hvx 200 focal length comparison to a SLR

clearview4545

clearview4545

Member
I understand the the hvx as a smaller chip compared to a film 35mm camera. I put my HVX 200 at 4:3 and look through the viewfinder of my pentax spotmatic (55mm lens). To get the equivalent focal length i needed to put my HVX200 at 4.2mm. I did it again with a 300mm lens on my pentax and noticed that it was close or equivalent to 55mm on my hvx200.

Is this correct. Has anyone done this test before? If it is true why can't I get SDOF as I do on a 35mm camera. Lastly, if i get a lens adapter like the letus extreme and put a 55mm lens on it will I get the same focal length as I would on my pentax spotmatic.

Please Help.
 
If it is true why can't I get SDOF as I do on a 35mm camera.
Click to expand...
Should be obvious -- because you're using a 4.2mm lens instead of a 55mm lens. The longer the focal length, the shallower the apparent DOF; 4.2mm will be much, much deeper DOF than 55mm will.

Lastly, if i get a lens adapter like the letus extreme and put a 55mm lens on it will I get the same focal length as I would on my pentax spotmatic.
Click to expand...
Yes, depending on how far you zoom into the ground glass. Of course, you don't really actually want that -- if you're trying to emulate the look of the movies, you want to emulate the field of view of a movie camera, not a still camera, and that means you'd be looking at a tighter field of view (the 35mm movie frame size is 1/2 the size of the 35mm still-frame size).
 
why is the 55mm so narrow?

why is the 55mm so narrow?

Why are the angle views so different? why is a 55mm on a still so wide, and a 55mm on the HVX so Narrow and tight? How does this compare to a 16mm Arri or a 35mm Panavision? Thanks for the reply, Its just that I'm coming from the photography field and dont understand why this is so?
 
To your reply earlier I understand DOF but just dont understand so much the field of view change? Is their a chart to show this compared to an ARRI 16mm to the HVX200 or any other camera?
 
55mm is just a focal length of the lens. sensor size also comes into play when calculating FOV. Same reason an DSLR with APS sized sensor has different FOV than a full frame 35mm still film camera. And why a 35mm cinema camera has an even different field of view than that.
 
It's because the size of the sensor is so much smaller in the video cameras. The 35mm still camera has a sensor that's 36mm x 24mm. A 1/3" video camera has a sensor that's about 5mm x 3mm.

So, take that same lens, and have it project an image onto a piece of 36x24mm slide film, right? Then take a pair of scissors and cut out a section out of the center of that; cut out a section that's 5mm x 3mm. That's what the video camera would see, using the same lens. So you have to use a much, much wider focal length to get an equivalent field of view, because the sensor is so much smaller.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top