Why Bigger is Better (but not much else) S35mm vs. Alexa LF Comparison

Grug

Grug

Veteran
G'day everyone,

So, I compared some stuff and wrote a thing:

http://dreamsmiths.com.au/blog/why-bigger-is-better-but-not-much-else

If you're interested in the objective differences of large format cinematography to regular S35mm images, you might find it worthwhile.

It's a quick test comparing regular S35mm Alexa, matched for both field of view and depth of field against the shiny new Vistavision-sized sensor of the Alexa LF, using spherical lenses.

If you click through to the vimeo link, you can download the full 4.4k ProResHQ file in all its glory, which I'd highly recommend pulling into a piece of grading software to look at up close.

The test certainly helped clarify a few things for me. Hopefully it'll be of some use to other people too.

Cheers,

Mark
 
Thank you.

My theory is that once you match field of view and depth of field between the two formats, there is no discernible difference, only an improvement in image quality as your sensor size gets larger.
Click to expand...

Yes! A longer lens doesn't make a subject look more compressed against its background. The camera's distance from the subject does. All a longer lens does is crop it more.
 
combatentropy said:
Thank you.

Yes! A longer lens doesn't make a subject look more compressed against its background. The camera's distance from the subject does. All a longer lens does is crop it more.
Click to expand...

Yep, it's that base level understanding of the interplay of subject distance to focal length to format size that really matters. And fortunately, I think we're finally starting to get a clearer understanding of precisely how that interplay works between varying sensor sizes.

There's a whole bunch of reasons to want to shoot things on a larger format, and it'll certainly be my preference wherever possible moving forward, (now that these larger format cameras are finally out in the wild). But the difference now, is that I properly understand what those benefits actually are, and I no longer feel blinded by vague mutterings of what I'm actually getting from the larger format.
 
Nice test, thanks for posting. As expected: same image, but with twice the pixels. Which is absolutely perfect.
 
Yeah, I'm not interested in absolute values.

Just to see if there are any differences between f/4 and f/5.6.
 
You do get different choices too - 18/2ff you won't really get on s35

The main thing was cheap dslr lenses being optimised for ff but that's not really relevant at Alexa cash level
 
morgan_moore said:
You do get different choices too - 18/2ff you won't really get on s35

The main thing was cheap dslr lenses being optimised for ff but that's not really relevant at Alexa cash level
Click to expand...
Oh the beauty of speedboosters. Put that 18mm f2 on a s35 cam with a speed booster and you have 14mm f`1.3 lens
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top