Most of the time the shape of the flare is close to a circle, but recently I saw a movie where the lens flare was elliptically shaped. The stills below, taken from the movie Die Hard, show the effect I am referring to.
What in the lens design is responsible for this elliptical shape?
Answer
The elliptical flares were probably from an anamorphic lens. These lenses squash the image horizontally in order to get a widescreen picture on a standard width film strip. The anamorphic elements are usually on the front of the lens so the lens barrel appears elliptical to the camera.
Lens flares are just reflections so can take the shape of any lens component but the most common source of reflections are the glass elements so flares tend to be either circular or take the shape of the aperture.
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