Hello. I have a 2.0Ghz iMac G5 with 2GB of RAM. I'm running 10.4.2 and
using Final Cut Express for video editing. I also have a Sony TRV 900
MiniDV camcorder and a Century Optics 16:9 widescreen adapter that I
use with the camera to capture anamorphic footage.

I have a very specific set of questions as they relate to creating
letterboxed anamorphic footage with the correct aspect ratio in Final
Cut Express.

My current workflow is as follows: I capture my footage from my
camcorder, create an anamorphic sequence, flag all of my imported
footage as anamorphic, bring my clips into my timeline to make my
movie, and render everything. After rendering, I output the timeline
as a QuickTime using full-quality (default 720x480 frame size) and
compress with Animation (for losless compression.)

Then, I import the QuickTime I've created. I make sure to flag the
imported QuickTime as anamorphic. Then, I import it into a NEW 4:3
sequence. Voila, my movie is now letterboxed.

HOWEVER, my footage always has the wrong aspect ratio. My footage is
stretched and the people on it do not look natural.

Can you help?

An acceptable answer to this question is an exact series of steps to
follow (a workflow) in Final Cut Express in order to achieve my
desired result. I should say that cropping the footage (through using
the Motion tab or anything else) or using FCE's Widescreen filter to
block out part of the frame to achieve the letterboxing is not
acceptable.

Thanks. Shoot me a note if you'd like any more clarification.