This page concerns itself with The Disney Studio's technical stuff. First:

Field Size Comparison: Disney vs. ACME

When looking at pre-1984 Disney art and drafts, the sizes of
Disney Fields seemed to be quite a mystery. But after some
research and calculation, in the 1980s I found these algorithms
which compare Disney fields to regular (ACME) fields which are
as wide (in inches) as the indicated field size. (1 inch = 2.54 cm)

Side note: Disney Fields are height-based, ACME Fields are width-based.
The Disney camera counter counted in increments of 1/100", with 5000 as center.

This is a little converter between field sizes. The below table includes most regular sizes.
Type a field size number in a box below, then press the TAB key or click outside the box.
Choose an aspect ratio to calculate the size of the field (*:
ACME to Disney:
Disney to ACME:
Rounded to 2 decimals. Your browser must understand JavaScript.
  Field Size Comparison Chart: Disney vs. ACME.
  (The width of an ACME Field is its number in inches). by Hans Perk, 3/23/2005  
               
  D = Disney Field, F= ACME Field, a= 8/21 (rounded 0.381), b= 21/8 (2.625)  
               
    D = a * F + 1   F= b * (D - 1)  
               
  Acme Disney   Disney Acme    
  1 1.38   1 0    
  1.5 1.57   1.25 0.66    
  2 1.76   1.5 1.31    
  2.5 1.95   1.75 1.97    
  3 2.14   2 2.63    
  3.5 2.33   2.25 3.28    
  4 2.52   2.5 3.94    
  4.5 2.71   2.75 4.59  (Min. with auth. OK)
  5 2.90   3 5.25    
  5.25 3   3.25 5.91  (Min.)
  5.75 3.19   3.5 6.56    
  6 3.29   3.75 7.22    
  6.5 3.48   4 7.88    
  7 3.67   4.25 8.53    
  7.5 3.86   4.5 9.19    
  8 4.05   4.75 9.84    
  8.5 4.24   5 10.5  (standard)
  9 4.43   5.25 11.16    
  9.5 4.62   5.5 11.81    
  10 4.81   5.75 12.47    
  10.5 5   6 13.13    
  11 5.19   6.25 13.78    
  11.5 5.38   6.5 14.44  (standard)
  12 5.57   6.75 15.09    
  12.5 5.76   7 15.75    
  13 5.95   7.25 16.41    
  13.5 6.14   7.5 17.06    
  14 6.33   7.75 17.72    
  14.5 6.52   8 18.38    
  15 6.71   8.25 19.03    
  15.5 6.90   8.5 19.69    
  15.75 7   8.75 20.34    
  16 7.10   9 21    
  16.5 7.29   9.25 21.66    
  17 7.48   9.5 22.31    
  17.5 7.67   9.75 22.97    
  18 7.86   10 23.63  (Multiplane max.)
  18.5 8.05   10.25 24.28    
  19 8.24   10.5 24.94    
  19.5 8.43   10.75 25.59    
  20 8.62   11 26.25    
  20.5 8.81   11.25 26.91    
  21 9   11.5 27.56    
  21.5 9.19   11.75 28.22    
  22 9.38   12 28.88    
Note! This is correct for Standard Academy and its Widescreen cut-off.
Disney CinemaScope Fields are calculated differently. (Use converter).

The standard paper sizes used at Disney from the 30's to the 80's were
5F paper, first at 9.5" x 12", from the mid 30's at 10" x 12" and 6.5F paper 12.5" x 15.5",
watermarked "MANAGEMENT BOND a Hammermill product".

Maximum Field sizes: 5F on 5F camera, 6.5F on 6.5F camera and
10F on Multiplane camera without animation, but 6.5F with animation.
Minimum Field size was 2 3/4 F, but an authorized OK was needed below 3 1/4 F.
(Charles Phillippi on Composition in "Studio Talks" Series 1, ca. 1937)

Top and bottom peg distance were 10 1/16" (5F) & 12 5/16" (6.5F).
Repeat pegs: flat-round-flat---flat-round-flat with 15.5" from round to round centers.
See Lee Payne's manual "Technical Problems" (1938) for pegbar setup 5F and 6.5F.

Peg systems
 SystemFrom (Short)From (Feature)To (Short)To (Feature)
A2-holePlane Crazy (1927)(N/A)Who Killed Cock Robin (1935)(N/A)
B5-holeMickey's garden (1935)Snow White (1937)Cold Turkey (Pluto, 09/1951)Cinderella (1950)
C3-holeOut of Scale (C'n'D, 11/1951)Alice in Wonderland (1951) The Black Cauldron (1985)
DACME The Great Mouse Detective (1986) (Still in use)
A: The original 2-peg system, 7/32" dia. 4" apart, about 1/4" from the paper's edge.
B: 5-hole paper, adding 3 extra holes with peg sizes as ACME except that the (1/8" high, 1/2" wide)
     outer pegs were at 3.5" (not as ACME 4") from center to the center of the middle 1/4" round peg.
C: 3-hole paper using a new punch with 5/8" wide rounded outer holes (as full-size ACME).
D: 1984 saw new management, a move to Glendale and Industry Standard ACME pegs.
N(Info found in In Toon Vol. 1 No. 2 of 1990, article "The Hole Idea" by Leslie Brooks (thanks!) 
based on info supplied by Dave Smith and Rose Motzko from the Walt Disney Archives).

Side note: the German company Crass copied Disney's peg sizes, and produced pegbars, punches and camera stands,
and sold these primarily in Europe up through the 80's. They were used in Denmark as late as in the mid 90's!
I do not know when Crass started manufacturing their animation equipment. I guess somewhere in the 40's or 50's.
Other systems include the Oxberry system which was used mainly on the US East Coast, and uses a .218" center peg
and two 1/4" square outer pegs spaced 4" apart. This type of pegs was mainly used as top pegs, while ACME pegs
often are used as Disney's pegs were used, as bottom pegs. There are many schools of thought on this subject,
and of course, "the other guys are fools for not using our system!"

The height of the fields is dependent on the aspect ratio of the system used.
Simply put, for Standard Academy, divide by 1.3756.
For Widescreen divide by 1.85 (or 1.66).
For HD 16:9 divide by 1.7778.
*) HOWEVER: For Scope/Panavision the Disney Field width is the Standard Academy HEIGHT multiplied by 2.39!

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