Cropping Super8 to 16:9

[Jim Train]

I'm not sure whether I should start a new thread for this as I can't seem to find it having been discussed elsewhere, apologies if I have missed it.

 

I was considering modifying my 1014xls to shoot Super Duper 8 but am not ecstatic about the possibility of vignetting as over the next 12 months I will be doing a lot of shooting in low light conditions meaning that I will be shooting close to wide open a lot.

 

I have been wondering about cropping the image in post (the material won't be projected) and was wondering whether anybody had any experience of this? Would it be possible to mask the viewfinder so that the image is closer to the final 16:9 image?

[banba ban]

I'm not sure whether I should start a new thread for this as I can't seem to find it having been discussed elsewhere, apologies if I have missed it.

 

I was considering modifying my 1014xls to shoot Super Duper 8 but am not ecstatic about the possibility of vignetting as over the next 12 months I will be doing a lot of shooting in low light conditions meaning that I will be shooting close to wide open a lot.

 

I have been wondering about cropping the image in post (the material won't be projected) and was wondering whether anybody had any experience of this? Would it be possible to mask the viewfinder so that the image is closer to the final 16:9 image?

 

I have shot a lot of footage with the 1014xls and cropped the image to 16:9 in post for broadcast without any problems. I have used neg and reversal stocks with equally good results - but it's important to have a good telecine transfer and deal with the material in post at a good quality eg 10/8 bit uncompressed.

 

If you look through the viewfinder, you will see on the left hand side two triangle shaped little "notches" - one near the top and the other near the bottom. They are fairly close to where the frame lines for 16:9 would be - so instead of masking the viewfinder I have just used them as a guide. To test this look at a 4:3 monitor with some 16:9 letterboxed material and you will see that they line up fairly closely.

 

In post you also have the option of repositioning the image to fine tune the frame.

 

Good luck!

[Jim Train]

Thanks, that's fantastic advice!

[andy oliver]

butchering your 1014xls gate is senseless imo, the lens and iris are not centred. Perhaps look at a beaulieu 6008 or 7008, fitted with a 6-80 or 6-70 lens, at 18fps these camera will allow more light to hit the film, also 16-9 screen can be fitted to the camera. And the image will be sharper than a 1014xls when the lens is used wide open.