What is the anamorphic lens exactly?

S

STEADICAM

New member
i'm a little confused. is the anamorphic lens a wide angle lens, or does it squeeze the 2:35 aspect ratio onto the 4:3 chip? i've been reading around alot on this forum about people that buy the lens to do widescreen. however, i have seen frame grabs with the anamorphic lens on that looks like normal 16:9 AND 2:35. i guess the biggest question of all is, how do i get 2:35 aspect ratio on my projects? is it the anamorphic lens or do i do it in post? thanks for all the replys.

regards
 
Re: What is the anamorphic lens exactly?

I am pretty sure it is a wide-angle lens.

I think 2:35 is done in post. Ask SHAI if he will give you details on how he accomplished this.

See "Der Besuch" Trailer in framegrabs section.
 
Re: What is the anamorphic lens exactly?

Regarding what is it exactly:  The anamorphic lens is a very specific style of lens element called "cylindrical"  This bends light in only one axis, leaving the other axis unaffected.  This particular anamorphic lens is designed to squeeze a 16:9 image onto a 4:3 sensor of the same vertical dimension.

To get 2:35 on the DVX using the anamorphic lens: Set the DVX to do the in-camera 16:9 cropping and add the anamorphic lens.

Alternatively you can use the camera in normal full frame mode, but compose your shots as if they were 2:35 and crop in post.  I have heard that this approach seems to work best when you choose to use a "common top", in other words the top of the frame is your composition, plan on masking off the bottom for 2:35 later.

The anamorphic lens, because of the squeeze, yields a 33% wider image than the built in Dicomar lens.
 
Re: What is the anamorphic lens exactly?

The anamorphic adapter is sort of a wide-angle lens, but not really. It optically bends the light to give a wider field of view on the horizontal axis, but not on the vertical. So it makes the picture 1.33x wider.

Using the anamorphic adapter means that you get 16x9 footage.

If you want 2.35:1, you can get that by a couple of ways: either just crop your picture down in post (if you want it to display 2.35 on regular televisions) or shoot with the anamorphic adapter and also turn on "letterbox" mode -- the combination will give you 16x9 video with black bars that match the 2.35:1 aspect ratio.
 
Re: What is the anamorphic lens exactly?

thanks john, screechinghalt and barry for the info. i now understand a little bit more. so let me recap. so when i shoot with the anamorphic lens, and put the camera on 16:9, it will frame at 2:35 right? cool. it just seems like i would have to do it in post, because 2:35 is soooooooo wide. but i'll give it a shot when i order the lens. Thanks again.

STEADICAM
 
Re: What is the anamorphic lens exactly?

[quote author=STEADICAM link=board=Events;num=1067927362;start=0#5 date=11/05/03 at 13:47:08]so when i shoot with the anamorphic lens, and put the camera on 16:9, it will frame at 2:35 right?  STEADICAM[/quote]

The camera doesn't have a 16:9 mode. It has "letterbox", which adds black bars on the top and bottom so that the middle video portion is shaped 16:9, but is designed for playing back on a normal 4:3 television.

Using the anamorphic adapter BY ITSELF squeezes your footage so that it will play properly on a 16:9 television.

If you then also add the black bars (by enabling "letterbox" mode) and use the anamorphic adapter at the same time, the result will be 16:9 video with black bars, the resulting middle section of which will be 2.35:1.

You will only get the 2.35:1 aspect ratio if you're displaying it on a widescreen television.

If you want 2.35:1 on a regular 4:3 television, you just have to add thicker black bars in post.
 
Re: What is the anamorphic lens exactly?

Or you can use a 1.75 anamorphic adapter which in the end comes down to an aspect ratio of about 2.33:1 ... i really love the framing... it's so great. But it's not easy to handle. I don't know of any (field) monitors that "desqueeze" the picture in the right way and fitting adapters aren't easy to find/to get and cost a fortune... :-)
For example: I used one on my Sony TRV900E (Pal) and it gave great pictures (but only with decent post production! eg. deinterlacing/color correction etc.) ... however it's mounting thread is smaller than the one on the DVX100 so it's basically impossible to use (the very expensive) thing on it... *siiiiiiiiiggggghhhhh*

Cheers,
-Sören
 
Re: What is the anamorphic lens exactly?

ok, thanks for the replys soren and barry. i understand fully now. but in order for your footage to play back 2:35 on a regular 4:3 TV, you have to do the cropping in post, correct?

Josh
 
Re: What is the anamorphic lens exactly?

Definitely. Put black bars on the top and bottom, each about 104 pixels high, and you should have 2.35 on a 4:3 TV.
 
Re: What is the anamorphic lens exactly?

What is the best option for blowing up to film. Should one just use the anamorphic only. Or should one use the anamorphic and crop the image as well?
 
Re: What is the anamorphic lens exactly?

anamorphic only ... unless you really want that "cinemascope" look
 
SoerenM said:
Or you can use a 1.75 anamorphic adapter which in the end comes down to an aspect ratio of about 2.33:1 ... i really love the framing... it's so great. But it's not easy to handle. I don't know of any (field) monitors that "desqueeze" the picture in the right way and fitting adapters aren't easy to find/to get and cost a fortune... :-)
For example: I used one on my Sony TRV900E (Pal) and it gave great pictures (but only with decent post production! eg. deinterlacing/color correction etc.) ... however it's mounting thread is smaller than the one on the DVX100 so it's basically impossible to use (the very expensive) thing on it... *siiiiiiiiiggggghhhhh*

Cheers,
-Sören
Click to expand...

Where did you get a 1.75 adapter? I thought they were only available in the form of expensive custom jobs.
 
Sirius_Doggy said:
Mouse - you must have found this post in a search. It's from 11/2003.....
Click to expand...

Yeah, I guess I did. Sorry for any inconvenience that I caused by bringning up an old post. Nonetheless, my question stands...where exactly do you find a 1.75 adapter of any kind?
 
1.5's and 1.75's were made for still cameras, and you can occasionally find 'em on ebay. You may find some projection lenses in that ratio; I seem to remember something about a Kowa 1.75.

But as a practical matter you probably won't find them of much use with a DVX.
 
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