Test Shoot: GH13 vs 35mm Film

cordvision

cordvision

Well-known member
We did a test shoot comparing different stocks in 35mm against each other. I decided last minute to roll a 7D and a GH13 alongside with it. So far I saw the GH13 footage (digital projector) and the 35mm footage (projected from a print). Here are some purely subjective observations (not scientific at all). This test was shot with a locked down camera, which was in favor of the GH13.

On an 8 foot screen, both are reasonably sharp, there's not a huge difference between the two. The GH13 footage (nostalgic setting) is definitely contrastier compared to 35mm (we shot Kodak 5213/5217/5260/5219). Film holds detail quite a bit better in the shadows. The noise/grain level is generally very similar (shooting at the same ISO as the film stock). I would say that the GH13 at ISO200 has about the same amount of noise or even less than the 5213 has grain. At ISO 500, the GH13 appears to produce more noise than a 500 ISO film stock. The main issue was the vertical streaking of the GH13. I felt that our tungsten lighting combined with a medium grey background really emphasized the vertical streaks, up to a point were they became really distracting.

All in all, I was surprised how well it held up, but the vertical streaking was unacceptable at times. Film still has this magical quality to it that is hard to explain, which even high end digital cameras can't truly replicate. I'm looking forward to see this footage projected on a big screen in a real theater...
 
Yeah, it would be interesting to see some grabs. Do you think the 7d or GH1 could intercut well?
 
We didn't scan the film yet, so I can't post grabs for comparison.

AdrianF: I guess it comes down to how you intercut it. If you are willing to crush the blacks and make the 35mm footage a bit more contrastier, I think they will intercut fine (at least for a smaller screen, the question is how sharpness will hold up on the big screen). It's hard for me to say how the GH13 will hold up color wise. We primarily looked at skin tones in our test, and film seems to render skin tones a little bit more natural than the GH13. The GH13 tends in my opinion to go a little bit too much towards orange when it comes to skin tones. As I said earlier, those are all very subjective observations I made by watching to footage on a relatively small screen.
 
Do you think lowering contrast / using Smooth mode on GH1 can make up for the shadow detail?

I know what you mean about orange skin tones. I notice this in general about film vs digital. Film skin tones seem extremely neutral and more towards the green side but somehow still warm. It's impossible to get any digital looking exactly like this without turning the whole image white balance too green or cold, and I'm not sure why.

The other thing about film "magic" is that digital is very good at resolving medium-small details up to its Nyquist, then it just stops resolving all details smaller. Film seems to be able to resolve details that are actually smaller than the film's grain size even though medium details are slightly less sharp. This could be an illusion based on the way the grain works, but I like it, and I wish we could mimic it in digital. It gives an overall look of more real detail.
 
I hope we will be able to shoot a better test in the near future. This test was designed to compare different film stocks, and how they hold up when underexposed, so we didn't have a lot of highlights. I'll let you guys know if we find time to shoot an actual test that compares HDSLRs vs film...
 
i was expecting to see some grabs too! lol, i forgot about getting film processed and scanned lol
we have it so easy these days, respect to the old school guys!
 
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