Widescreen...possible?

**bgart5** · October 19th, 2004, 08:15 PM

I understand that Super8 has a smaller frame to begin with than either 16mm or 35mm, but is doing widescreen (1.85:1 or 2.35:1 for the more technically inclined) possible with Super8?

Are there special lenses that you can use or can you have it matted when processing?

**BolexPlusx** · October 20th, 2004, 02:21 AM

Widescreen is very possible with Super-8. For me it is a matter of showing commercially made cinemascope films by mounting an anamorphic lens in front of my projector, but there are quite a few people who go the extra mile and mount an anamorphic in front of their cameras as well. This gets touchy as you have to hold the anamorphic lens perfectly aligned with the prime lens on the camera, but in such a way that the anamorphic isn't allowed to rotate, otherwise you'll get kind of a psychedelic distortion as the "axis of squish" rotates around.

There is also a school of thought on super-8 widescreen which calls for widening the camera's gate to allow the area traditionally occupied by the sound stripe to receive an image and thereby widen the frame. It's usually called "Super-Duper-8".

I think there is a lot of merit to wide screen filming. There are a lot of times when I'm doing a nature film and I stand up on a mountainside looking at some awesome vista, and then put a camera to my eye and feel like now I'm looking at it through a keyhole!