Dvx100a
 

I recently purchased the DVX100A. I also own the 16:9 anamorphic adapter. Yesterday I shot some test and concluded that the squeeze mode looks just as good as the anamorphic adapter. When viewed on a 20 inch 750 lines sony monitor, frankly I believe the squeeze mode is slightly sharper than my adapter. I know many here will disagree on the grounds that squeeze mode is losing resolution. However if they LOOK the same, in the end who cares about the specs. I cant wait to try the mini35 with the sqeeze mode. I will try to post the results somewhere.

You have to take careful care to get the best out of the anamorphic adapter. Just shooting with it, yes, you'll probably get results no better than squeeze mode. But with proper attention to focusing and aperture control, you can get 30% higher resolution from the adapter.

A good place to start is on adamwilt.com/24p, where you can find a chart that lists the minimum acceptable aperture for the anamorphic, based on your zoom setting and focus setting.

Also, using autofocus with the anamorphic will *guarantee* that your footage is out of focus. You cannot use autofocus with the anamorphic.

Have you personally looked at footage shot with both squeeze mode, and anamorphic? If so what is your person opinion of the difference in the "look"? I am sure the anamorphic adapter gives 30% more resolution on paper, but if the viewer cant see the difference on a 16:9 DVD, then why not shoot 16:9 squeeze with the Mini 35?

I have shot a lot of footage with the anamorphic and without, but not compared to squeeze because I don't have a 100A (squeeze is not available in the 100).

You can definitely easily see the difference in sharpness on a TV with properly-shot anamorphic.

Squeeze is pretty good, and much easier to shoot, but the anamorphic can make for much sharper footage. It's not for everyone or for every situation, but when shot properly the difference is significant, and the larger the TV screen you view it on, the easier it is to see the difference.

After-The-Lens
 

FYI, I'm trying out an after-the-lens anamorphic adapter w/ my mini35. So, it goes:

Anamorphic Adapter -> Ziess Lens -> Mini35 -> DVX-100a

So far, I've noticed that it cannot focus at nearly as close a range as without the adapter, and with my 18mm lens, there's vingetting, but other than that, it looks like it may work.

I'll post more details once I get it figured out.