Canon HF M41 Aspect Ratio

Hi!

I am new to the forum, although I have been a confirmed Mac user for a while now, as is my whole family.

This question concerns the aspect ratio of the Canon Vixia HF M41 camcorder. The documentation says that if I shoot in the lower quality levels (LP or SP), the camera records video at 1440 by 1080, which would be ratio of 4:3. Higher quality settings record at full 1920 by 1080i, which would be a 16:9 aspect ratio. That's what the manual says. My camera always records at 16:9 at any quality setting.

Three possibilities:

1. Defective camera

2. Documentation wrong

3. Some other setting affects this. I'm still pretty new to the device, so this could be it, and I just haven't found the right setting yet.

Anyone know which it is?

Thanks!

Dave Geyer

cgbier said:

4. 1440x1080 uses non-square pixels - 1.33:1 - that's why it comes out in 16:9.

Don't shoot 1080i, btw. For computer and net, you get a better picture with 1080p

Click to expand...

Thank you cgbier! That explains the aspect ratio anomaly. With iMovie there is a workaround. I just need to (already have) marked the camera's screen, or actually the periphery so as not to harm the screen, so that I know what I'm framing when I load 16:9 as 4:3. It works.

As to the 1080i as opposed to 1080p: yes, I know that 1080i is pretty much obsolete for anything I'm doing. Sadly, the manual states (pages 87 and 194) that even when set for 30p or 24p, the camera converts and stores 60i. I don't regard this as a serious problem, as the conversion when editing is, I believe, non-lossy. Of course I save the final version of everything as 30p, as that is my favorite look.