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This article is from the rec.arts.movies.tech FAQ, by Scott E. Norwood snorwood@nyx.nyx.net with numerous contributions by others.

3.3.2 Regular 8mm/Super 8mm Anamorphic (Motion Picture Formats - release prints intended for projection)

Many 8mm reduction prints of 35mm anamorphic original films are
printed in a 2:1 squeeze ratio, which retains the original side
framing, but crops off a small portion of the top and bottom of the
frame. The final aspect ratios are 2.66:1 and 2.68:1 for regular 8mm
and super 8mm, respectively. Projection of these films, obviously,
requires an anamorphic lens for the projector in order to `unsqueeze'
the image. These lenses are, unfortunately, difficult to find, and
often expensive, despite their less-than-perfect image quality.

regular 8mm release print frame:   super 8mm release print frame:
  (note big perforations)            (note small perforation)
  
  |                  |               |                  |
  |s-------------- O |               |s---------------- |
  |o|    Small   | | |               |o|     Larger   | |
  |u|    Image   | | |               |u|     Image    |o| <--- Smaller
  |n|    Area    | | |               |n|     Area     | |    Perforation
  |d-------------- O |               |d---------------- |
  |                  |               |                  |
  
  |<------ 8mm ----->|               |<------ 8mm ----->|

 

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• prev: 3.3.1 Regular 8mm/Super 8mm (Motion Picture Formats - release prints intended for projection)
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• next: 3.4 Which formats and aspect ratios are common for 16mm release prints?

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