"real" extra wide wide widescreen lense exist for XL1s?

[Yi Fong Yu]

i just saw forrest gump and it was like 2.35 aspect ratio or somn. how do i achieve the similar (i know it can't be exact) for XL1s without cropping, stretching and other nonsense. aren't there special lenses designed for XL1s to be extra wide? what's the widest? links?

[Charles Papert]

2:35 is either Super 35 or anamorphic 35. To achieve the same aspect ratio on DV without cropping a standard image, you'd be looking at this setup.

[Barry Green]

<<<-- Originally posted by Yi Fong Yu : i just saw forrest gump and it was like 2.35 aspect ratio or somn. how do i achieve the similar (i know it can't be exact) for XL1s without cropping, stretching and other nonsense. -->>>

If you just saw Forrest Gump, it was probably on DVD or VHS, right? If so, that picture was cropped down to 2.35:1. The only way you could see it without cropping or stretching would be to watch a film print projected in a theater.

That film was shot with anamorphics at a widescreen ratio, but it cannot be displayed on a television without serious cropping. TV's come in two flavors: 4:3 or 16:9. If you want to display a wider aspect ratio than that, you have only one choice: crop it down.

If you did choose to shoot with the mini35 and anamorphic primes, you'd end up with a severely horizontally compressed image, and in order to display it on a television, you'd have to (you guessed it) crop and stretch.

[Yi Fong Yu]

sorry i wasn't more specific. i watched it on the 2 disc SE DVD edition. didn't watch the whole thing i was going through the extras and i noticed how wide it was compared with documentary. i clicked on the previous thread and all that setup sounds complicated and expensive. how much is it?

[Barry Green]

It's about $8,000 and then you need lenses for it. Or you can rent it.

If you want 2.35:1, the only practical option is to crop the image.

[Yi Fong Yu]

ah... i shee. hmmm.... but you'll lose that 'fish eye' effect of extra wide lenses... ah well =(.

<<<-- Originally posted by Barry Green : It's about $8,000 and then you need lenses for it. Or you can rent it.

If you want 2.35:1, the only practical option is to crop the image. -->>>

[Barry Green]

I'm not sure I follow you... you want a fisheye look? You could use the Canon 16x lens, and add the Century Optics fisheye adapter, and then crop it down, and you'd have a 2.35:1 fisheye image, with squarer verticals and exaggerated horizontals...

... or do you just mean a wider, more panoramic view? You can accomplish that as easily with cropping as with anything else. Use a wide-angle adapter to make sure the horizontals are showing what you want, and then crop the verticals.

[Yi Fong Yu]

barry, sorry to confuse you but i want the similar look to forrest gump when they shoot him sitting on the bench. you can look at him and look at the people sitting next to him comfortably. i realize that i can frame the shot so that they are in the middle "row" of the overall frame but wouldn't it be a compromise instead of a 'stretched' image?

[Barry Green]

If I remember that shot correctly, there was no fisheye distortion, it was just a widescreen shot, composed properly for 2.35:1.

Take a look at the still photos here:
http://www.dvxuser.com/cgi-bin/DVX/Y...5882;start=2#2

Those are 2.35:1 composed on a DVX100. He shot in 16:9 mode and cropped down to 2.35:1. I am pretty sure that that's all you'll need to do and you'll be happy with the results.

If I got it wrong please let me know and I'll try again.

[Yi Fong Yu]

oh yesh =D.that loox kewl. now i just gotta save up for all that lighting =D