anamorphic adaptor a must for film blow?

L

Ldogg

Active member
If I am shooting a Documentary in 24p(a) that I will definately be blowing up to film in post, is it a "must" to purchase an anamorphic adaptor?
 
I'm a bit confused.

Does the DVX100a not have true 16:9 ? Does Anamorphic still look better than the camera 16:9 mode ?

Thanks,
Derrick
 
The DVX100a does NOT have true 16:9. It is electronic 16:9, which means it crops the top and bottom of the image, then stretches it to fill the whole frame. This is the "stretch" mode. The letterbox mode crops the image, and adds the black bars at top and bottom.

Neither is true 16:9. The only MiniDV camera that does true native 16:9 is the XL2, and the soon to be announced HVX200 and JVC ProHD cameras, as well as Sony's FX1/Z1 cameras. The DVX100a doesn't have this ability, since it has 4:3 CCDs. That's why the anamorphic adapter exists.
 
Ldogg said:
be blowing up to film in post, is it a "must" to purchase an anamorphic adaptor?
Click to expand...

It's not necessary but some recommend it because of the higher resolution it provides. Search the site for "anamorphic adaptor" and you will find lots of good information. Also, here's some more:

http://www.adamwilt.com/24p/index.html#16x9

and

http://www.dvfilm.com/faq.htm#dvx100

"If you can afford to buy a 16:9 anamorphic lens that is preferable to the 16:9 mode on a 4:3 camera."
 
Last month I saw a 35mm film blow up of a drama shot with the DVX100a using 24p with the anamorphic adapter. The transfer was done by "Cine-Byte" here in Toronto.

The final product looked like a really well shot 16mm show, BUT, what stood out for me were simple shots that were out of focus that should NOT have been. I'm sure that these were out of focus, due to the anamorphic adapter.(It being a tricky customer to use.)

Focus for me, is a lot more important than a slight resolution difference, therefore when I shot my project, which will be blown up to 35mm, I chose to shoot regular aspect ratio.

The lab also preferred this method because it gives them more room to play with.

Also if you decide to display in 4:3 later your covered.

You can easily still frame 16:9 with frame lines drawn on acetate taped to your monitor or lcd screen.

Talk to your local lab, I'm sure they will have lots to say.

BTW the lab definitely recommended using 24A when shooting. (Which they did not in the film that I saw.)
 
i have heard this a lot, that its hard to focus with. why would anything ever go into productions out of focus? can't you tell on your monitor if its out of focus?

why does it make it harder to focus
 
The anamorphic adapter causes the camera to have two focal planes or two areas or focus. One horizontal plane and one vertical plane. You need to tweak numerous settings to get both planes in focus at one time.
 
Hey andithelet - you mentioned cinebyte. In your opinion what is a good lab/s
in the Toronto area that are really good at DV to film transfer
and 35mm blowup ? Also, anyone good with Super16 ?
Thanks.

Or any other of you cats who have good experience can chime in.
 
Yeah, I would also like to go ahead and figure out a who I'm going to get to blow up the video to film. I'm not sure but assume their are certain settings they prefer the shots to be in when I hand them the final. Any places of recomendations? Also for budget reasons I am curious how much it typically costs to blow up a feature length documentary.
 
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