Anamorphic doesn't transfer as anamorphic at DVinfo.net

Val Rio · August 2nd, 2004, 12:15 PM

I bought Barry Green's very infomative booklet on how to use the anamorphic lens. Everything went well until I transferred it into Vegas. I shot some footage in standard 4:3 aspect ratio using the lens but when I transferred it to Vegas it came out 4:3 squished into everything looking tall. When I changed the properties to NTSC widscreen the box became widescreen but with black bars on either side and the squished video 4:3 still in the center. What am I doing wrong?

Barry Green · August 2nd, 2004, 02:12 PM

You have to make sure that the video matches how it was shot and that the project is consistent as well.

Make sure you're using the NTSC widescreen project preset.

Then, for each clip, you have to change the aspect ratio on the clip to be NTSC widescreen. There's no way for the camera to know you shot with the anamorphic adapter, so it can't flag the footage to be widescreen... so you have to do it manually.

After that, your footage should fill the widescreen frame with no black bars anywhere.

I'd suspect you didn't have the NTSC Widescreen project as your project, it sounds like you had a normal NTSC project.

Val Rio · August 2nd, 2004, 02:30 PM

Thank you for your reply. I did change the properties to widescreen but finally figured out that I had to click the "maintain aspect ratio" in the preferences box. But now I am wondering why the video is so distorted. It is not like that is squeeze mode. Here is a frame http://www.valriolo.com/Image0.jpg

Thanks for your help

Barry Green · August 2nd, 2004, 03:59 PM

You're seeing "barrel distortion", which is a result of putting a wide-angle adapter on top of a wide-angle lens. The anamorphic adapter acts like a .67 wide-angle converter in the horizontal direction. The stock DVX lens has a little bit of barrel distortion, and that gets magnified by using the anamorphic (or any other wide-angle lens).

Look at this page:
http://icexpo.com/dvx100/century.html

You'll see that on the upper-left picture, which is nothing but the DVX's stock lens, you can still see some barrel distortion.

Only way to avoid it is to zoom in a little.

August 2nd, 2004, 12:15 PM	#1
Val Rio Tourist Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 4	Anamorphic doesn't transfer as anamorphic I bought Barry Green's very infomative booklet on how to use the anamorphic lens. Everything went well until I transferred it into Vegas. I shot some footage in standard 4:3 aspect ratio using the lens but when I transferred it to Vegas it came out 4:3 squished into everything looking tall. When I changed the properties to NTSC widscreen the box became widescreen but with black bars on either side and the squished video 4:3 still in the center. What am I doing wrong?

August 2nd, 2004, 02:30 PM	#3
Val Rio Tourist Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 4	distorted Thank you for your reply. I did change the properties to widescreen but finally figured out that I had to click the "maintain aspect ratio" in the preferences box. But now I am wondering why the video is so distorted. It is not like that is squeeze mode. Here is a frame http://www.valriolo.com/Image0.jpg Thanks for your help

August 2nd, 2004, 02:12 PM	#2
Barry Green Barry Wan Kenobi Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: North Carolina Posts: 3,863	You have to make sure that the video matches how it was shot and that the project is consistent as well. Make sure you're using the NTSC widescreen project preset. Then, for each clip, you have to change the aspect ratio on the clip to be NTSC widescreen. There's no way for the camera to know you shot with the anamorphic adapter, so it can't flag the footage to be widescreen... so you have to do it manually. After that, your footage should fill the widescreen frame with no black bars anywhere. I'd suspect you didn't have the NTSC Widescreen project as your project, it sounds like you had a normal NTSC project.

August 2nd, 2004, 03:59 PM	#4
Barry Green Barry Wan Kenobi Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: North Carolina Posts: 3,863	You're seeing "barrel distortion", which is a result of putting a wide-angle adapter on top of a wide-angle lens. The anamorphic adapter acts like a .67 wide-angle converter in the horizontal direction. The stock DVX lens has a little bit of barrel distortion, and that gets magnified by using the anamorphic (or any other wide-angle lens). Look at this page: http://icexpo.com/dvx100/century.html You'll see that on the upper-left picture, which is nothing but the DVX's stock lens, you can still see some barrel distortion. Only way to avoid it is to zoom in a little.