Switching between FF35 and S35-crop to broaden lens options?

[Mark K.]

Hey Guys,

Interested to hear your thoughts on this idea. My plan is to get a Scarlet FF35 when they eventually appear, but to keep my initial costs down I was thinking I would start out with cine-modded (de-clicked and geared) still lenses for my own kit and simply rent proper cine-glass whenever my individual production budgets allow for it.

Now it occurred to me that one possible advantage of shooting with still-lenses is the ability to switch between FF35 and a S35-crop in order to get two different FOVs from each lens. For example: a set of 4 primes, 24mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mm would effectively offer 6 different FOVs.

So I'm wondering what would be the biggest issues with switching formats (say FF35 16:9, to S35 16:9) mid shoot?

 

[Shawn Booth]

I use this technique every day with the RED zoom lenses with great results. It is like having 4 when I have 2. Works great...

 

[J. Bernard Vallon]

I think the biggest issue is going to be post. I still have calls from editors asking me why some proxy shots are 1/2 res of 4k, and some are 1/2 res of 3k, etc. It confuses them, especially when they are working on FCP 5 and the latter requires rendering.

Image quality shouldnt be too much, maybe 1/2 stop of noise, which sucks, but that'll probably be it. And of course the usual relationship between DOF and FOV wont hold true, but thats your call.

All in all, still lenses are cheep. It might be worth your headache to grab a 105 and add it to your kit, and it suddenly becomes pretty complete.

 

[J. Bernard Vallon]

on a related note, using a larger format size, like FF35, will give a lot more benefit to stills lenses, more than just the larger sensor size and image circle.

Assuming the extra DR from the larger sensor goes to better shadow performance and a lower native ASA, we can probably stop down and make up for the difference in DOF, and give the focus pullers a break. (i.e. a 35mm @ f2.8 on S35 looks like a 50mm on FF35 @ f5.6)

All lenses will look sharper, due to the lower sampling of the lenses' MTF, which is awesome, and

All lenses hit the marks more reliably on longer lenses, due to deeper depth of focus. Say what you want about nikons not being able to hit the marks like cine lenses, but everything in my set 35mm and above hit the marks just fine. If the set goes from 24mm-135mm, awesome.

 

[Mark K.]

Thanks guys, sounds like it is workable (which is nice to hear). For me the main reason for switching to shooting FF35 would be for wide-angle lenses (which would make a 24mm f/2 into the equivalent of a 16mm f/2 on S35 - for me that would be a big deal).