35 mm film

35 mm film is the basic film format most commonly used for both still photography and motion pictures, and remains relatively unchanged since its introduction in 1889 by Thomas Edison. The photographic film is cut into strips 35 millimeters wide, with six perforations per inch (4.23 mm per perforation) along both edges.

Technical specifications

Technical specifications for 35 mm film are standardized by SMPTE.

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• 16 frames per foot (19 mm per frame)
• 1000 feet = about 11 minutes at 24 frame/s
• vertical pulldown
• 4 perforations per frame (except if using 3-perf for origination)

35 mm spherical

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• 1.37 aspect ratio on camera negative; 1.85 and 1.66 are hard or soft matted over this
• camera aperture: 0.866 by 0.630 in (22 by 16 mm)
• projector aperture (full 1.37): 0.825 by 0.602 in (21 by 15 mm)
• projector aperture (1.66): 0.825 by 0.497 in (21 by 13 mm)
• projector aperture (1.85): 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

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• 1.33 aspect ratio on camera negative
• camera aperture: 0.980" by 0.735"
• picture used (35 mm anamorphic): 0.945" (24.00 mm) by 0.394" (10.00 mm)
• picture used (70 mm blowup): 0.945" (24.00 mm) by 0.430" (10.92 mm)
• picture used (35 mm flat 1.85): 0.945" (24.00 mm) by 0.511" (12.97 mm)

35mm anamorphic

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• 2.40 aspect ratio, horizontal squeezed to fit 1.37 camera negative
• camera aperture: 0.866" (22.00 mm) by 0.732" (18.59 mm)
• projector aperture: 0.825" (20.96 mm) by 0.690" (17.53 mm)