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Stupid Question I should probably know the answer to...


mercer
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Being interested mainly in narrative filmmaking, I obviously love the Super 35mm aesthetic. Growing up watching letterboxed movies, I also have a soft spot for 2:35 letterboxed. So my question is, if I were to shoot in full frame and then letterbox the 16:9 image to 2:35, does that give me a field of view closer to that of Super 35mm or is it exactly that?

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1 hour ago, Nikkor said:

No, fullframe is using Film horizontally (24mm high) , super35 uses film vertically (24mm or less wide).

Field of view?

I mean, if I use a full frame 28mm lens on an APS-C (Super 35mm) camera it will give a FOV of a 42mm... give or take. So if I use a full frame 28mm lens on a full frame camera and then crop the 16:9 frame to 2:35 will that give me closer to a Super 35mm lens field of view?

The vertical/horizontal difference between full frame and super 35mm brings up another question... if full frame is square 4:3, then when we discuss full frame video, it no longer coincides with "actual" full frame because the 16:9 video is technically no longer the shape of 35mm still film... correct? I'm probably over thinking this... Lol.

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Crop APS-C to 2.35:1 and you'll be very close. Full frame is a much bigger sensor. Doesn't matter much given lens equivalencies, though. There are f1.2 and f1.8 prime sets for Super35 you can't get for APS-C so a full frame look might be closer in some cases, not that most people are shooting wide open (generally f2.8-f5.6 from what I have experienced).

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27 minutes ago, mercer said:

I mean, if I use a full frame 28mm lens on an APS-C (Super 35mm) camera it will give a FOV of a 42mm... give or take. So if I use a full frame 28mm lens on a full frame camera and then crop the 16:9 frame to 2:35 will that give me closer to a Super 35mm lens field of view?

The vertical/horizontal difference between full frame and super 35mm brings up another question... if full frame is square 4:3, then when we discuss full frame video, it no longer coincides with "actual" full frame because the 16:9 video is technically no longer the shape of 35mm still film... correct? I'm probably over thinking this... Lol.

A7s is 12mp FF 3:2 and 10mp FF in 16:9     Video is always 16:9.

M4/3 cameras often have a greater range of aspect ratios so might be easier to test with.     GX7 has 4:3 16mp, 3:2 14mp, 16:9 12mp and 1:1 11.5mp ( I have mine set to 3:2 mostly lately).

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6 minutes ago, hyalinejim said:

I think I understand your question. Are you asking if full frame 2.35 has a similar vertical FOV to APSC 16:9?

Yes, that's exactly what I am asking, thanks for the interpretation. Basically I have a credit at BH and with the credit I plan on buying a camera that will solely be used for narrative filmmaking for the next year or two. As of now, I am torn between 3 possible choices... the GH5 for all of its features and the 4K 60p. The not yet released or announced Nikon D7300 because it's supposed to have 4K and maybe some other features. And finally I am thinking it may be smart to just go with 5D Mark iii and shoot ML Raw. I have not seen any footage from the GH5 or other camera in its price range that is remotely as good. But since I have never shot full frame, I am curious how my Nikkors will look on it when cropped to 2:35. 

Thanks

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@mercer interesting question idk

i wouldve said that there isnt a field of view crop factor because youre only losing the top and bottom of the image –  a wide angle lens is equally wide, theres just less of it

now im questioning that tho lolol. where am i wrong?

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10 minutes ago, kaylee said:

@mercer interesting question idk

i wouldve said that there isnt a field of view crop factor because youre only losing the top and bottom of the image –  a wide angle lens is equally wide, theres just less of it

now im questioning that tho lolol. where am i wrong?

Well, that's an interesting answer. And now I'm even more confused. Damn you.

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zCmgMXM.png

 

Only when cropping your fullframe sensor, then enlarging the crop, then taking the right aspect ratio crop/adding of letterbox, will you get the same field of view.

But... in video you're recording at a fixed resolution, 1080p or 4K. So, if you crop in on that, you're going to throw away resolution. Not sure why you'd want to do that. :grin:

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2 minutes ago, Cinegain said:

zCmgMXM.png

 

Only when cropping your fullframe sensor, then enlarging the crop, then taking the right aspect ratio crop/adding of letterbox, will you get the same field of view.

But... in video you're recording at a fixed resolution, 1080p or 4K. So, if you crop in on that, you're going to throw away resolution. Not sure why you'd want to do that. :grin:

I think most videos look more cinematic letterboxed and I need every bit of help I can get. 

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4 hours ago, mercer said:

I am just curious what the lens crop is when you crop full frame 16:9 to 2:35 letterboxed. 

Not much point thinking in crop factor when you can use aspect ratio and understand immediately how that changes the picture

For me a 2x crop sensor will be a 2x crop sensor

And 2.35:1 is 2.35:1 not 2.5x crop, which would be confusing and pointless :)

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11 minutes ago, Zak Forsman said:

i'm not sure whats happening here. but does this help? you can compare FOV between Super 35 film and a full frame sensor.

https://www.abelcine.com/fov/

I think it must be a dumb question because I was just curious how much cropping off the top and bottom of a 16:9 full frame with 2:35 letter boxed would affect the FOV of  my full frame lenses... I realize I wouldn't lose anything in the horizontal FOV but the vertical FOV is cut off... so my Nikkor 28mm cannot be a true 28mm FOV any longer... correct? But like Andrew said, I have to think ratio rather than crop factor.

I have some time this spring, summer and fall to make some micro shorts. After testing a half dozen cameras over the past six months, I realize I need to get away from consumer 8 bit. After 2 bad BMPCCs (one was a unit, one was a sale) I've decided that BM cams aren't for me either. The only 8 bit camera's IQ I like are Nikon's but I don't want to spend so much money on old tech for an 8 bit camera that is kind of a pain in the ass to shoot with... so that leaves me with the GH5 and the Mark III with ML Raw. The GH5 is the easy route with lots of tech, but after watching a ton of videos, from both cameras, I haven't seen a GH5 video that looks anywhere near as good as this...

So since I've never shot full frame, I was just curious how my Nikkor lenses would look FF when letterboxed.

Anyway, thanks Zak!

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Yeah, I would think it doesn't change the focal length when the height changes in the field of view. But it's weird. It's like the opposite of the concept of using anamorphic lenses, where you actually make the frame wider with the same vertical framing. While, when letterboxing, you'll want to keep getting wider lenses and backing up to keep the same vertical framing. Not sure how to do that math.. the fishiest fish eye lens can act as a normal focal length when you letterbox enough. You could take your own references, and consider the sides cut off as well when you cut off the top and the bottom to find out about what it would be equivalent to. 

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