With more than twenty years experience in military, aerospace and consumer product development, acclaimed American inventor, optical designer-engineer, developer and manufacturer, J. Brian Caldwell, turned his talents to the movie industry. The result is a superior anamorphic lens: the Caldwell Chameleons.
FULL FRAME 32MM Take a look at the all new 32mm lens with the same perfectly matched characteristics but now with full frame coverage!
FULL FRAME 40MM And if you want wide an even greater selection of full frame anamorphic, it doesn't get much more impressive than this all new 40mm full frame variant of our much loved 40mm lens!
Featuring a unique Wallin-type design with counter-rotating astigmatizer elements, Chameleons maintain exceptional image quality throughout the focus range, minimizing chromatic aberration while preserving rich, dimensional anamorphic character.
Designed for both S35 and full-frame formats, the 1.79x squeeze ratio strikes the ideal balance between a bold anamorphic look and maximum sensor coverage, delivering gentle falloff, elliptical bokeh, and vertical breathing with refined control.
With identical housing dimensions, near-matching weights, and a lightweight 2.5 kg build, Chameleons offer practical on-set performance alongside an elegant “Classic Hollywood” rendering—designed to serve generations of filmmakers.
A 1.79x squeeze ratio designed for optimal sensor use, the lenses exhibit controlled distortion with vertical breathing, and zero "mumps," creating rich dimensionality and emotional depth ideal for cinematic storytelling.
“When I came across the Caldwell Chameleons, I knew I had found my lens. The way skin was rendered by the lenses was like a painter finding his color palette."
“Star Wars demands an antique look but deserves the fidelity and quality of modern optics.The Caldwell Chameleons delivered perfectly."
With impressive close-focus capabilities, these lenses offer a cinematic softness that feels both timeless and modern.” Shane Hurlbut, ASC
J. Brian Caldwell is a lens designer and optical engineer with 40+ years of experience. He has 500+ design projects and 150+ manufactured products and more than a dozen patents to his credit. In 2001 he founded Caldwell Photographic to do independent consulting and to develop and manufacture his own products. He is known for his work with optical engineer, Wilfried Bittner, with whom he developed the 60 mm UV-VIS-IR Apo lens licensed for manufacture by Jenoptik Optical Systems and Megavision, and the Metabones Speed Booster consumer products
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Excellence in optical design and engineering for 30 years.
