I can see how to shoot 16:9 by masking the image but obviously you lose quite a lot of the vertical resolution.
The TRV900 has a 16:9 option but is this just letterboxing? if so why is the frame squashed in the viewfinder and yet it picks up 16:9 on playback ie it unsqueezes it.....
There has to be a more sophisticated language for this question but I cannot find it.
I've found 2 anamorphic lenses that seem to do the business but how the hell do you handle composition in the viewfinder with a squashed image and then how do you edit it in MSPro 6?
There has to be an alternative before you hit the JVC700 at some £7-9k or something, anyone any imaginative ideas please?
Des
All the consumer/prosumer units that claim to do widescreen actually mask the 4:3 raster, so you get picture on only 576*3/4=432 lines. Clearly, you lose vertical resolution. The camera, when shooting in this mode, should flag the fottage as 16:9 so that an intelligent replay system can stretch it vertically to fit 576 lines so that it looks the right shape on a 16:9 display. But you don't get the resolution back. To keep the vertical resolution, leave the camera in 4:3 mode and use an anamorphic adaptor, Cebntury and Optex units are nigh on identical and cost the same (~£500) but you'll only be able to use the wide end of your zoom because the aberrations get too bad when zoomed tight.
The real way to do wide screen is with a 16:9 sensor, like in the JVC700, at a price. But, there's an alternative that the manufacturers don't seem to have noticed yet. It can only be a matter of time before Sony does it for real. Since recent camcorders have larger sensors than are needed for tv (they shoot stills at higher resolution), then there must be pixels outside the 4:3 image. Why not use them for a wide-screen tv picture? The lens already covers that area because the stills function works and the larger area is used for image stabilisation. So, the only reason they don't do it yet is that they haven't thought of it yet.
Watch the adverts in the next year, it'll come.
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alan@mugswellvillage.freeserve.co.uk. Delete village for a spam-free diet.
Thanks for your reply, interesting for the future but I would like to exhaust all existing options for the moment.
Is there any mileage shooting 4:3 and reframing by squeezing with a picture in picture?
Des
If you want to shoot material that will fill a 16:9 display, at best quality, there are only two ways; anamorphic adaptor on a 4:3 camera, or a genuine 16:9 camera like the JVC700 (and that's the proper way).
If you want to shoot material that will look like it was shot widescreen, and show it on a 4:3 tv, then any form of cropping will do, whether in the camera or in the NLE. But subsequently showing it on a widescreen set with the zoom set to fill the screen, the pictures will look soft.
If you want to shoot material using a 4:3 camera and have it fill the screen of a widescreen display, and don't use an anamorphic adaptor or a genuine widescreen display, then you'll lose vertical resolution. This option is the one that no broadcaster will accept unless the footage is exceptional.
There's no easy way around this
I have achieved excellent results in shooting in real 16:9 with an anamorphic lens fitted to Panasonic 1100 DV camcorder via ordinary photographic step down rings.
In principal this method will work with any camera analog or digital.
To play back either play back on a proper 16:9 device or project through the same lens turned through 90 degrees. If you use the wide setting on most projects you loose half the lines.
The anamorphic lenses are available from the London Widescreen Centre, Optex, Calumet at about £350.
Editor how about an article?
I can never make up my mind about widescreen (fake widescreen because you loose resolution).
So here is a very basic thing i do, i simply use masking tape and on my lcd display put masking tape over where the black lines would be. so when i edit my film it is in 4:3 but when i finished editing I use msp6 to put 2 black images over the top and bottom of the video where the black lines would have been and i end up with 2 different files.
Sounds stupid but it works brilliantly, the only disadvanateg is you accidently shoot things you don't want because half your lcd display is masked up.