Evan Powell | Sep 18, 2003 | ProjectorCentral.com | Subscribe
NEC has recently been running a special promotion on the HT1000 that has, as one of its options, the inclusion of an anamorphic lens with the purchase. This has led many folks to wonder. what is an anamorphic lens? Is it a good thing to have? What does it do?
I was using a Pro Phoenix anamorphic on the Mits but as my old mount didn’t fit, I had a month or so using the Epson cropped to 2.35. My screen is only 9ft wide with 4k via an Oppo 203. The Anamorphic /i, prime lenses in ten focal lengths are colour matched to our S4/i, 5/i and miniS4/i lenses. Ideal for close-ups and product shots, the Cooke 65 mm Macro Anamorphic /i 2X Prime lens has magnification ratio 4.1:1 with close focus of 5.5' from front of lens. View Cooke Anamorphic Lens Test Footage. Now, you have even more latitude.
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Basically, an anamorphic lens is a lens that optically distorts the image. That sounds like a bad thing, but we will get to why it is good in a minute. First, some history. Calibre 2 85 0 download free. The anamorphic lens was first developed in the film industry when they wanted to use standard 35mm film to record images in widescreen format. The way they did it was to fit the film camera with a widescreen format lens that optically compressed the image so that it would fit into a 35mm film frame. Then when the film was played through a projection system, the projector was fitted with another lens that reversed the distortion. In that way the compressed image that was recorded on the 35mm film was projected onto the screen in natural, uncompressed widescreen format.
This anamorphic lens technology has been adopted by the projector industry and is available to you if you want to use it. The most common application is to use the anamorphic lens to convert full 4:3 native format into 16:9 widescreen format, which is what is being done on the HT1000. How does it work?
As you may recall, the HT1000 is native XGA 1024x768, which is 4:3 format. Normally when a 16:9 source is displayed on the HT1000 it uses 576 lines instead of the full 768 lines. The remaining lines consist of black bars above and below the image. So part of the resolution potential of the projector is not used. Furthermore, since 25% of the lines are black bars, that means 25% of the lumen output is not being used.
However, most 4:3 projectors like the HT1000 have the ability to horizontally compress a 16:9 source into their full 768 line pixel matrix. If this were displayed with the normal lens, the image would fill a full 4:3 format screen, but it would look vertically stretched.people would look excessively tall and skinny. By affixing an anamorphic lens to the projector in front of its normal lens, the image is optically undistorted as it passes through the anamorphic lens, so it comes out looking like a natural widescreen 16:9 image.
There are two benefits to this. First, the projector uses the full 100% of its native pixel matrix to display the image. So you get a higher resolution image, and pixelation is reduced compared to what you'd see with the normal 1024x576 image. Second, since you use the full pixel matrix, you get the full lumen output of the projector-the picture is brighter than it would be if using just the 1024x576 portion of the display.
Two types of anamorphic lenses
Without wanting to complicate this much further, it needs to be pointed out that there are two types of anamorphic lenses on the market. One compresses the image vertically, and the other expands the image horizontally. Ultimately they accomplish the same thing. Google chrome app for windows.
The lens being offered with the HT1000 compresses the 4:3 image vertically. That means at any given throw distance, the width of the resulting 16:9 image with the anamorphic lens will be the same as the width of the native 4:3 image (or 16:9 image in 1024x576 format) that would otherwise be displayed without the lens. What you get is a brighter, higher resolution 16:9 image, and the lens does not change the projector's throw distance.
The other style of anamorphic lens will take a 4:3 image and optically stretch it horizontally into a 16:9 image. With this type of lens the width of the resulting 16:9 image is 1/3 wider than the 4:3 image that would otherwise be projected from that distance. Therefore, this type of lens shortens the throw distance of the projector for any given size of 16:9 image.
One notable problem with anamorphic lenses Spreeder.
American roulette practice. A potential problem to be aware of when considering the use of an anamorphic lens is this: What do you do when you want to see regular 4:3 material? When you put a lens that optically distorts what is being projected in front of your projector, it distorts everything, whether it is pre-compressed 16:9 or not. So when you try to play native 4:3 material through it, you get an image that is distorted horizontally--people are shorter and fatter than normal.
If you don't plan to watch any 4:3 material, or if you don't care if your 4:3 image is distorted, this is not a problem. However, if you want to see your 4:3 sources in normal aspect ratio, you only have two choices. The first is to physically remove the anamorphic lens when switching to 4:3 material. The second is to use an external scaler that can pre-squeeze the 4:3 signal so that it comes out normal when passing through the anamorphic lens. Neither of these is an overly appealing solution for most users.
The lens offered by NEC attaches to the projector via a hinge and can easily be swung down out of the way when you don't want to use it. But if the unit is ceiling mounted, this may still be a nuisance-think in terms of having a small stepladder standing by when you want to switch from 16:9 to 4:3 viewing.
Conclusion
There are those who swear by anamorphic lenses because of the higher 16:9 resolution and brightness they can get from a native 4:3 projector. They can be used with not only the HT1000, but any 4:3 format projector that can horizontally squeeze a 16:9 source into its full 4:3 display. At the recent CEDIA show, JVC was demonstrating their DLA-SX21 with an anamorphic lens, and the image was gorgeous. From this demonstration alone it was easy to see why videophiles have embraced them.
We have not reviewed the anamorphic lenses on the market and can make no recommendation on one over another at this point in time. Nor can we state categorically that they are right for everyone with a 4:3 projector. Certainly if you plan to switch frequently between 16:9 and 4:3 sources we suggest that you keep the logistical issues of mounting and removing the lens uppermost in your mind as you check out the alternatives available to you. Each lens maker has different mounting solutions, and some are easier to work with than others.
For more information you can visit the websites of companies that manufacture and market anamorphic lenses. Panamorph makes a lens that compresses the 4:3 image vertically. ISCO Optics makes one that expands the image horizontally. We suggest you consult with Audio Visual dealers for more details, options, and pricing.
If you watch a movie in a theater, you are most likely seeing it in the 2:35:1 aspect ratio, also known as Cinemascope or Anamorphic. I became enamored with the 2:35:1 aspect ratio this Summer and ever since have output most of my videos in this format. It not only adds a “movie” look to whatever you’ve shot, it also allows you to more precisely edit your video to make sure the audience’s eyes focus on exactly what you want.
Anamorphic Pro 1 7 Download
The following is a quick and simple tutorial on how you can use Cinemascope with Adobe Premiere Pro. I use Premiere Pro CC but this should work for pretty much any other editing software such as Final Cut Pro, Final Cut X, Edius, Avid, Sony Vegas Pro, etc. With that said, let us begin the photo and text tutorial:
Anamorphic Pro 1 7 2
1. First off you will need to download my “Croplines” PSD and PNG templates.
Anamorphic Pro 1 705
2. Import the croplines PSD file into Premiere Pro and select the “merge all layers” dialogue box.
3. Drag your PSD file into your sequence and make it the top track of your footage. Make sure it stays above everything else. This way you can make sure you always know how your footage will look when you export it.
4. Lock your track so that you cannot edit it. Locking the track will help when you are changing what portion of your videos are viewable behind the cropped bars of the PSD.
5. Import and edit your footage. As you edit your footage you may notice that your new cropped look is cutting off an important portion of the footage, the actor’s eyes in the photo example.
6. Move your footage behind the cropped lines by selecting each individual clip and selecting the “motion” arrow and changing the “vertical” numbers of the “Position” (this number is by default 540 when you are editing 1080p HD video). Increase the number if you would like to move the clip down and decrease the number if you would like it to go up. Make sure you do not increase the number above 680 or decrease it below 400 because if you do it will no longer be hidden behind the croplines and your video will not look uniform.
7. Once you have edited your video file and followed step 6 to move each of your clips to exactly where you want them vertically, you are ready to export. Exporting is rather simple with slight differences depending on what you plan to do with the video.
Online: When exporting for streaming or viewing on a computer such a YouTube, Vimeo, etc. you will want to click the “eye” on the “croplines” track and make it invisible. Then you will go to File>Export Media and create a custom render setting using h.264 at 1920×817. This will just result in a squished video if you do not set the export to crop the video file as well.
Online: When exporting for streaming or viewing on a computer such a YouTube, Vimeo, etc. you will want to click the “eye” on the “croplines” track and make it invisible. Then you will go to File>Export Media and create a custom render setting using h.264 at 1920×817. This will just result in a squished video if you do not set the export to crop the video file as well.
Under the “source” tab in the top, left click the crop button and change it to “Top: 132, Bottom: 131” – leave the Left and Right at 0. This will crop your video in the same way as using the croplines did but will result in it being an exact fit. For some reason if you leave the croplines on your videos on vimeo, it will have extremely small black bars visible on the top and bottom if you do not do this. Theoretically you could just do this and not bother with using the “croplines” PSD file as a track in your editing but then you would miss out on it as a guideline to help you figure out what is visible in your shots.
DVD and Blu-Ray: For DVD and Blu-Ray, export as you would normally with the croplines visible. Whatever resolution you export at, the croplines will be visible and work to create a 2:35:1 aspect ratio for your footage. Note: In some cases when burning DVDs, specifically with Adobe Encore, I have run into an issue where the footage would overflow the edges of the croplines, creating a weird effect where the viewer could tell that the croplines were just a layer in the footage. To fix this, when I am editing and planning on rendering specifically to DVD, I select the “croplines” track in Premiere Pro after importing it into the sequence, and select “motion>scale” and change the scale from “100.0” to “101.0.” This prevents this footage overflow effect where it is visible at the edges of the croplines.
That’s all! After rendering, enjoy the video you’ve created in the 2:35:1 Cinemascope/Anamorphic format! Please feel free to post a comment letting me know what you think of this tutorial and if you have any questions or suggestions.
If this tutorial helped you out, you might be interest in the other tutorials I have created for all aspects of video production. Or maybe you’re looking for royalty free music you can use with your YouTube and Vimeo videos?