mixxing 4X3 and 16X9 footage
- Thread starter PIMP
- Start date
bpotter said:
You don't lose that much, and you're working with exactly the same picture resolution in letterbox mode as you would in cropped full-frame. Besides, if you want to go anamorphic with your DVD, you're going to have to crop the black bars out of the image and stretch it to 16:9 anyway.
Unless you plan to do no editing other than simple cuts (no CC, no effects, no animated transitions, etc.), and never plan to go to widescreen DVD, letterbox mode is pretty much useless, IMO.
PIMP said:
It's your best yet. Remember, SD is low-resolution, anyway. You're not going to notice too much of a difference -- especially in those close-up shots where the DVX really shines and resolves gobs and gobs of detail. You've got plenty to work with, so don't sweat it.
bpotter
Well-known member
David Jimerson said:
I'm not questioning you, I'm questioning my own ignorance. When you shoot in letterbox mode on the DVX, doesn't it simply crop the frame as opposed to 16:9 stretched mode where it actually "stretches" the image?
According to Barry Green's book:
"Letterbox just adds black bars over your video, but the center portion is still the full resolution the camera can deliver."
And later:
"Squeeze mode works by chopping off the top and bottom of the image, and then digtially stretching the image vertically. Then, when the image gets displayed on a widescreen TV, the sape of the TV causes the image to get streched out horizontally, giving you a full widescreen picture. Because squeeze mode only uses 75% of the potential resolution (the rest get chopped off the top and bottom), and uses digital resizing to stretch the image, a squeeze mode picture will be lower in solution than the Anamorphic Adapter version."
Whoaa. Who says the Ananmorphic can't shoot closeups?PIMP said:
The anamorphc is a poo pooty Macro Closeup lens but you can shoot closeups with it all day long ... remember your camera has zoom control ... so you can bee way on the other side of the room and get closeups.
As per Barry's book you can focus at .3 inches away from something zoomed in to 60 and at 3 feet 7 inches you can zoom into 99 and still get closeups.
here's a closeup
here's a macro cloesup, intentionally done for the distortion
you can see this whole short by clicking Shed below in my obnoxious signature banner - shot entirely with the anamorphic, the other shorts there are not.
here's a trailer for a feature shot entirely with anamorphic
http://www.foureyedmonsters.com/index.php/feature_film/
and here's a crisp short
http://www.deadkidzfilms.com/fieldtheory.html
you might shoot 4:3 or squeeze on closeups anyway to soften a little, but the Anamorphic can shoot closeups.
Also the anamorphic can get some more barrel disorrtion like a really wide lens. This could be great for closeups of character types, not ideal for beauty though. But unless you are really zoomed way out you won't get this effect.
if you are not going to shoot with it for CU's might also consider shooting squeeze for CU's rather than 4:3 as all your footage will be in the same aspect ratio for import.
I think you misunderstood David cuz that's what he just said.bpotter said:
Letterbox resolution is the same as full screen 4:3 (for the part of the image that is still visible)
He said the difference would be negligable, not that it wouldn't be there at all.bpotter said:
But the difference in Squeeze and Letter Box and uprezzing 4:3 to 16X9 in post is very slight. 300 to 300 lines of resolution.
THe difference betwee those two options and Anamorphic Adaptor is more noticeble, but still negliable in the opinion of most as all SD is low resolution as David said - the difference between the above two options and Anamorphic is 300-330 lines vs. 500.
So like this
Anamorphic Adaptor = 500 lines of resolution in a rectangle
4:3 = 500 lines of resolution in a square
letterbox 4:3 (because it only uses the center) about 330 lines of resolution (though the image is not "hurt" you just arent seeing the top 100 or bottom 100 lines.)
Squeeze or Uprezz in your NLE = 300 to 330 lines of resolution depending on your NLE ... now the uprezzed or squeezed image will be lower than the anamorphic because it is blowing 300 lines up to fill a space where the full potential is 500 lines.
Its so easy to letterbox or crop in post ... if you letterbox in camera then it can make it tough to do dissolves and CC because the black bars get processed with everything else.
bpotter said:
Barry's description is perfect, but think it through.
What squeeze mode basically does is take the image from between the black bars and stretch it out for anamorphic display.
If you're going to shoot letterbox and intend your footage to be displayed anamorphicly, then you have to do the same thing in post -- chop off the black bars and stretch the image vertically, so that it appears correctly on a widescreen TV. It will then have lost all the same resolution that the picture did when it was stretched in camera.
Or, in the other direction, if you view the squeeze-mode footage on a 4:3 TV at its proper proportions, then you're reversing the stretch done in camera, and you're viewing it at its original resolution. It shoul appear identical to footage you'd be watching if you shot letterbox.
So, between the two, all you're doing is deciding when to do the stretch -- in camera, or in post. If you shoot full-frame and crop, you have more options -- you can reframe the shot, etc..
David is a real pro.
I just read Barry's book and watched his DVD's carefully and surf the forum.
But, knowledge is contagious around here :thumbsup:
I just read Barry's book and watched his DVD's carefully and surf the forum.
But, knowledge is contagious around here :thumbsup: