Why does my image seem out of proportion?

Question

I have noticed that my head appears too elongated in comparison to my shoulders on my camcorder videos. So far, I have shot all my videos in 16.9 widescreen. Any suggestions for fixing this problem?

Answer 1

Sounds like your camcorder has a wide angle lens. If it's a cheap one it's probably optimized for medium to far away shots. If it has a telephoto, play around with the Wide/Zoom angle adjustment and ty to find the setting that makes you look in proportion!

On regular film cameras they use a 50mm lens for regular shots and a 110mm lens for natural looking portraits. Thtas why old TV cameras used to have two or three different lenses that spun around on the front!

Otherwise it tends to distort the proportions.

Answer 2

-If you're shooting in widescreen, are you also playing back in widescreen?

-What kind of TV are you using?

If you're using a 4:3 (standard definition ratio) TV, you will likely have to change a setting on your TV to play your video back in 16:9, or an option on your camcorder to play back your video in 16:9, but letterboxed for 4:3 TV.

A camcorder model and a TV model (or at least type) would be very helpful.