I'm new to photography...can't figure this out!

I'm filming myself with a Canon HV30 camcorder and I've hooked it up with a small TV monitor so I can see myself as I film and I look ok. Yet when I dump this footage onto my Apple iMac, my face look slightly wider, "bulkier", and less attractive. I'm not sure if the iMovie program is doing it because it's what's capturing the footage. Or maybe the lights.

It's Weird, since the iCam built into the computer makes my face look thinner which is what I'm looking for but I have to film with the Canon.

I'm wondering if there's any kind of camera lens or filter that can sort of "shrink" or make thinner the subject that's being filmed...kind of like what a car side-view mirror does or those "thinning" mirrors in the changing rooms of clothing stores as opposed to a "bulking" mirror at gyms.

I'm a novice to photography and I was thinking if a telephoto lens does it...but from what I read, they seem to do the opposite.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks

Ever watch a Cinemascope movie on TV when it was broadcast without the corrective lens being used so that the whole frame fit into the TV screen (they usually did this at the beginning and the ending of the movie when showing the title and credits in their entirety). Everybody and everything looked taller and skinnier than they really were. Maybe you can find a similar type of lens (anamorphic lens) for your camera.

Thanks Leo, but that's not really what I meant. That just sqeezes the image. I think what I want is a lens that "refracts" the image. I'm including a photo to show you what I mean. The lens that those glasses are doing is exactly what I'm looking for.

But something that will fit over the lens of my Canon NIXIA HV 30 camcorder.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

All you did was make the image smaller but the proportions of the things in the image are still the same, i.e. a large person will still be large. If all you want to do is get the same effect as you showed in the image above, just get a wide angle attachment for the lens. That's what I do on my camcorder if I want to shoot a roomful of people and I can't back away far enough to get everybody in.

I think you need to address the image as seen on your monitor and not the image that your are recording on your camera.
Or.....diet heavily.

Hmmm.

I'm certainly no expert, but I don't think this is a lens issue, but a format problem.

Have you checked the video formats of your camcorder and iMac?

Different formats have different aspect ratios...anything recorded in NTSC will look funny if it's "forced" into another format (such as PAL) on a PC - and visa versa - because it's literally being stretched to fit. The small TV is probably displaying OK because it's the same format as the camera.

You don't have a location listed in your profile so it's hard to know what your 'native' format will be, but in Australia (and other PAL countries), this trap is easy to fall into, as a lot of cameras and software default to the NTSC format.

Check both your source file (camera footage) and destination formatting and ensure they are the same.

(BTW; I think you'll find the footage from the in-built camera in your iMac looks different due to the tiny lenses those things have, and is an unrelated issue.)