Anamorphic
Anamorphic format is a cinematography technique that captures widescreen images using recording media with narrower native aspect ratios. Originally developed for 35 mm film to create widescreen presentations without sacrificing image area, the technique has since been adapted to various film gauges, digital sensors, and video formats.
Rather than cropping or matting the image and discarding visual information, anamorphic capture employs cylindrical lenses to horizontally compress or "squeeze" the image during recording. A complementary lens is then used during projection to expand the image back to its intended widescreen proportions. By utilizing the full height of the film frame or sensor, this method retains more image resolution than cropped non-anamorphic widescreen formats. Anamorphic lenses have more complex optics than standard spherical lenses, which require more light and can introduce distinctive distortions and lens flares. However, these artefacts are sometimes deliberately embraced for their aesthetic appeal.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the use of anamorphic formats declined as advances in film stocks and processing techniques, followed by the advent of digital intermediates, made the lower resolution associated with matting flat spherical formats such as Super 35 less of a limitation. Many productions shifted to spherical lenses, which are simpler, lighter, more cost-effective, and free from the optical distortions and artefacts characteristic of anamorphic optics. In the years that followed, the widespread adoption of digital cinema cameras and projectors contributed to a renewed interest in anamorphic formats, as digital sensors with higher base ISO sensitivity made filming in low light with anamorphic lenses more feasible.
The word anamorphic and its derivatives stem from the Greek anamorphoo ("to transform", or more precisely "to re-form"), compound of morphé ("form, shape") with the prefix aná ("back, again").
Anamorphic format should not to be confused with anamorphic widescreen, a different video encoding concept that uses similar principles but different means.
Anamorphic
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