Aspect Ratios - quick reference guide

[blackangus1]

I'm stealing this and paraphrasing it from another forum, but it's too good not to share... here are some simple tips to gauge aspect ratios when you're out in the real world:

A US $1 bill has an aspect ratio of almost exactly 2.35:1 (CinemaScope).

A standard business card (3.5" x 2") is almost exactly 16:9. (widescreen TV, Super16).

Hold the business card and dollar bill up together, aligning the upper-left corners together. Then fold the dollar bill over at the right edge of the business card. The result will be a folded dollar with an aspect ratio of exactly 4:3. (normal TV, also Super8 and Standard 16mm). (The fold should hit right in the middle of the "O" in "OF AMERICA".)

(for those of you who have to put up with "letterbox-haters", you can use this same trick to show them what they're missing. Fold the dollar and say "that's what you see on your TV. Then unfold it, show them the full width, and say "that's how much they had to cut off".)

[MovieStuff]

Hi, Barry!

I assume these are all approximates. The aspect ratio of super 8 and NTSC tv aren't "exactly" the same. In fact, I'd say that regular 8mm fits NTSC video much closer than super 8 does, which loses quite a bit of information on the left and right sides during transfer. But the examples are a convenient referece. Thanks!

Roger

[GREATwarEAGLE]

"A US $1 bill has an aspect ratio of almost exactly 2.35: 1 (Cinemascope)."

So is it different for a 5 or 10 spot? [img]wink.gif[/img] Just kidding. That's actually pretty interesting. And as you said, a good quick reference. Especially for storyboarding.

[MovieStuff]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by blackangus1:
Hey, I certainly won't argue with real-world experience, but it does seem odd that R-8 and S-8 would differ, because Regular8 and Super8 are supposed to have the exact same aspect ratio, as defined by Kodak and referenced here:
http://www.film-center.com/fformats.html</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

The height of a super 8 frame and a regular 8 frame is VERY close to being the same, but the width of the image on regular 8 is truncated due to the significantly larger sprocket hole. Now, some regular 8 cameras produce jumbo frame lines and some have virtually zero frame line with the frames actually overlapping a bit. Also, some have a black border next to the sprocket holes but most actually let the image slop into the sprocket hole area. But, based on the regular 8mm transfers we do regularly, we've found that -on average- the aspect ratio of regular 8 almost fits the raw video frame like a glove while the super 8 frame always loses significant information on the left and right edge. This is based on matching the top and botton of the film frame for both formats to the top and bottom of the actual video frame. The super 8 loses information while the regular 8mm usually loses little, if any.

Roger

[TA152]

Actual frame data but many cams differ somewhat from this:

[img]ftp://ftp.filmshooting.com/upload/pictures/specifications.jpg[/img]

[img]ftp://ftp.filmshooting.com/upload/pictures/8mmsizes.jpg[/img]

R

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ July 15, 2002 03:17 PM: Message edited by: S8 Booster ]</font>

[MovieStuff]

The above drawings for super 8 are pretty much correct but the ones illustrating regular 8mm are way off on the frame line thickness. While SOME regular 8mm cameras have a fairly thick frame line, none are as thick as illustrated above and most of the footage we've transferred has virtually NO frameline, where the adjacent frames actually overlap somewhat. This makes the overall usable image area taller than shown and much closer the height of a super 8 frame.

Roger

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ July 15, 2002 03:19 PM: Message edited by: MovieStuff ]</font>

[TA152]

Surely correct. I do not think any camera matches this 100% and some differ quite a lot. I guess this is a reference only.

R

[blackangus1]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by MovieStuff:
Hi, Barry!

I assume these are all approximates. The aspect ratio of super 8 and NTSC tv aren't "exactly" the same. In fact, I'd say that regular 8mm fits NTSC video much closer than super 8 does, which loses quite a bit of information on the left and right sides during transfer. But the examples are a convenient referece. Thanks!

Roger</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hey, I certainly won't argue with real-world experience, but it does seem odd that R-8 and S-8 would differ, because Regular8 and Super8 are supposed to have the exact same aspect ratio, as defined by Kodak and referenced here:
http://www.film-center.com/fformats.html

Both are supposed to be 1.36:1, and standard TV is supposed to be 1.33:1 (but you also have to account for overscan, which will cause info to be lost off all four edges of the TV, of course).