Michael Tiemann
Well-known member
Hi Michel,
well I don't have a Helium yet... (have been editing a lot of helium...) On the VistaVision - it's the use of full frame glass on the large sensor that stands out - been shooting a lot of super wides (11mm to 28mm range) - so you on the VV are actually working slightly wider with the VV sized sensor over 35mm full frame and way wider than s35.. and on the longer lenses your using more of the full width of the glass as it was intended in it's design... the VV being a Dragon sensor with a lot more on board computing power and the new firmware allows a lot of latitude over the Epic/Dragon and again a slightly different feel than the Helium.. I'm an old school guy who likes large format and the VistaVision gets into that realm of visual subtleties... so glass/sensor combo.
I don't yet have my VV, but there's some pretty powerful math to explain the above. If you have seen an MTF chart showing 10 lp/mm and 30 lp/mm, you've probably noticed that there can be a big difference between the %MTF of the former vs. the latter. Most lens manufacturers don't publish 22.5 lp/mm and 40 lp/mm, but for sake of argument, imagine that the 22.5 lp/mm value is approximately half-way between the 10 and the 30 values, all the way from center to edge. Similarly, imagine that the 40 lp/mm value is then again as much of a percentage drop from 30 lp/mm to 40 lp/mm as when going from 10 lp/mm to 30 lp/mm. Clearly, any lens that starts to fall apart at 30 lp/mm is going to really fall apart at 40 lp/mm.
Going from S35 to VV means that if you rely on the 30 lp/mm values for getting the sharpness you want on your S35 platform means you actually get the MTF of the 22.5 lp/mm value (though, on the flipside, if things are all sharp in the middle but fall apart toward the edges, that trade may be neutralized toward the edges). Or, if you are over-stressing your lenses, peeping pixels at 40 lp/mm, the switch to VV means you are back on the manufacturers much happier 30 lp/mm performance curve.