Clarify: Anamorphic.

robotriderdh

robotriderdh

Active member
This is more than likely a very novice question, but I'd rather get the answers from you guys, who love film than a definition from wikipedia.

Could someone please clarify the specifics of what an anamorphic lens does? what are its pros and cons? any and all extra points are super helpful, i'm looking to learn as much as possible.

thanks so much!
 
Happy to. I've posted this link before and it is well written on the subject. Actually I like the wikipedia definition! I think it does a fine job of showing what it does.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anamorphic_widescreen

I own the Panny 16:9 anamorphic and it is nice. Unfortunately, it only does 1.33x of a squeeze, although good for what it does, I crave more. Focusing is always an issure with anamorphic lenses. Barry's book and chart are very helpful.

I would rather see a 2x anamorphic and have expressed my disgust before for manufacturers not supplying us with an affordable one. I have tinkered with cheap glass meant for 16mm projectors that is meant to do a 2x anamorphic squeeze. It works good for for video cameras with way, way less threading than 72mm. 2x anamorphic when properly de-squeezed is quite breathtaking. I prefer it over the mini35 craze.
:bath:
 
well, i guess that partially ties my own ankles... i guess i apologize for the wikipedia comment... haha. didn't honestly expect that to hapen. thanks either way!
 
An anamorphic lens adapter is a lens which is not circular, but instead is wider than it is tall. The lens optically distorts the image in the horizontal direction so that a 16:9 image is squeezed into a 4:3 space. It does not distort the vertical direction.

The benefit of using an anamorphic lens adapter is that it provides more horizontal resolution in the final image than using digital squeeze which is built into the DVX. Digital squeeze takes a letterboxed 16:9 image in the center of the frame and then digitally stretches it out vertically to fill the 4:3 frame. So you are getting about 320 pixels of real information stretched out over 480 lines.

Both digital squeeze and anamorphic footage results in a 4:3 frame that is diistorted. And in post, you must use your NLE to digitally stretch the image horizontally into a 16:9 frame (widescreen).

The difference between the digital stretch and the optical squeeze is that the stretch is taking a smaller amount of information and allocating it to more pixels -- softening the image and creating artifacts. An optical squeeze is taking the real visual information and distorting it before it hits the sensors. So you are getting an effectively higher resolution of information in the 720x480 frame. This extra information is useful for sharper final images on large screen 16:9 TVs and for output to film. If your final output is letterboxed, it makes little difference. And you are as good off shooting in squeeze mode or shooting in 4:3 and cropping to 16:9 in post in your editing program.

Focsing an anamorphic lens is complicated because of its shape. It is not a "point and shoot" activity. Also, when you use an anamorphic lens, since the camera is set in 4:3 mode, there is no marking on the DV tape or the captured file to tell the NLE that the image is squeezed and needs to be stretched out to widescreen. You have to manually instruct your editing program to stretch anamorphic footage.

Hope that helps.
 
it does very much, thank you. I have a GL2, and was wondering that same thing; whether or not the squeeze function distorts the image. after using the widescreen mask in FCP, how can one export that image as 16:9 rather than 4:3 with the black space on the top and bottom?

thanks so much, again
 
In FCP, first setup a project for widesceen, perhaps using an "Easy Setup" based on your output format. Then import the letterboxed 4:3 footage and add it to the timeline.

Go to the Motion tab. Under "Basic Motion" use the "Scale" slider to fill the 16:9 frame with the letterbox portion of the image.

In some cases, you may need to use the "Distort" settings instead of "Scale" to fill the frame.
 
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