pad may end up around 40$, 25$ and 15$ respectively.

Price and Availability



Moment expects the new Moment Air line of products to ship by November, provided that the Kickstarter campaign succeeds (which it did).



The Drone Anamorphic Lens will retail for $300, but Kickstarter backers will get it for $200.

You will find them here on Amazon as soon as they are available.

The Airlight Drone Filters will be priced at $120, but it is $100 for Kickstarter backers.

The Ultra-Thin Photo Case costs $30, but it’s $25 on Kickstarter.

