4:3 to 16:9 at DVinfo.net

Brandon Whiteside · August 15th, 2007, 12:03 PM

I've heard that it is better to shoot in 4:3 and then crop down to 16:9. How can I go about doing that in Final Cut Pro?

Aric Mannion · August 15th, 2007, 02:36 PM

There's no way it's better to crop a 4:3 than to shoot in 16:9. But if you want your 4:3 to be letterbox (black bars on the top and bottom) go to effects>video filters>matte>widescreen.
But if you want it animorphic (for widescreen TVs) you can put it into an animorphic sequence and make the size huge to crop out the top and bottom, but it will lower the quality.

(It's not cropping down, because animorphic widescreen is 853 pixels wide and 4:3 is 720 pixels wide, you must just want to put black bars on the top and bottom to fake it?)

Craig Parkes · August 15th, 2007, 05:06 PM

Brandon, it depends what sort of camera you have.

If you have a camera with a 16:9 native chip then it's definitely better to shoot 16:9.

If you have a camera with a 4:3 native chip that offers a 16:9 setting (without the use of anamorphic lenses etc, it just squeezes down or chucks away the data in the non 16:9 framing area) it is indeed generally better to shoot in a 4:3 ratio and mask for 16:9 in post, because it gives you more flexibility in moving your shots up and down in post.

If you want letterbox masking you can apply a widescreen matte from the video filters under Matte.

Brandon Whiteside · August 15th, 2007, 05:42 PM

I use a Sony Pd170. Not true 16x9. Thanks for the tips. I've heard that 4x3 is the way to go...then mask later.

August 15th, 2007, 12:03 PM	#1
Brandon Whiteside Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 46	4:3 to 16:9 I've heard that it is better to shoot in 4:3 and then crop down to 16:9. How can I go about doing that in Final Cut Pro?

August 15th, 2007, 02:36 PM	#2
Aric Mannion Major Player Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Boston, Massachusetts Posts: 616	There's no way it's better to crop a 4:3 than to shoot in 16:9. But if you want your 4:3 to be letterbox (black bars on the top and bottom) go to effects>video filters>matte>widescreen. But if you want it animorphic (for widescreen TVs) you can put it into an animorphic sequence and make the size huge to crop out the top and bottom, but it will lower the quality. (It's not cropping down, because animorphic widescreen is 853 pixels wide and 4:3 is 720 pixels wide, you must just want to put black bars on the top and bottom to fake it?)

August 15th, 2007, 05:06 PM	#3
Craig Parkes Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Auckland, New Zealand Posts: 444	Brandon, it depends what sort of camera you have. If you have a camera with a 16:9 native chip then it's definitely better to shoot 16:9. If you have a camera with a 4:3 native chip that offers a 16:9 setting (without the use of anamorphic lenses etc, it just squeezes down or chucks away the data in the non 16:9 framing area) it is indeed generally better to shoot in a 4:3 ratio and mask for 16:9 in post, because it gives you more flexibility in moving your shots up and down in post. If you want letterbox masking you can apply a widescreen matte from the video filters under Matte.

August 15th, 2007, 05:42 PM	#4
Brandon Whiteside Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 46	I use a Sony Pd170. Not true 16x9. Thanks for the tips. I've heard that 4x3 is the way to go...then mask later.