anamorphic on a Z1P? at DVinfo.net

Murray Christian · November 6th, 2008, 10:31 AM

Hi

This is all a bit rudimentry and has probably been discussed before. So feel free to merely link me. My cursory searching hasn't given me quite what I'm looking for.

Anyway, I know someone who wants an 'anamorphic effect' (as in film) on a Z1P; chiefly just for the weird stretchy focus and those nice piercing lens flares. He suggested I look at 16:9 adapters for the Z1P we're planning to use.
Honestly I think he might have seen the 16x9 brand gear and thought it was something else. But it got me curious.
Has anyone here got a wider aspect ratio by using an anamorphic lens/adapter on a Z1P before? (do they make them for it already? 2.35 maybe?). If so, what actually ends up on the tape and how did it turn out after 'morphing and finishing?

cheers

Giroud Francois · November 6th, 2008, 12:10 PM

today , almost every video (except full HD) is anamorphic. (meaning it is not square 1:1 ratio)
So HDV is anamorphic (1440 stretched to 1920).
if you put 16/9 anamorphic lens on a Z1, you get wider filed of view (well, by getting a regular wide angle lens or just by stepping back you would do too...)
anamorphic is just a way to put more in an container that was not planned to contains this kind of format.
If you want anamorphic picture (meaning distorded), just edit regular HDV to torture it the way you want (stretching, compressing, adding black bars, getting any aspect ration you want).

Murray Christian · November 6th, 2008, 02:47 PM

Indeed, that's precisely my question (clarity notwithstanding). Effectively I'm curious about recording a wider than 16x9 ratio on a 16x9 camera. Thus optically squeezing something that's already being squeezed when it gets to the tape anyway (to be presumably unsqueezed in post, netting the afore mentioned wider aspect ratio):
a)Can it be done? (ie, does proper equipment exist for doing it on this camera?) b)Has anyone tried it? c)What effect did it have? Did it turn out ok? Or is there no point and it's actually more fiddly and destructive than anything else?

cheers

Boyd Ostroff · November 6th, 2008, 04:11 PM

You could put an (optical) anamorphic adaptor on the Z1 to accomplish what you want. It was discussed here when the camera first came out; some people used the DVX-100 anamorphic adaptor because it also has 72mm threads. But the conclusion was that the optical quality didn't hold up in high definition since the lens was designed for a standard definition camera.

Then there's the question of what you would do with such footage. Unless you're going to use some strange format, you would have to scale it down to fit the 1920 pixel width so what's the point? Why not just use a wide angle adaptor (assuming you want a wider field of view) and letterbox to 2.35:1? The quality is likely to be better with this approach anyway IMO.

The only possible alternative would be putting an anamorphic adaptor lens on your high definition projector. Such things do exist for home theatre setups, but again I think they were designed for standard definition and not high def projectors.

Here are some old threads on the topic:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/sony-hvr-...namorphic.html
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/film-look...v-cameras.html

Murray Christian · November 11th, 2008, 11:46 PM

Cheers fellas. Yeah it is a bit of a weird one. As I said, the main reason to do it would be to create the funny way pulling focus gives this vertical stretching look, and to get those piercing blue lens flares that streak horizontally right across the frame.
If it was fairly straightforward to attach one it might be ok, but as said, it's probably not worth the bother. Like people are saying in the other threads; it might be fun for a bit of an experiment but certainly no good going in cold on a serious shoot.

Thanks for the links and comments.

November 6th, 2008, 10:31 AM	#1
Murray Christian Major Player Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Perth, Australia Posts: 240	anamorphic on a Z1P? Hi This is all a bit rudimentry and has probably been discussed before. So feel free to merely link me. My cursory searching hasn't given me quite what I'm looking for. Anyway, I know someone who wants an 'anamorphic effect' (as in film) on a Z1P; chiefly just for the weird stretchy focus and those nice piercing lens flares. He suggested I look at 16:9 adapters for the Z1P we're planning to use. Honestly I think he might have seen the 16x9 brand gear and thought it was something else. But it got me curious. Has anyone here got a wider aspect ratio by using an anamorphic lens/adapter on a Z1P before? (do they make them for it already? 2.35 maybe?). If so, what actually ends up on the tape and how did it turn out after 'morphing and finishing? cheers

November 6th, 2008, 12:10 PM	#2
Giroud Francois Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: switzerland Posts: 2,133	today , almost every video (except full HD) is anamorphic. (meaning it is not square 1:1 ratio) So HDV is anamorphic (1440 stretched to 1920). if you put 16/9 anamorphic lens on a Z1, you get wider filed of view (well, by getting a regular wide angle lens or just by stepping back you would do too...) anamorphic is just a way to put more in an container that was not planned to contains this kind of format. If you want anamorphic picture (meaning distorded), just edit regular HDV to torture it the way you want (stretching, compressing, adding black bars, getting any aspect ration you want).

November 6th, 2008, 02:47 PM	#3
Murray Christian Major Player Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Perth, Australia Posts: 240	Indeed, that's precisely my question (clarity notwithstanding). Effectively I'm curious about recording a wider than 16x9 ratio on a 16x9 camera. Thus optically squeezing something that's already being squeezed when it gets to the tape anyway (to be presumably unsqueezed in post, netting the afore mentioned wider aspect ratio): a)Can it be done? (ie, does proper equipment exist for doing it on this camera?) b)Has anyone tried it? c)What effect did it have? Did it turn out ok? Or is there no point and it's actually more fiddly and destructive than anything else? cheers

November 6th, 2008, 04:11 PM	#4
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,787	You could put an (optical) anamorphic adaptor on the Z1 to accomplish what you want. It was discussed here when the camera first came out; some people used the DVX-100 anamorphic adaptor because it also has 72mm threads. But the conclusion was that the optical quality didn't hold up in high definition since the lens was designed for a standard definition camera. Then there's the question of what you would do with such footage. Unless you're going to use some strange format, you would have to scale it down to fit the 1920 pixel width so what's the point? Why not just use a wide angle adaptor (assuming you want a wider field of view) and letterbox to 2.35:1? The quality is likely to be better with this approach anyway IMO. The only possible alternative would be putting an anamorphic adaptor lens on your high definition projector. Such things do exist for home theatre setups, but again I think they were designed for standard definition and not high def projectors. Here are some old threads on the topic: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/sony-hvr-...namorphic.html http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/film-look...v-cameras.html

November 11th, 2008, 11:46 PM	#5
Murray Christian Major Player Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Perth, Australia Posts: 240	Cheers fellas. Yeah it is a bit of a weird one. As I said, the main reason to do it would be to create the funny way pulling focus gives this vertical stretching look, and to get those piercing blue lens flares that streak horizontally right across the frame. If it was fairly straightforward to attach one it might be ok, but as said, it's probably not worth the bother. Like people are saying in the other threads; it might be fun for a bit of an experiment but certainly no good going in cold on a serious shoot. Thanks for the links and comments.