First steps into anamorph-land

[Roberto Hapsad]

my current project has a fair amount of greenscreen so ideally 4:2:2 but I want Max Lat for other parts so I will compromise.

Are you really using the Panny adapter for chroma-key shots? Backgrounds or super?
As I was saying before, "I'd just shoot 1080p and crop" (if I only wanted 720p result) rather than go to the bother using the adapter at all. Now, someone has pointed out that they value anamorphic bokeh so much it's worth it. Could you just compromise by using the adapter only for the shots without greenscreen? Will the two acquisition formats cut together well in post?
GH1 or GH2?

 

[Lpowell]

...I'd produce a 1920 x 1080 Blu-ray, (16:9 but still partly squeezed), flagged as "anamorphic" so that it will be projected through a normal spherical lens as 2.35:1 letterboxed.

Unfortunately, this is not an encoding option that's supported by the Blu-ray specifications. Anamorphic Blu-ray modes are limited to a 1440x1080 frame size which is automatically stretched out to 1920x1080 by the Blu-ray player. The only way that widescreen 2.35:1 movies can be encoded on Blu-ray is too scale them down to a letterboxed non-anamorphic 1920x810 frame size.

 

[Roberto Hapsad]

Unfortunately, this is not an encoding option that's supported by the Blu-Ray specifications.

Sorry, my mistake. I was misled by a post some time ago saying something like, "flag the project as anamorphic in [FCP] to un-squeeze the image".
I don't use FCP, Blu-Ray or even a GH1. I project my anamorphic work. I broadcast the rest. The current wide screen project involves 35mm film with a 2X squeeze and will almost certainly be stored on a computer in a projection room with touch-screen to cue, play as well as generate multiple subtitles and even dim house-lights. It will play every 30 minutes in a 70-seat theatre, 6 days a week.
The GH2 was the tool of choice for reccy shots and various tryouts, (Mainly stills). I doubt we'll use Blu-Ray. In Aus the take-up of Blu-Ray has been very slow. ["Usually if a consumer item sells well here, it will do well anywhere"]. I remember when there was a doubt whether it would even get off the ground at all - faced with competition from internet movie downloads and from removable media without any moving parts.
We chose anamorphic this time over the last project because we felt we had to give the audiences an experience they cannot get at home. There will be sales, though - and we're in wait-and-see mode regarding distribution media. (maybe even a USB stick with logo)
I'd be really tickled if any GH2-Anamorphic shots make it to the final edit.This trickle-up technology is fun and it's the future.
The producers are hard to convince but often I find there's a reccy shot I'll never be able to get again. In any case there will be plenty of time for trials with the real projector and screen while the theatre is being built.

 

[Jordell Jarnell]

Are you really using the Panny adapter for chroma-key shots? Backgrounds or super?
As I was saying before, "I'd just shoot 1080p and crop" (if I only wanted 720p result) rather than go to the bother using the adapter at all. Now, someone has pointed out that they value anamorphic bokeh so much it's worth it. Could you just compromise by using the adapter only for the shots without greenscreen? Will the two acquisition formats cut together well in post?
GH1 or GH2?

Yes, am experimenting with Panny for chroma-key shots and for super. I've got background shots made with Panny using Max Lat (all outdoor stuff) and being both inexperienced and lazy, started off this direction figuring it would be the easiest way to composite the shots; besides, I was curious as to what an anamorphic gs would require, especially vis a vis camera positioning, and what the Max Lat would yield in this situation.