Filming in 16:9 format - What about the quality?

organism_seven wrote on 7/5/2002, 5:02 PM
Hi,

I have a Sony Hi-8 and a Canon XM1 camcorder.
Both have the option to record in the 16:9 format.

What I want to know is:
Will I be recording at the same quality as if I had chosen to film in the
normal 4:3 format?
Are they really filming in the 16:9 format, or is some sort of "cheat" being
used.
The viewfinder is in the 4:3 format and shows the image slightly squashed.
Once imported, edited and rendered out correctly using Video Vegas the
footage
is in the correct aspect ratio (16:9), but has quality been sacrificed using
this format?
What I really mean is, to get true 16:9 footage do you have to use a "true"
16:9 camcorder?
Does such a thing exist?

Thanks for any help.

Regards

organism7@blueyonder.co.uk

Comments

riredale wrote on 7/6/2002, 12:39 AM
My Sony TRV8 miniDV camera offers a 16x9 option, but it does it by putting letterbox bars top and bottom, using only 360 scan lines instead of the usual 480. The result is an active area that measures 16x9, but with poor sharpness. I understand that the right way to do it is to shoot with an anamorphic lens, allowing the use of the full 480 scan lines. The other option is to use a 16x9 camera. I have no experience with such cameras, but perhaps someone else can comment.
Cheesehole wrote on 7/6/2002, 1:22 AM
I have the canon gl-1 which basically has the same internal optics as yours so I can tell you for sure that the 16:9 mode is a 'cheat' as you call it (you need a special lens). you aren't using the full CCD, it's just cropping the image. it's a useful feature during a shoot so you can compose your shot correctly for 16:9, but if you wanted you could always shoot in normal mode and crop it in Vegas and acheive the same end result.
SonyDennis wrote on 7/6/2002, 7:37 PM
Some 16:9 camcorders have dual-mode CCD's that have both frame aspect ratios represented by imaging pixels, but most just crop the 4:3 image, and you're better off with an anamorphic lens. A few have a hybrid system that does a little of both (they have a 4:3 "plus" CCD and do a little cropping and a few more pixels horizontally. If you have a camera that just crops, you might as well shoot 4:3 "protected" and crop in Vegas. However, some people feel there are advantages of using the camera's 16:9 mode, having to do with not wasting bits (compression) on parts of the image you won't need. They recommand running tests with wedge charts and whatnot.

You can often tell which you have by watching what happens on the viewfinder LCD when you switch modes. If the vertical field of view gets smaller, and it just replaces the top and bottom with black bars, your camera only crops. If the vertical field of view stays the same, but the horizontal field of view opens up, it has a true 16:9 CCD. If it does a little of both, you have a hybrid.

///d@