-
The Skinny on the Anamorphic Adaptor?
For a PBS project I’m about to shoot on a DVX100A I’ve been asked to use the anamorphic adaptor to make 16:9 show. In my limited tests, the anamorphic glass looks good, however I’ll be shooting in classrooms and it appears that close focus is a problem.
I’d be greatful for some guidance. What’s best and worst situation is for anamorphic adaptor? Is it adviseable to remove it certain situations (ie. shooting in car, or for close ups in a small classroom?).
If I take it off should I shoot in “squeeze mode” or just mask off the viewfinder, top and bottom for resizing the 4:3 image.
Thank you
LF
-
7 Replies
-
If speed is important and there is potential for shooting in low light levels, you might want to consider just using squeeze mode. The visible difference in quality, when viewed on the small screen, is negligible.
-
Thanks, P. So squeeze mode is fine for broadcast and would keep my images consistantly anamorphic. Are you aware of the close focus issue (9 feet!?) with the anamorphic adaptor?
LF
-
I wrote an entire chapter on the anamorphic adapter in The DVX Book. It definitely requires more effort from the cameraperson to extract the best results.
Summing up the issues is tough (the chapter is 34 pages long — how do you summarize that?) but basically, the adapter requires deep depth of field to work. If you’re shooting at full wide angle, with a deep f-stop (f/11 or f/14) you don’t have to be 9 feet away, you can get it in focus right down to the surface of the lens. But if you’re at full telephoto, even at f/16, you may need to be 9 feet away to get that shot in focus.
And autofocus won’t work properly. You have to manually focus, and you have to keep your zoom setting, iris, and focus distance all in proper relationship to each other. If you do, you can get superb results. If you don’t, you can get results that are less than optimal, and even get results substantially worse than squeeze mode as well.
—————–
Get the most from your DVX camera. The DVX Book and DVX DVD are now available at https://www.dvxuser.com/articles/dvxbook/ and at Amazon (https://tinyurl.com/54u4a) -
Barry, in situations where I might need to take the anamorphic glass off would you — for AVID offline — use “squeeze mode” or resize the 4:3 in post? Glad you’ve dissected the intracacies this cool camera. I’ll look forward to reading the book!
LF
-
I’d go ahead and use Squeeze rather than try to stretch 4:3 in post…
—————–
Get the most from your DVX camera. The DVX Book and DVX DVD are now available at https://www.dvxuser.com/articles/dvxbook/ and at Amazon (https://tinyurl.com/54u4a) -
Althouhg the Glass is alwas a better way to go. it is perhaps better suited to a more controlled type of photograhy. I have used the Squeeze mode on many productions and it is a very clean alternative. I would avoid shooting anything 4×3 and trying to “blw up” to mix into a 16X9 timeline. For the style of shooting you are doing the solution may be to shoot in squeeze mode, the avid will recognize this footage as anamorphic and it will intergrate nicely into your workflow if you go this way.
If you want to e-mail me “off-list” for more thouhgts, just go here
https://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/new_view_posts.cgi?forumid=83
and click on my head.
I do almost exclusively doc shooting with this camera so I think I can give you some great advice.
David Battistella
-
I got one of these suckers, and as Barry Green mentions, there is definitely a focus issue. (as I’ve learned the hard way)
First, the lens looks GREAT when it works. W I D E as all hell too! Don’t forget that you’ll be looking at the “raw” non-squeezed anamorphic picture in the LCD or eyepiece. You’ll have to connect an external 16×9 monitor to see the final results. (Pain in the butt if your shooting run and gun) I had not probelm framing everything in 4×3 mode.
All my wide shots worked great. I was shooting a subject sitting in front of a computer with a 650 watt softlight on the guy. (certainly wasn’t underlit) I was about 7 feet away from my subject with my back to a wall. How does one normally focus? I zoomed in on his face. I think: Hey, I can’t seem to catch a focus on his nose, no matter where I turn the focus ring. I zoom back and frame the shot, it looks fine in the LCD. Think: must have enough depth of field at this point causes it’s not zoomed all the way in.
I get back to my editing station and look at it on a real monitor. DOH! I was about a foot off, focus ended up behind my subject. Stupid LCD. (stupid cameraman)
AND I managed to strip the stupid screw on my lens too. (see other thread)
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up