The Aesthetic (part 2)

[kye]

There is a time for a clean aesthetic.  There is a time for a more timeless more filmic aesthetic.  There are times for a far grittier aesthetic too.

Those who have been following my other thread will know I've mostly got my travel / walk-around AF setup nailed.  
(GH7 and GX85 bodies combined with the 14-140mm zoom, 12-35mm F2.8 zoom, 9mm F1.7, and 14mm F2.5 pancake lens)
This setup will give a relatively clean starting point which can be graded to create a pretty wide range of looks.  

However, not everything can be achieved in post.

I have also collected a bunch of modern MF lenses and vintage lenses over the years and these might be useful in creating other looks that I can't do in post with the above kit.  So I'm trying to work out if I should just archive them or if they're still good for anything I want to do, and if so, what might that be?

I've looked through my continually growing collection of lens comparisons, but found nothing conclusive.  Thus begins a moderately sized lens / camera test...

The setups included in the test are below.  The details in brackets are the FF equivalents.  

• OG BMPCC + 12-35mm F2.8 (35-100mm F8.0)
  This setup is included as I think it will be a reference for the rest of the setups (at worst) and might end up becoming part of my standard kit (at best).
   
• GF3 + 15mm F8 (30mm F16)
  This setup is included as it's essentially a modern Super-8mm camera, and considering it is absolutely tiny and takes the same batteries as the GX85 it's almost inconsequential to bring on a trip.
   
• GX85 with:
  • Modern: Panasonic 12-35mm F2.8 (24-70mm F5.6)
  • Modern: Panasonic 14mm F2.5 (28mm F5)
  • Modern: Panasonic 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 (28-84mm F7.0-11.2)
  • Modern MF: TTartisans 17mm F1.4 (34mm F2.8)
  • Vintage: Cosmicar 12.5mm F1.9 SB (36mm F5.5)
  • Modern MF: Voigtlander 17.5mm F0.95 (35mm F1.9)
  • Vintage: SB + Yashica 28mm F2.8 (40mm F4.0)
  • Vintage: SB + Tokina 28-70mm F3.5-4.5 (40-100mm F5.0-6.4)
  • Vintage: SB + Takumar 35mm F3.5 (50mm F5)
  • Vintage: SB + Mir-1B 37mm F2.8 (53mm F4)
  • Vintage: SB + Takumar 55mm F1.8 (78mm F2.6)
  • Vintage: SB + Helios 44M 58mm F2.0 (82mm F2.8)
  • Modern MF: Voigtländer 42.5mm f0.95 (85mm F1.9)
  • Modern MF: TTartisans 50mm f1.2 (100mm F2.4)

I haven't included all my lenses, but the ones I have omitted have been included in other tests previously and are broadly similar to ones I have included, so if they become interesting as a result of this test I have some more reference materials. 

I watched a doco on Netflix the other day called Attack on London, and was really inspired by the look of the 'recreation' images they have obviously filmed for the doc, and seem to have used one of the filthiest anamorphic lenses around (and potentially added more dirt in post as well).  Here are some screenshots..  These might not have been streamed at the highest bitrate available, but I don't care - they look great and have so much texture and feel.

This isn't the exact aesthetic I'm going for, but it's one that I saw recently that has a lot of texture and FEEL.  My hope is to work out what the ingredients are to getting this kind of feel and then work out when I would want it and then work backwards to what equipment and processes I'd use to get it.

My initial impressions (guesses) are that the ingredients are:

• shallower DoF
• lower levels of sharpness
• decent amounts of grain
• film colours (especially having a tint and having subtractive sat)

The above images have more elements to them than this, but I don't care much for things like CA etc, so I don't think they're part of the minimum required elements.

I plan to shoot comparisons with the setups above in a range of different scenarios and then see what I can see, before moving onto the post workflows and what role those play.

[QuickHitRecord]

I always enjoy your posts, Kye. Threads like this are keeping this forum alive.

This new Resolve plugin seems relevant to the discussion. I just downloaded a copy of this last night and had a play. It can't really affect bokeh much without a depth map (as shown, you can have AI generate one for you in Resolve), but even without it, the other characteristics can help create a unique aesthetic. It's a handy tool to have for those projects that won't allow for real vintage glass to be used -- which at least for me, seems to be most of them these days.