Cropping to 16:9

benspo111 · July 18, 2004

Hello, I was wondering how to crop my video shooting with the dvx-100a or any camera, to 16:9, how do I crop it? I may just be stupid, thanks for the help.

David Mullen ASC · July 18, 2004

Do you mean you want a 4:3 recording with a 16:9 (i.e. 1.78 : 1) aspect ratio letterbox? Or you want to end up with a 16:9 anamorphic recording?

Stas Tagios · July 19, 2004

If you just want to crop your 4:3 image to 16:9, you can use the camera's "letterbox mode," which simply adds bars to the top and bottom of the 4:3 image to achieve a fake widescreen ratio.

The "Squeeze" mode will yield a 16:9 image but one not as detailed as a true 16:9 image achieved used the Panasonic anamorphic adapter.

If you just want to crop your 4:3 image, I would recommend not doing it in camera, but in post, where you'll be able to reframe your image up or down if needed within a letterbox matte applied via your NLE (e.g. Final Cut Pro).

Also, applying the matte in post allows you to choose which ratio you want, rather than just being stuck with a 16:9 image; you can do 1:66, 1:78 (aka 16:9), 2:35, and others.

benspo111 · July 19, 2004

oh ok thanks a lot for all your help.

Häakon · July 19, 2004

The "Squeeze" mode will yield a 16:9 image but one not as detailed as a true 16:9 image achieved used the Panasonic anamorphic adapter.

Can you explain how this works? If the image being recorded uses the whole CCD and is then squished into the space of a 16:9 aspect ratio, how does that differ from the way anamorphic works? (I'm not challenging you, I'm trying to understand for myself.) Thanks.

David Mullen ASC · July 19, 2004

It doesn't use the whole CCD for 16:9 since the whole CCD is not shaped that way -- it's a 4:3 CCD. So the DVX100A crops and then stretches the image to achieve a 16:9 anamorphic recording. An anamorphic adaptor would use the whole (active) 4:3 CCD area though to achieve 16:9.

The DVX100 cannot even crop & stretch to 16:9 anamorphic -- it merely letterboxes the 4:3 signal to 1.78 : 1 in "16:9 mode".

Stas Tagios · July 20, 2004

There has been much discussion of "squeeze mode vs. letterboxing" in the dvxuser.com forums, with varying opinions as to which offers a better image. It's not an issue I have, because I have the DVX-100, not the 100A, so for me it's either cropping in camera or post (no "squeeze mode" on the 100), or using the anamorphic (which I don't own).

I haven't seen any squeeze mode footage, so I can't comment on whether it looks any better than 4:3 footage cropped to 16:9 in post (or letterboxed in camera), but short of shooting 16:9 with 16:9 chips or an anamorphic adapter, I much prefer cropping to 16:9 in post, to retain some latitude in framing/re-composing up or down, if needed (kind of like doing a low-end version of a 2:40 digital intermediate from Super 35 and adjusting the frame within the letterbox as needed).

The highest-res option for 16:9 with the DVX remains the anamorphic adapter (provided you shoot at the appropriate apertures and focal lengths to maximize image sharpness).

Here's a link to the relevant discussion:

http://www.dvxuser.com/cgi-bin/DVX2/YaBB.p...;num=1088273641