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What's been suggested is that you use your scope aperture (which is almost identical to the ideal 1.37:1) and the primary lens (rear half) of your scope anamorphic lens assembly... This will give you a narrower picture than you normally show with your flat lens and aperture, but close to the same height... I would suggest that you put one reel of the feature on your platter and compare the results of BOTH the makeshift setup above AND your normal flat lens and aperture, then go with the one you like best...

well, all is well, I think.

I used the primary lens of the scope assy and the scope aperture and the picture looks fine. It is virtually square but is adequate and the entire image is shown.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, "this forum is the best thing since sliced bread!"

Thanks everyone!

The "scope" image area is 0.825 x 0.690 inches, so you are showing a bit more than the 0.825 x 0.602 inch "Academy" image area.

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Customer Technical Services
Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Eastman Kodak Company
Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Telephone: +1 585-477-5325 Cell: +1 585-781-4036 Fax: +1 585-722-7243
E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Western Electric specified the apperture plate for a married print at 620x 825 hence the 1.33:1 ratio

I'm glad you went for the whole frame. It's harder to test when you have a platter. Bet your picture is nice and bright!

Enjoy your show, hope you have lots of people!

well, we finished Casablanca and it went fine. We won't be able to retire on the profit we turned but, all in all it was a worthwhile endeavor and we will likely make it a New Years Eve tradition.

One thing I have learned is to reassemble the anamorphic lens attachment just right or it will skew your regular scope features. I had to make some hasty adjustments when putting it together the other day when it was "out of square". I have a used scope lens and someone was kind enough to scratch in alignment marks on the side of it so that I could put it together correctly. Any tricks on fine-tuning this?

You don't mention the brand/model of your anamorphic lens, or whether it has a spacing clamp with a hole which fits onto a locating pin on your projector, but the "out of square" condition you describe would be caused by the horizontal surfaces of the anamorphic lens not being perfectly level (or not parallel to the top/bottom of your screen)... The "fine tuning" you mention is probably the astigmatic adjustment which controls the overall verticle focus of the anamorphic lens... Once it has been correctly set and locked, unless you inadvertantly change the adjustment, when you re-assemble the primary lens back onto the anamorphic the astigmatic would not need to be adjusted again, so you should be good to go...

OK, you obviously know WAY more about this then I do. I'll do my best to describe my lens. It is a two-piece scope lens from Schneider (German-made). These two pieces fit inside a mounting bracket that looks like a collar. This collar fits into my projector. The collar has a pin sticking out of it that fits into a notch on the side of my projector. This is what regulates the lens under normal circumstances. When I took it out of this collar to play Casablanca I obviously disrupted where the lens was set into the collar. This makes the picture slightly distorted (more paralellogram then rectangular). I did my best to eye-ball it and to get the lens back to where it was but it is still a little bit off. I can probably eyeball it some more and make it a little bit better but I was wondering if there was an easier way. This is pretty minor stuff here. I notice it but I doubt anybody else can.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

OK, this should solve your dilema... Put your scope lens and aperture in the projector (indexed on the "collar" locating pin) but don't thread up any film... Raise the elevation (wheel at rear of your projector base which positions the picture vertically on the screen) and BRIEFLY project some white light on the screen... If the bottom of the image (now visable on the screen) of the aperture is not perfectly parallel to the bottom of your screen, loosen the screw(s) which secure the "collar" to the lens assembly, and rotate the lens slightly to where the aperture image IS parallel to the bottom of the screen... When you find this spot, retighten the screw(s)... The sides of that aperture image should now be 90 degrees from horizontal, and the picture area squared up again... Lower the elevation back to where the white light fills your screen masking... DON'T project light (without film threaded) through your lenses for more than 15-20 seconds at a time as this could damage your lenses, lens coatings, and/or cement!...

If you don't want to take a chance of damaging the lens from the unprotected light source, but want more time to make the proper adjustments... thread the final reel of a feature and run it down to the credits. Most films have from 5 to 8 minutes of credits nowadays... then do exactly what outaframe suggested, but with the film running while the credits are on the screen. Just rotate your lens until the credits are perfectly parallel with the top or bottom masking, and then lock the collar screw(s) as suggested. This way you need not adjust the elevation of the projector either.

It's a rarity, but occasionally the credits are not printed exactly level... If you are leery of projecting white light without film to protect your lenses, you can crank up the framing (anywhere on your scope print) until the frame line is visable, and use it as your horizontal reference, then level your anamorphic as mentioned...

How about just making a loop of clear mylar leader? Would this cut down on the potential damage?

Thanks everyone. That did the trick. I used a couple of trailers I had (boy do those things pile up!) and rotated it ever so slightly until it was just right.

Lee

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, helvetica">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Mike Spaeth:
How about just making a loop of clear mylar leader? Would this cut down on the potential damage?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Clear film leader does not absorb much radiant energy, and so would not protect your lens from overheating. Old trailers are the best bet. On average, a film print absorbs about 90% of the visible energy from the lamp, since many areas of a picture are often quite dark (high "density").

The image on the trailers also lets you judge image quality as you adjust the lens. But do use the SMPTE 35-PA (RP40) Projector Alignment film to check your final image size and image quality.

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Customer Technical Services
Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Eastman Kodak Company
Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Telephone: +1 585-477-5325 Cell: +1 585-781-4036 Fax: +1 585-722-7243
E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion