DARK NIGHT RISES: SHOT ON STILL LENSES

[Will Keir]

That's interesting Morrison, something to think about. Thanks.

I've been reading the latest issue of American Cinematographer, and I was struck by this:

Turns out, a majority of the Imax shots in The Dark Night Rises were shot with highly cinevised medium format still lenses, mostly Hasselblads and Mamiyas:



They go on to add they also used Mamiya lenses, and that Panavision technicians were brought in to overhaul all the optics and cinevize them.

In light of the endless debate about still lenses vs PL glass, I thought this admission that one of our generations greatest action films was (begrudgingly) shot on STILL glass an interesting twist to the discussion.

Clearly, the lenses had problems. But optically...they seem to have held up.

Of course, this particular scenario speaks as much to the paucity of Imax lenses that exist, but they used still lenses nonetheless.

 

[Bill Anderson]

Just wanted to add - those lenses are several grades above what you would see out of a Canon or Nikon still lens. I'm not shocked at all.

This is not true.


It is understandable that medium format lenses would be considered an option when one is shooting 70mm film, since these lenses can cover the frame size, but medium format stills glass tends not to be any better than decent and widely available 35mm stills glass, including many of the old ( cheap as borscht) Nikon manual focus lenses. So, unless you have a sensor area that cannot be adequately covered by 35mm stills glass, medium format lenses will offer few, if any, benefits. Subjective values like "character" are another thing.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

Back in the days of Optical VFX (think "Hunt for Red October" and Joel Schumacher's "Batman" movies) the Vista-Vision plates were shot with Nikkor AIS manual lenses. The Nikkor 55mm Macro was a favorite. I have a couple sitting on my shelf from those days. Also the original IMAX cameras (early 1980's) had a Hasselblad lens mounts and off-the-shelf hasselblad lenses where used.

Bruce Johnson
bruce@bdjohnson.net

 

[Nick Morrison]

Back in the days of Optical VFX (think "Hunt for Red October" and Joel Schumacher's "Batman" movies) the Vista-Vision plates were shot with Nikkor AIS manual lenses. The Nikkor 55mm Macro was a favorite. I have a couple sitting on my shelf from those days.

Bruce Johnson
bruce@bdjohnson.net

Funny you mention this....a sales rep at B&H's used dept told me earlier this year that all the VFX plates for Star Wars: A New Hope were (similarly) shot on Nikon stills glass.

 

[Nick Morrison]

This is not true.


It is understandable that medium format lenses would be considered an option when one is shooting 70mm film, since these lenses can cover the frame size, but medium format stills glass tends not to be any better than decent and widely available 35mm stills glass, including many of the old ( cheap as borscht) Nikon manual focus lenses. So, unless you have a sensor area that cannot be adequately covered by 35mm stills glass, medium format lenses will offer few, if any, benefits. Subjective values like "character" are another thing.

Bill, I've heard and seen much the same thing. I own both Contax and Hasselblad glass, and my Hassy's look no sharper than the Contax. Both were made during the same era by Zeiss, and have almost matching serial numbers.

What's more, I've generally been told that...as a rule of thumb...the larger the image circle...the harder it is to get SHARPER. You have to cover that much more negative. Which is why 16mm lenses can (at times) be technically sharper than their S35mm counterparts. They have a smaller image circle to etch on to...and generally speaking they are positioned CLOSER to the negative, which can make sharpness easier and lets in more light (so they are faster).

Conversely, Medium Format glass isn't necessarily sharper than Full Frame glass. In fact, sometimes it can technically be a little less so.

But in the end the larger negatives make this all a mute issue. When you print down from a Medium Format negative, the massive resolution creates incredibly detailed prints (just like RED's oversampling from 4k to 1080...it's the same concept).