Mike Lowrey

OK, I know what Anamorphic WS is when it comes to DVD transfers, but what I'm not 100% sure about is, what are anamorphic camera lenses? And are they needed for an anamorphic transfer?

bis22

I'm no expert, but I believe that the concept of anamorphic lenses is similar to anamorphic DVD in that it spreads the image out over more area of the film to get more detail. But no, the lens type and DVD transfer have nothing to do with each other.

Mike Lowrey

Ahh, OK. So they allow more "information" to come in to spread across the film frame?

Janitor

I believe an anamorphic lens is used on a full frame camera. The anamorphic lens takes a panoramic view, and compresses it horizontally to fit the 4:3 aspect ratio of the film.

Then, the image needs "decoding" at the output. By using an anamorphic projection lens on an full frame projector, the image that was compressed into a 4:3 frame is stretched back out to its proper aspect ration on the screen. It could also be done by way of an anamorphic transfer to a disk, and electronically stretched back to proper OAR for display.

What this allows, is for the full vertical resolution of the film to be used for the widescreen projection. Shooting full matte, and then masking for widescreen wastes all of the resolution of the film hidden by the matte.

At least that's how I understand it to work.

/r

DivxGuy

Basically, anamorphic lenses allow for wider images to be stored in narrower frames. The technique was first used in cinema around 1927, but didn't become popular until the mid-1950s (Monaco, How to Read a Film). As Janitor said, anamorphic processes allow for widescreen images to be stored in standard 4:3 film frames without loss of resolution (although artifacting may occur). When projected, the frames must be "unsqueezed" with a special lens if they are to appear in their proper proportions.

Originally, the common anamorphic processes produced projected aspect ratios of 2.55:1, but that has since been trimmed back to 2.35:1 to make room for an optical soundtrack.

Mike Lowrey

Interesting...both Janitor's and DivxGuy's explanations. So in essense, the anamorphic lense (in lamen's terms) squeezes a widescreen image (greater than 1.33) into a 1.33 film frame.

Mr. Salty

Not necessarily greater than 1.33:1, because 1.85:1 films do not use anamorphic lenses. Typically these days anamorphic lenses are used for 2.35:1 images. The name for this process varies depending on the brand of cameras and lenses used, but CinemaScope and Panavision are two examples.

But that's not to say anamorphic lenses have to be used to achieve a 2.35:1 image. More and more, directors are using the Super 35 process.

DigIt

Yes, you've got it.

djtoell

Modern standard anamorphic photography, at 2.40:1, doesn't actually use a 1.33:1 aperture. If it did, we'd get 2.66:1 projections. Since the anamorphic lenses squeeze twice the width into the frame ("2x"), a 2.40:1 projected AR needs a 1.2:1 aperture exposed on the negative. This 1.2:1 aperture is the same width as the Academy 1.37:1 frame, but taller, exposing more of the film.

Spiky

When I saw the title, I thought this would be the thread's subject matter:

I don't know if it affects anyone in this thread, but there are anamorphic lenses for display projectors, also. That is, for playing DVDs in your home. Many people swear by them for low-end 4:3 digital projectors that don't have the real resolution for widescreen films. The movie can be played in the proper ratio for the PJ, but the lens shifts it to a proper, larger widescreen pic. Of course, the cost of the lens usually doubles the price of such PJs, making a purchase of a higher rez model a possibility if you plan ahead.

So these are the inverse of the filming lenses.

www.panamorph.com