Beginner's question: Shooting on Super 8 for 16:9 aspect ratio

[Bruno Alves]

I don't know if I can properly explain my question, but I'll try: I'll be shooting something in Super 8 film, but I want to blow it up to a 16:9 aspect ratio after it is scanned. Let's say I want a particular shot to be a close-up in that 16:9 aspect ratio: how do I set it up in my Super 8 camera? In other words, let's say I set up a close-up with a 40mm focal length (in that Super 8 camera)? How much should I then "shorten" that focal length, so that whatever framing comes from that ends up being the close-up that I intend it to be in 16:9? In yet other words: is there a focal lenght ratio between shooting in the Super 8 aspect ratio (or for simplicity sake, let's say 4:3) and blowing it up to 16:9, so that I can know how much shorter should I choose my focal lenght to be when I shoot in Super 8?

Thanks for the help

[David Mullen ASC]

Since you're just cropping in one direction, vertically, to get to 1.78 : 1 from 1.44 : 1 -- about a quarter vertically, maybe less (you're cropping 5.79mm x 4.01mm to 5.79 x 3.25mm), it's hard to talk about crop factor since the horizontal view isn't changing. But you'll probably find yourself widening out a little to compensate because of the feeling that the vertical crop is making the shot feel tighter. Technically it's a 1.23X crop factor but only vertically, so a 40mm would be changed to a 32mm to compensate -- but then you're also widening out horizontally even though there is no horizontal crop.

[Joerg Polzfusz]

Hi!

I would simply ignore the crop factor and put gaffer tape on top and bottom of your viewfinder to indicate the area that is lost when cropping. … That’s unless you are using a video tap. Then you can add the bars on the monitor.

[Mark Dunn]

On a side note, was Super-8 always 1.44:1? I'd always assumed it was the usual 1.33 or 1.37.

Edited November 16, 2023 by Mark Dunn

[Simon Wyss]

Typo, David intended to write 1.34:1.

[David Mullen ASC]

My calculator says 5.79 divided by 4.01 equals 1.44389… but maybe these specs in Wikipedia are wrong or these are camera specs not projector gate specs. (EDIT: looks like Wikipedia is wrong.)

[David Mullen ASC]

But this site says 5.63 x 4.22, which is 1.33.

 

http://www.gcmstudio.com/filmspecs/filmspecs.html
 

[David Mullen ASC]

I think I see the mistake on Wikipedia — the Super 8 projector gate is 5.46 x 4.01mm (1 : 1.36) and someone mistyped 5.46 as 5.79 at some point. Unless there was some enlarged-width projector gate made at some point…

[Simon Wyss]

ISO 3645 has it all. The camera aperture image dimensions are 0.166" or 4,22 mm height and 0.224" or 5,69 mm width. The maximum projectable image area is 0.158" or 4,01 mm height and 0.215" or 5,46 mm width. The screen is three parts high and four parts wide.

[Bruno Alves]

Thank you, everyone, especially David, for the help.

[Joerg Polzfusz]

BTW: you could also use a 1.33x anamorphic attachment on your camera for shooting 16:9.