ProfessorU
Veteran
I am having a dilemma choosing a format and camera for my stop-motion miniature senior project. I had an idea in mind, but every time I explain it to someone (most notably the professor who will be grading the project), they tell me I'm way off-base and everyone suggests a different way to do it. I'm going to explain it here, and maybe I'll get some answers that make a little more sense to me.
The final look is going to be black and white, sort of a mock-german-expressionist vibe (think Tim Burton's Vincent crossed with Wallace and Grommit). We would like to have a 16:9 finished product however. I'd love to be able to do a 35mm print if we submit to festivals, and I might be able to afford it since the final length will be under two minutes.
My professor suggested a CP-16 regular 16mm camera with single frame advance, shot 16:9 safe.
The guy who runs the equipment checkout suggested a MiniDV camera with a 1/3" chip and single frame capability.
One of the guys on my team suggested a high-end dSLR.
I think we should use a point-and-shoot camera like the Canon PowerShot S5 IS.
I think the smaller sensor size on the point and shoot is an advantage, because our subjects are 1/12th scale. We should be able to get DOF to approximate a scaled-down 35mm camera without having to stop down to ridiculous levels and flood the set with light (or, to put it another way, since all our shots will be macro, we'd like to keep the set only slightly fuzzy). We can make digital tweaks to the high resolution image to make it look like tri-x reversal or double-x negative in post.
Does a smaller sensor size make sense here, or am I shooting myself in the foot? And is working on film as big a pain in the ass as I think it will be? And won't most of the advantages of the dSLR (low noise, sensitivity) be relatively worthless in a controlled lighting environment?
The final look is going to be black and white, sort of a mock-german-expressionist vibe (think Tim Burton's Vincent crossed with Wallace and Grommit). We would like to have a 16:9 finished product however. I'd love to be able to do a 35mm print if we submit to festivals, and I might be able to afford it since the final length will be under two minutes.
My professor suggested a CP-16 regular 16mm camera with single frame advance, shot 16:9 safe.
The guy who runs the equipment checkout suggested a MiniDV camera with a 1/3" chip and single frame capability.
One of the guys on my team suggested a high-end dSLR.
I think we should use a point-and-shoot camera like the Canon PowerShot S5 IS.
I think the smaller sensor size on the point and shoot is an advantage, because our subjects are 1/12th scale. We should be able to get DOF to approximate a scaled-down 35mm camera without having to stop down to ridiculous levels and flood the set with light (or, to put it another way, since all our shots will be macro, we'd like to keep the set only slightly fuzzy). We can make digital tweaks to the high resolution image to make it look like tri-x reversal or double-x negative in post.
Does a smaller sensor size make sense here, or am I shooting myself in the foot? And is working on film as big a pain in the ass as I think it will be? And won't most of the advantages of the dSLR (low noise, sensitivity) be relatively worthless in a controlled lighting environment?
