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"Classic" digital look


Andrew Reid
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Film is in fashion and so are 90's games consoles.

I'm wondering when fashion will reach 2000-2010 :)

I think there are a few candidates for 'vintage' digital looks that will come back into use.

Canon 5D classic for one.

Some of the older CCD large sensor DSLRs (Nikon D1X)

Medium format CCDs

Perhaps some Digital Bolex style smaller sensors that have 'impressionistic' colours

At least for stills... In cinema, it will be F35 and RED that stand the test of time but not much affordable stuff. Small chip camcorder? Nah.

Also if you look at the image from the 24MP Nikon D3X of 2009... It holds up vs all the high-end cameras 10 years later. Dynamic range, colour, resolution hasn't moved as far as you'd think in 10 years... In fact even in low light performance there is only a 1-2 stop difference between the 24MP sensor in the D3X and the newer ones of today.

Also check the D3S vs A7S II... That's a funny comparison :)

The D3S actually wins!

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I think what makes film and retro games popular are specifically the flaws and artifacts. 

To that extent, I think it's more likely that old point and shoots, cell phone cameras, vapor wave, Simpson wave, anything really really technically bad but with its charms will become associated more with a classic digital look.

A band I knew in college used to be into the idea of how heavy generation mp3 compression was the millennial's equivalent to vinyl hiss (though it looks like millennials gravitated to vinyl hiss, so maybe it's the next generation that will gravitate to low quality mp3s). 

I agree still cameras haven't progressed that much since Nikon introduced the D90, and even video is leveling off now.

But I think the "classic" look will be associated with the bad, not the good.

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I wonder if the modern digital camera manufacturers are missing a trick here. It seems the desire for a more 'filmic' look for video is fairly universal. However if I go through the 10 picture profiles on say my Sony, I basically find an odd mix of either 'digital video' looks or 's-log' which is really an attempt to give you as much leeway in post to create your own look (which isnt a lot with an 8 bit file.)

What I dont see is much attempt at creating 'creative profiles' that match what would be considered a 'filmic look' straight out of camera (or with limited tweaking.) Seems this is the route that Fuji has gone down with the x-h1 and the Eterna profile and it has been generally well received.

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The 5D classic already has some followers, same goes for CCD sensors. 

For Nikon cameras those not using Sony designed sensors might be considered something special, but one of the most interesting camera with Nikon F mount, was the Fuji S2 pro (and S5 pro), incredible dynamic range for that time, very nice highlight roll off due to the dual pixel sizes and colors, especially skin tones, that many people still consider to be some of the best ever.

Didn‘t have many buyers back when it was new, but those who ever used it fell in love with it

Leicas will always be classics.

 

For video? No idea, that seems to be a much harder task

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4 hours ago, Robert Collins said:

I wonder if the modern digital camera manufacturers are missing a trick here. It seems the desire for a more 'filmic' look for video is fairly universal. However if I go through the 10 picture profiles on say my Sony, I basically find an odd mix of either 'digital video' looks or 's-log' which is really an attempt to give you as much leeway in post to create your own look (which isnt a lot with an 8 bit file.)

What I dont see is much attempt at creating 'creative profiles' that match what would be considered a 'filmic look' straight out of camera (or with limited tweaking.) Seems this is the route that Fuji has gone down with the x-h1 and the Eterna profile and it has been generally well received.

I remember Hurlbut saying that's basically what Canon was trying to do, give a Kodak film look. (with the C series.)

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10 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

I'm wondering when fashion will reach 2000-2010 :)

 

The most hype man in fashion this year, Virgil Abloh (who recently made headlines after being appointed creative director of Louis Vuitton) held a fake press release for his collaboration with Nike, shot on throw away point & shoots and retro digital video cams:

nike-off-white-virgil-abloh-1170x601.jpg

 

..on the right there is the Canon XL2 series zoom, released in early 2000s. always loved the look of that camera from shape, ergonomics to color scheme..

1253815301000_339002.jpg1253815651000_IMG_121622.jpg

Had some pretty cool features as well for the time including 3CCD, 24p, cine gamma & even film grain feature!

https://youtu.be/tsz4asyrmjs

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5 hours ago, frontfocus said:

The 5D classic already has some followers, same goes for CCD sensors. 

For Nikon cameras those not using Sony designed sensors might be considered something special, but one of the most interesting camera with Nikon F mount, was the Fuji S2 pro (and S5 pro), incredible dynamic range for that time, very nice highlight roll off due to the dual pixel sizes and colors, especially skin tones, that many people still consider to be some of the best ever.

Didn‘t have many buyers back when it was new, but those who ever used it fell in love with it

Leicas will always be classics.

 

For video? No idea, that seems to be a much harder task

In fact just bought a very battered (but working) S5Pro just to see if that CCD colors justify the hype. :)

@Mattias Burling could contribute somewhat in this topic (if he comes back).

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Crappy instagram filters. They are still in the app but nobody uses them anymore, it will be retroing the retro, back to 2009, all this lomography crap wave that happened to give crappy cellphone pictures some charme.

Or maybe poor HDR, or over sharpened small sensor digital camera pictures with noise reduction and jpg compression artifacts.

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@Andrew ReidEarly 2000's is kind of a trend already, at least in Skateboarding, which is where a huge majority of clothing/aesthetic trends start out in some form or another. 2000's clothing is real big right now and so are shitty digital cameras (actually that last might be on the way out already too be honest, there was a period 3-4 years ago where handy cam was right in for a bit).

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7 hours ago, Django said:

The most hype man in fashion this year, Virgil Abloh (who recently made headlines after being appointed creative director of Louis Vuitton) held a fake press release for his collaboration with Nike, shot on throw away point & shoots and retro digital video cams:

nike-off-white-virgil-abloh-1170x601.jpg

 

..on the right there is the Canon XL2 series zoom, released in early 2000s. always loved the look of that camera from shape, ergonomics to color scheme..

1253815301000_339002.jpg1253815651000_IMG_121622.jpg

Had some pretty cool features as well for the time including 3CCD, 24p, cine gamma & even film grain feature!

https://youtu.be/tsz4asyrmjs

This is great! MiniDV I think is the perfect example of "Classic Digital."

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9 hours ago, Django said:

The most hype man in fashion this year, Virgil Abloh (who recently made headlines after being appointed creative director of Louis Vuitton) held a fake press release for his collaboration with Nike, shot on throw away point & shoots and retro digital video cams:

nike-off-white-virgil-abloh-1170x601.jpg

 

..on the right there is the Canon XL2 series zoom, released in early 2000s. always loved the look of that camera from shape, ergonomics to color scheme..

1253815301000_339002.jpg1253815651000_IMG_121622.jpg

Had some pretty cool features as well for the time including 3CCD, 24p, cine gamma & even film grain feature!

https://youtu.be/tsz4asyrmjs

Virgil uses this ?! Thats crazy ! He has a good eye for aesthetics

You are right. The older cameras have a “look” to them. I seen some footage of the gh3 with a voigtlander lens the other day and I was like “what camera is this ?!” Only to find out it was the humble GH3. I recently picked up a Canon 5D mark iii and the sensor looks amazing. Even though its pixel binned 1080 it has a look thats very special and still sharp by todays standards. Full HD 1080p has proved to be sufficient even on 65” plasma tv’s. I guess you could kinda say 1080 is the new vintage

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The Canon XL2 was a fabulous camera. I still wish that Canon would release a Super 35mm camera in that form factor. It reminds me of an Aaton or Eclair film camera. Off the tripod, on the shoulder. And the colors were excellent.

In that same vein, I also look upon the DVX100 fondly. That first generation of 24p DV had some kind of special sauce.

I own a C100 mk. 1 and while it's not yet vintage, I think that people will keep shooting with it long into the 4K, 8K, 16K, etc age. A lot of soul and charm in a small package.

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35 minutes ago, BrooklynDan said:

I own a C100 mk. 1 and while it's not yet vintage, I think that people will keep shooting with it long into the 4K, 8K, 16K, etc age. A lot of soul and charm in a small package.

Yeah, the C100 has a special quality to it. The IQ and form factor has me really interested. As much as I want a Pocket II, I have a feeling a C100 may be my next camera by the end of summer.

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I'm a big fan of CCD's. There was a recent article on Dpreview about a photographer using cheap CCD cams, some of the later models are actually still really great cameras. My next camera will be one of the last gen CCD cams that shoots raw. Gotta go back to small memory cards too, don't think current 128gb cards will work, ha, ha.

https://***URL removed***/interviews/5683481585/sofi-lee-on-digital-nostalgia

The Canon XL2 was my first ENG cam, shots lots of great stuff with it - many times in addition to my own personal Sony HDR-HC1. 1080i and a box of HDV tapes baby! Took that little bugger to the Galapagos and Machu Picchu. Mini DV just got to be a PITA in the USB/memory card age.

Chris

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