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I have a 3CCD Sony Digital Camcorder. It takes Mini DV, connects to the computer with 4-pin to 6-pin firewire, and it shoots at 640x480 normally.

I got a wide angle lens for it, made by Macro I believe, and when the lens is on, theres an option in the cameras menu, to turn on 16:9 widescreen. However, after turning it on, the image was indeed wider, but not as wide as a DVD. When I filmed a minute of test footage, put it into imovie, and then exported it to quicktime, it turns out it's recording at 853x480.

A movie that was ripped from DVD for computer is (when stretched horizontally to 853 pixels), 853x361.

I don't get it. I want to film in that ratio. Why is the 16:9 widescreen of my camera so much thicker than real movies?

Thanks.

* 1.33:1 A standard television set; roughly equivalent to 4:3.
* 1.37:1 Referred to as the academy aspect ratio. The standard for films shot before the mid-1950s.
* 1.66:1 A bit wider than a standard TV, but not by much.
* 1.78:1 The dimensions of a widescreen television set; roughly equivalent to 16:9.
* 1.85:1 Popular aspect ratio for many movies.
* 2.35: Another popular aspect ratio for movies.

movie aspect ratios - Google Search

1.85 isn't that much wider than 1.78, and you always have the option of cropping the top and bottom more after the fact. Of course, since a lot of HDTVs are 16:9, you might as well target that ratio, unless you plan to show your work in a theater.

Thanks. What exactly do all those numbers represent? And what aspect ratio is my camera filming at then? Is it 1.85?

A widescreen television set is not usually the shape of a widescreen DVD. Isn't my 23" Cinema display a "widescreen" display? And yet it's not nearly the dimensions of a widescreen movie.

Which of those ratios is the one that 99% of movies are filmed with now, and which one is the one my camera is filming at?

What program can I use to crop it?

Thanks.

edit: I found what the numbers mean. So 1:85:1 is the standard for widescreen movies, correct? How do I know what ratio my camera is filming at?

edit 2: Okay, I figured everything out, and I also realised that my camera's shooting at 480p!!! 853x480 is High Definition! So that's cool. So it's 1:78 vs. 1:85. What kind of cameras film at 1:85? I'd like to get one of those.

If it's not at least 1280x720, it's not technically considered HD. 853x480 is pretty sharp though; about the same quality as standard DVD. Sony makes several HD video cameras, priced starting around $1400.

Right. I'm looking at the Sony HDR-FX7. Looks pretty great!

Also, I found out that it's not actually filming at 853x480, and that it's just stretching it. Like, the color get's stretched or something. I don't know exactly....

Just like widescreen DVDs, your wide DV camera only has the usual 720x480 pixels (or if you're in PAL land, 720x576). They are "stretched" (referred to as rectangular pixels) for wide aspect ratios.

There is no "99% of movies" aspect ratio. Roughly half of studio movies are 1:85:1 and half 2.35:1 (roughly half in this case spans 50/50 to 30/70, as I don't know the real numbers, but it's certainly not 99% as you suggest). Many movies even use ratios in between. It's entirely up to the creative desire of the director. It may interest you to know that some movies are shot at 4:3 with the intention of cropping the tops and bottoms later. This leads to embarassing mistakes in which a later DVD transfer includes content never intended to be seen, like boom mikes and props. One example I've heard about but not seen is in A Fish Called Wanda, where John Cleese's character is naked, but in the fullscreen DVD transfer you can see that he is wearing pants, which were matted out in the widescreen version.