page_title: IMAX
section_title: Dome and Omnimax
hierarchical_section_title: IMAX / Variations / Dome and Omnimax
caption_attribution_description: Español: vista lateral del Museo del Planetario Alfa en Monterrey N.L. México, sede de IMAX Dome desde 1978 English: lateral view of Museum of Planetario Alfa, Monterrey N.L. México, IMAX Dome since 1978
context_page_description: IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio and steep stadium seating.
  Graeme Ferguson, Roman Kroitor, Robert Kerr, and William C. Shaw were the co-founders of what would be named the IMAX Corporation, and they developed the first IMAX cinema projection standards in the late 1960s and early 1970s in Canada. Unlike conventional film projectors, the film runs horizontally so that the image width can be greater than the width of the film stock.
context_section_description: In the late-1960s, the San Diego Hall of Science (now known as the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center) began searching North America for a large-format film system to project on the dome of their planned 23.16 m (76.0 ft) tilted dome planetarium. The standard IMAX projector was unsuitable for use inside a dome because it had a 3.65 m (12.0 ft) tall lamp house on top. IMAX Corporation redesigned its system, adding an elevator to lift the projector to the center of the dome from the projection booth below. Spectra Physics designed a suitable lamphouse that took smaller, 46 cm (18 in) lamps and placed the bulb behind the lens instead of above the projector. In 1970, Ernst Leitz Canada, Ltd. (now ELCAN Optical Technologies) won a contract to develop and manufacture a fisheye lens projection system optimized to project an image onto a dome instead of a flat screen.
  The dome system, which the San Diego Hall of Science called "Omnimax", uses films shot with a camera equipped with a fisheye lens that squeezes a highly-distorted anamorphic 180° field of view onto the 65 mm IMAX film. The lens is aligned below the center of the frame, and most of the bottom half of the circular field falls beyond the edge of the film. The part of the field that would fall below the edge of the dome is masked. When filming, the camera is aimed upward at an angle that matches the tilt of the dome. When projected through a matching fisheye lens onto a dome, the original panoramic view is recreated. Omnimax wraps 180° horizontally, 100° above the horizon and 22° below the horizon for a viewer at the center of the dome. Omnimax premiered in 1973, showing Voyage to the Outer Planets (produced by Graphic Films) and Garden Isle (by Roger Tilton Films) on a double bill. IMAX has since renamed the system "IMAX Dome", but some theaters (primarily those opened before the 2000s) continue to call it "Omnimax".
  IMAX Dome theatres are used in theme parks and many North American museums, particularly those with a scientific focus, where the technical aspects of the system may be highlighted as part of the attraction. The projection room is often windowed to allow public viewing of the equipment in operation, and it is often accompanied by informational placards like other exhibits. For some theaters, before the show begins, the screen can be backlit to show the speakers and girders behind it.
  The screen may be a permanent fixture, such as at the Museum of Science and Industry (Henry Crown Space Center) in Chicago, Illinois; the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History; the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; the St. Louis Science Center; Boston's Museum of Science; Richmond's Science Museum of Virginia; the Charlotte Observer IMAX Dome Theatre at Discovery Place, Charlotte, North Carolina; Birmingham, Alabama's McWane Science Center; US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama; the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal and Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland, Ohio, and the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
  Alternatively, the dome may be lowered and raised as needed, such as at the Science Museum of Minnesota, and the former installation at the Canadian Museum of History (where it shared an auditorium with a standard IMAX screen, all replaced with a Barco CINE+ digital theatre system in 2016). The entire dome could be raised to show flat screen features, and repositioned for immersive features.
  While the majority of museum installations focus on educational and documentary films, on special occasions entertainment films are also shown, such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. The largest screen in North America is at the Science World in Vancouver, British Columbia, which has a dome screen 27 metres (89 ft) in size.
  Due to the age of the IMAX Dome format as well as its entirely analogue nature, some theatres may opt to replace their existing IMAX Dome systems with newer, more versatile digital systems. Examples of former IMAX Dome theatres that have had their IMAX equipment re
caption: Planetario Alfa, museum, astronomical observatory and IMAX Dome system, Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico
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