35 Mm Film - Technical Specifications

Technical Specifications

Technical specifications for 35 mm film are standardized by SMPTE.

• 16 frames per foot (0.748 in (19 mm) per frame (long pitch))
• 24 frames per second (frame/s); 90 feet (27 m) per minute. 1,000 feet (300 m) is about 11 minutes at 24 frame/s.
• vertical pulldown
• 4 perforations per frame (all projection and most origination excepting 3-perf)

35 mm spherical

• aspect ratio: 1.375:1 on camera aperture; 1.85:1 and 1.66:1 are hard or soft matted over this
• camera aperture: 0.866 by 0.630 in (22 by 16 mm)
• projector aperture (full 1.375:1): 0.825 by 0.602 in (21 by 15 mm)
• projector aperture (1.66:1): 0.825 by 0.497 in (21 by 13 mm)
• projector aperture (1.85:1): 0.825 by 0.446 in (21 by 11 mm)
• TV station aperture: 0.816 by 0.612 in (21 by 16 mm)
• TV transmission: 0.792 by 0.594 in (20 by 15 mm)
• TV safe action: 0.713 by 0.535 in (18 by 14 mm); corner radii: 0.143 in (3.6 mm)
• TV safe titles: 0.630 by 0.475 in (16 by 12 mm); corner radii: 0.125 in (3.2 mm)

Super 35 mm film

• aspect ratio: 1.33:1 on 4-perf camera aperture
• camera aperture (4-perf): 0.980" by 0.735" (25 by 19mm)
• picture used (35 mm anamorphic): 0.945 in (24.00 mm) by 0.394 in (10.00 mm)
• picture used (70 mm blowup): 0.945 in (24.00 mm) by 0.430 in (10.92 mm)
• picture used (35 mm flat 1.85): 0.945 in (24.00 mm) by 0.511 in (12.97 mm)

35 mm anamorphic

• aspect ratio: 2.39:1, in a 1.19:1 frame with a 2× horizontal anamorphosis
• camera aperture: 0.866 in (22.00 mm) by 0.732 in (18.59 mm)
• projector aperture: 0.825 in (20.96 mm) by 0.690 in (17.53 mm)