My camcorder doesn't record true 16:9. Is there any type of anamorphic
lens made for camcorders that would work? Can I attach a different type
of anamorphic lens with an adapter for example? Thanks in advance for
any information or advice on this.
Geo.

There are lots of these available, but they're quite expensive:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home;jsessionid=FcmWM4sKjl!1051679615!1159472726851?ci=1&sb=ps&pn=1&sq=desc&InitialSearch=yes&O=RootPage.jsp&A=search&Q=*&bhs=t&shs=anamorphic&image.x=5&image.y=7


Show quoteHide quote

On Thu, 28 Sep 2006 12:55:46 -0700, "PTravel"
<ptra***@travelersvideo.com> wrote:

The irony is you can by a whole new 3-CCD camcorder with anamorphic
16:9 recording capability built right in for less than even the
cheapest adapter on that page:

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Panasonic-PV-GS500-Camcorder-Review.htm

Scott en Aztlán wrote:
Show quoteHide quoteWell, yes, you can buy "a" camcorder, but it depends on what the OP
owns.  The PV-GS500 is consumer grade with poor low-light performance,
poor saturation and relatively poor sharpness.  It will not compare to
something like an XL2 or a VX2100 equipped with a good anamorphic lens.
Everything depends on the OP's application.

ptra***@travelersvideo.com wrote:
Show quoteHide quoteAs a follow-up, where do you see that the PV-GS500 has anamorphic
capability?  It is 16 x 9, yes, but not anamorphic.

ptra***@travelersvideo.com writes:

The mere act of recording a 16:9 image in an NTSC or PAL signal which is
(according to their respective standards) 4:3 can be termed
"anamorphic".

For an example of this, most widescreen DVDs are recorded in what is
termed "anamorphic widescreen".  If you had a program that was really
16:9 to begin with, it would be recorded on DVD as 720x480 with no
letterboxing, no black pixels.  If you tell your DVD player that you
have a 16:9 TV, it plays back the content unchanged, expecting your TV
to display it at 16:9.  If you tell you DVD player that you have a 4:3
TV, it internally resamples the video down to 360 lines in height,
inserting 60 lines of black letterboxing top and bottom, so the image
appears correct on your 4:3 TV.

This is anamorphic because 16:9 content is squeezed into a 4:3 video
format.

(If the content is even wider than 16:9, it is first letterboxed to make
it 16:9, then the above applies).

    Dave

Dave Martindale wrote:

Not in the same way as film can. Film frames always have a physical
shape, so it's clear (just by looking at the frame with your own eyes)
when something is "anamorphic" or not. Video signals, on the other hand,
do not have an inherent, fixed physical shape. The "shape" of video
signal is open to interpretation and redefinition. Unlike with film
frames, calling 16:9 video "anamorphic" is based on mere convention, not
on any physical properties of video signal that would make "4:3" the
default interpretation.

There are more accurate labels for the various picture formats than just
"anamorphic", "widescreen", "16:9" or "4:3" (which often merely serve to
cause confusion):

<http://google.com/groups?threadm=334be06d.0301280141.2733939c@postin
g.google.com>

For example, it seems PTravel is thinking of the 16L12 format, whereas
you're thinking of the 16F16 format.

True as a simplified explanation, but new 4:3 sets, at least here in PAL
land, have supported 16F16 signals for quite a long time now. I.e. they
can receive a 16F16 signal and squeeze it to 16L12 format using their
own circuitry. (On 50 Hz sets, this is often done just by altering the
vertical deflection, so that all scanlines of the original 16F16 picture
will be drawn on the screen, but in a tighter pattern, leaving black
areas above and below the picture.) This will retain more information
from the original picture, and gives a better picture quality than using
the 16L12 scaler/resampler in the DVD player, which will invariably
throw away lots of information in the process.

For these kind of modern 4:3 tv sets, the DVD player should be set up
into "Widescreen (16:9)" mode, not in the "Standard (4:3)" or
"Letterboxed" mode, since these 4:3 sets are every bit as aware of 16F16
signals as the actual 16:9 sets are.

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