I don't understand why a 16:9 widescreen adapter is needed if the camera takes care of that function already? Is this adapter really needed. Am I confused?
For detailed reading, search this forum, we've discussed it at length.
Briefly: yes the camera can generate a 16:9 image, but it's not using the full resolution of the chip to do so. It can't... the chip is 4:3, and the video you're asking for is 16:9. So it takes a 16:9-shaped patch and STRETCHES it electronically to generate a 16:9 image.
With the accessory anamorphic adapter, the lens itself stretches the video optically, resulting in a potentially much higher-quality conversion to 16:9. The resultant stretched video gets recorded using the full surface of the chip. There's a potential gain in resolution of up to 33% when using the optical anamorphic adapter properly.
