I just shot a wedding with my panasonic dvx100 and i shot it with letterboxing. I read a forum where someone was talking about letterboxing during editing once you are completed all your editing. Does anyone know if he was right? And is letterboxing different from anamorphic 16:9? thanks, mark

Letterboxing=4:3 with black lines superimposed on the top and bottom to simulate a widescreen aspect ratio. Squeeze= 16:9 aspect ratio electronically simulated- which is preferable if you actually want something to play on a 16:9 display.

In general I strongly advise against 4:3 letterbox because it ties your hands in post. If you shoot standard 4:3 you can easily letterbox in post production with a widescreen matte, and you have extra room at the top and bottom of every shot to re-frame if you'd like. Not to mention you can go 4:3 unmatted if desired. Though it's becoming less and less of an issue, some folks still prefer full frame 4:3. Here's a link that might give you a better idea of the differences:

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/anamorphic/anamorphic185demo.html

-Noah

I specifically shoot 4x3 in camera and letterbox in post so that I can reframe while editing. If you watch any of the David Fincher BTS (se7en, panic room), they cover this. (Panic room, btw is one of the best box sets for BTS ever put out on DVD :) )

The se7en color grading video is out there somewhere, but I can't for the life of me find it now :( They deal with the reframing in that one.

The se7en color grading video is out there somewhere, but I can't for the life of me find it now :( They deal with the reframing in that one.

I learned a TON about grading from that BTS. I'll have too look for the Panic Room one now. :)

The panic room BTS in in a 3 dvd set. 2-1/2 DVDs dedicated to BTS and segmented from pre-prod to prod to post.

... Would you say then that this is a wasted purchase? Personally I'm beginning to think so as I'm more into the 2.39:1.

And what is the proper proceedure for Letter boxing with the adapter? Leaving the camera on standard 4:3 and attaching it or should I switch to squeeze 16:9 and attach it?

I've shot with the anamorphic adaptor and love it. If you like shooting for 2.35:1, you can still letterbox you anamorphic.

You run the camera in 4:3, attach the adaptor which optically compresses the horizontal aspect of the 16:9 image into the 4:3 space.

Once you pull it into your editor, you check the anamorphic box and it should unsqueeze the footage into a real 16:9 frame.

You can now throw a 2.35:1 letterbox matte over the top and still be able to reframe. If you prefer even more geeky goodness:

shoot 16:9 in camera, put the adaptor on... check the anamorphic box in the editor, export the footage...pull it back in and check the anamorphic box again... you'll have 2.35:1 frame with all of the picture that you shot - framing in camera will be a pain in the butt as it'll be doubly squeezed, but hey, it's still geeky cool.