Anamorphic Lenses & Super 35

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Anamorphic Lenses & Super 35 . . .Updated...

Published : 4th June 2004

I've been reading a few old posts regarding Anamorphic shooting Vs Super 35 framed for 2.4:1. Never having shot anamorphic, what I'm wondering is :

If spherical lenses can, with a few exceptions, cover the full aperture of 35mm (hence super 35), can anamorphic lenses also cover full aperture, or will they only cover academy aperture?

Apologies once again if the answer is obvious...!

Stuart Brereton
DP, UK
www.46and2films.com

I wouldn't be surprised if most anamorphic lenses cover 4-perf 35mm Full Aperture (since they have to cover it vertically anyway) but since they have a 2X squeeze and Full Aperture is 1.33 : 1, that would be a 2.66 : 1 aspect ratio when un-squeezed.

CinemaScope was originally designed to be a Full Aperture format until the decision was made during the production of "The Robe" to put the soundtrack on the print. In this case, mag striping was used on each side of the frame and Kodak made the print stock with smaller perfs (CS perfs) to give the soundtrack a little more room. The mag soundtrack stripes reduced the effective aspect ratio to 2.55 : 1. So early CinemaScope movies were all shot optically centred for Full Aperture.

Just like with a spherical Super-35 production, you'd have to double-check to see if all your anamorphic lenses covered Full Aperture if for some reason, you wanted a 2.66 : 1 image. I'm just not sure why since that's not a projection format.

David Mullen ASC
Cinematographer / L.A.

David Mullen wrote :

>Just like with a spherical Super-35 production, you'd have to double->check to see if all your anamorphic lenses covered Full Aperture if for >some reason, you wanted a 2.66 : 1 image. I'm just not sure why since >that's not a projection format.

Many thanks for the info, David. It was more of a 'I wonder' kind of question than something relating to a shoot.

Thanks again,

Stuart Brereton
DP, UK

Added from the previous posts...

I've been reading a few old posts regarding Anamorphic shooting Vs Super 35 framed for 2.4:1.

As I have never have shot anamorphic, what I'm wondering is :

If spherical lenses can, with a few exceptions, cover the full aperture of 35mm (hence super 35), can anamorphic lenses also cover full aperture, or will they only cover academy aperture?

Stuart Brereton
DP, UK
www.46and2films.com

I wouldn't be surprised if most anamorphic lenses cover 4-perf 35mm Full Aperture (since they have to cover it vertically anyway) but since they have a 2X squeeze and Full Aperture is 1.33 : 1, that would be a 2.66 : 1 aspect ratio when un-squeezed.

CinemaScope was originally designed to be a Full Aperture format until the decision was made during the production of "The Robe" to put the soundtrack on the print. In this case, mag striping was used on each side of the frame and Kodak made the print stock with smaller perfs (CS perfs) to give the soundtrack a little more room. The mag soundtrack stripes reduced the effective aspect ratio to 2.55 : 1.

So early CinemaScope movies were all shot optically centred for Full Aperture.

Just like with a spherical Super-35 production, you'd have to double - check to see if all your anamorphic lenses covered Full Aperture if for some reason, you wanted a 2.66 : 1 image. I'm just not sure why since that's not a projection format.

David Mullen ASC
Cinematographer / L.A.

David Mullen ASC wrote :

>Just like with a spherical Super-35 production, you'd have to double->check to see if all your anamorphic lenses covered Full Aperture if for >some reason, you wanted a 2.66 : 1 image. I'm just not sure why since >that's not a projection format.

Many thanks for the info, David. It was more of a 'I wonder' kind of question than something relating to a shoot.

Thanks again,

Stuart Brereton
DP, UK