WTF is 'Open Gate' and do you really need it on your camera?

Guitarist stands on stage beneath blue lights, with white, green and red rectangles used to show 9:16, 16:9 and 3:2 aspect ratios respectively

'Open gate' provides more pixels in which to crop in post-production (Image credit: Future / Mike Harris)

Panasonic Lumix has been leading the charge when it comes to 'open-gate' interchangeable lens hybrid cameras, such as the Panasonic Lumix S5 IIX and the recently released Panasonic Lumix GH7. But many of the best cameras for filmmaking – including devices from Blackmagic and Fujifilm – are making the most of this trendy filmmaking feature, too.

'Open gate' may have only entered the lexicon of consumer camera videographers in the past few years, but it's nothing new. The best cinema cameras have featured 'open gate' technology for decades, in both film and digital. In fact, the etymology of 'open gate' can be traced back to the physical film gates found on the movie cameras of old.

Simply put, 'open gate' allows the camera to record the entirety of the sensor. "But my Sony FX3 can record uncropped 4K/60p," I hear you say. Well, uncropped 4K refers to the full width of the sensor being used, but not the full height. This is because most cameras record video in a 16:9 aspect ratio, regardless of the dimensions of the sensor. Micro Four Thirds sensors are 4:3 and full-frame and APS-C sensors are 3:2.

Even if you intend to convert your image to 16:9, the additional pixels can prove useful. Say you're filming the first kiss at a wedding and you've left a little too much space above the groom’s head. Without 'open gate', you’ve got no room to maneuver because the pixels simply don’t exist. But with 'open gate' – providing you framed the scene adequately – you can move that 16:9 crop right to the top or bottom of the 4:3 or 3:2 footage.

'Open gate' can help mitigate the need to crop into anamorphic footage, too. Anamorphic lenses use specialist cylindrical optics to squeeze a super-wide image onto the film or sensor. Today, this image is then digitally stretched out in post to form the lens type's distinctive field of view. 'Open gate' can provide better anamorphic capture, since you get to 'de-squeeze' an image recorded with the full verticality of the sensor.

Videographers have got by with consumer video/hybrid cameras, without 'open gate' for years. So no, 'open gate' isn’t a necessity. But if you're a videographer who delivers traditional 16:9 video footage and social-media-friendly 9:16 or 1:1 footage, then 'open gate' could prove a very useful asset. Especially if your preference is to shoot for each aspect ratio separately, a time-consuming process.

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Mike is Digital Camera World's How To Editor. He has over a decade of experience, writing for some of the biggest specialist publications including Digital Camera, Digital Photographer and PhotoPlus: The Canon Magazine. Prior to DCW, Mike was Deputy Editor of N-Photo: The Nikon Magazine and Production Editor at Wex Photo Video, where he sharpened his skills in both the stills and videography spheres. While he's an avid motorsport photographer, his skills extend to every genre of photography – making him one of Digital Camera World's top tutors for techniques on cameras, lenses, tripods, filters and other imaging equipment – as well as sharing his expertise on shooting everything from portraits and landscapes to abstracts and architecture to wildlife and, yes, fast things going around race tracks...

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WTF is 'Open Gate' and do you really need it on your camera?

What is 'open gate'?

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Do you really need 'open gate'?

What cameras shoot 'open gate'

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