Anamorphic format

Anamorphic format is a cinematography technique that captures widescreen images using recording media with narrower native aspect ratios. Originally developed for 35 mm film to create widescreen presentations without sacrificing image area, the technique has since been adapted to various film gauges, digital sensors, and video formats. Rather than cropping or matting the image and discarding visual information, anamorphic capture employs cylindrical lenses to horizontally compress or "squeeze" the image during recording. A complementary lens is then used during projection to expand the image back to its intended widescreen proportions. By using the full height of the film frame or sensor, this method retains more image resolution than cropped non-anamorphic widescreen formats, and has an inherently wider horizontal field of view. Anamorphic lenses have more complex optics than standard spherical lenses which require more light, and can introduce distinctive distortions such as lens flares and oval shaped bokeh. However, these artifacts are sometimes deliberately embraced for their aesthetic appeal.…

Anamorphic format is a cinematography technique that captures widescreen images using recording media with narrower native aspect ratios. Originally developed for 35 mm film to create widescreen presentations without sacrificing image area, the technique has since been adapted to various film gauges, digital sensors, and video formats. Rather than cropping or matting the image and discarding visual information, anamorphic capture employs cylindrical lenses to horizontally compress or "squeeze" the image during recording. A complementary lens is then used during projection to expand the image back to its intended widescreen proportions. By using the full height of the film frame or sensor, this method retains more image resolution than cropped non-anamorphic widescreen formats, and has an inherently wider horizontal field of view. Anamorphic lenses have more complex optics than standard spherical lenses which require more light, and can introduce distinctive distortions such as lens flares and oval shaped bokeh. However, these artifacts are sometimes deliberately embraced for their aesthetic appeal. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the use of anamorphic formats declined as advances in film stocks and processing techniques, followed by the advent of digital intermediates, made the lower resolution associated with matting flat spherical formats such as Super 35 less of a limitation. Many productions shifted to spherical lenses, which are simpler, lighter, cheaper and free from the optical distortions and artefacts characteristic of anamorphic optics. In the years that followed, the widespread adoption of digital cinema cameras and projectors contributed to a renewed interest in anamorphic formats, as digital sensors with higher base ISO sensitivity made filming in low light with anamorphic lenses easier. The word anamorphic and its derivatives stem from the Greek ("to transform", or more precisely "to re-form") compound of morphé ("form, shape") with the prefix ("back, again"). Anamorphic format should not to be confused with anamorphic widescreen, a different video encoding concept that uses similar principles but different means. == Aspect ratio== One common misconception about the anamorphic format concerns the actual width number of the aspect ratio, as 2.35, 2.39 or 2.40. Since the anamorphic lenses in virtually all 35 mm anamorphic systems provide a 2:1 squeeze, one would logically conclude that a full academy gate would lead to a aspect ratio when used with anamorphic lenses. Due to differences in the camera gate aperture and projection aperture mask sizes for anamorphic films, however, the image dimensions used for anamorphic film vary from flat (spherical) counterparts. To complicate matters, the SMPTE standards for the format have varied over time; to further complicate things, pre-1957 prints took up the optical soundtrack space of the print (instead having magnetic sound on the sides), which made for a ratio (ANSI PH22.104-1957 ). The initial SMPTE definition for anamorphic projection with an optical sound track down the side ANSI PH22.106-1957 was issued in December 1957. It standardized the projector aperture at , which gives an aspect ratio of c. . The aspect ratio for this aperture, after a 2× unsqueeze, is (1678:715), which rounded to the commonly used value . A new definition issued in June 1971 as ANSI PH22.106-1971. It specified a slightly smaller vertical dimension of for the projector aperture (and a nearly identical horizontal dimension of ), to help make splices less noticeable to film viewers. After unsqueezing, this would yield an aspect ratio of c. . Four-perf anamorphic prints use more of the negative's available frame area than any other modern format, which leaves little room for splices. As a consequence, a bright line flashed onscreen when a splice was projected, and theater projectionists had been narrowing the vertical aperture to hide these flashes even before 1971. This new projector aperture size, , aspect ratio , made for an un-squeezed ratio of about (43:18). The most recent revision, SMPTE 195-1993¹, was released in August 1993 . It slightly altered the dimensions so as to standardize a common projection aperture width ( ) for all formats, anamorphic ( ) and flat ( ). The projection aperture height was also reduced by to give an aperture size of , and an aspect ratio of , and thus retaining the un-squeezed ratio of about . The camera's aperture remained the same ( or if before 1958), only the height of the "negative assembly" splices changed and, consequently, the height of the frame changed. Anamorphic prints are still often called 'Scope' or 2.35 by projectionists, cinematographers, and others working in the field, if only by force of habit. 2.39 is in fact what they generally are referring to (unless discussing films using the process between 1958 and 1970), which is itself usually rounded up to 2.40 (implying a false precision as compared to 2.4). With the exception of certain specialist and archivist areas, generally 2.35, 2.39 and 2.40 mean the same to professionals, whether they themselves are even aware of the changes or not.

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