Poll! Your favourite focal length, sensor size and aspect ratio ...

[Guest 560a4aedcb80685284629074497fdc75]

UPDATE: FOR FOCAL LENGTH PLEASE CHOOSE FULL-FRAME (35MM) EQUIVALENT (with focal reducer calculated into equation if used)! 

I think you should be able to delete your vote and then re-vote if you haven't.

 

If your exact answer is not listed, please chose the closest.

Feel free to explain and/or elaborate in the comments below.

[noone]

Strictly from an amateur long time stills photographer dabbling in video, I would have liked to vote for both 24mm AND 85 mm FF.

 

 

I like to shoot live bands but by just letting the camera run with all the band in shot if possible and in focus to record a song..      I have found my dream lens for the A7 in the Canon EF 24mm 3.5 L mk II TS-E lens.

 

If you have access to the lens on a Metabones smart adapter on an A7 ( normal A7, A7s or A7R particularly the A7s for video), by all means try it.   A little shift can make it look a bit different too as well as being an exceptional almost distortion free 24mm lens though at a price.

 

Stabilized on an A7 II should also be a bonus.

 

 

  I also like the angle of view and shallow depth of field with an 85mm lens FF for an individual though I voted for 24mm as it will be used more often and the TS-E is such an exceptional lens (I previously used my FD L 24 1.4 and while I still like the lens don't think it will get much use anymore).

[Guest 560a4aedcb80685284629074497fdc75]

If I could have only one prime I like 50mm on S35 because I prefer longer focal lengths but 50mm is short enough to be versatile.

 

S35 is my ideal. For me it's the perfect balance between deep/shallow DOF, and being able to use longer lenses (I like foreground/background compression). Smaller than APS-C also seems to usually have noise issues too.

 

I like 16:9 best because my work is always seen on a TV or monitor and it uses all of the screen real estate. I also have an aesthetic fondness for the wide-but-not-too-wide format.

[Guest 560a4aedcb80685284629074497fdc75]

Strictly from an amateur long time stills photographer dabbling in video, I would have liked to vote for both 24mm AND 85 mm FF.

 

Yeah maybe I should have allowed multiple votes, but I think this might be more fun. There is so much you can do with two primes (a wide and a long). I also really like my 24mm and 85mm, but on S35. The 24 has low distortion, enough background de-focus (2.8) and not too weird perspective (what is the term for the opposite of background compression?). 85mm is a beautiful focal length and I would probably have chosen that if it wasn't so limiting on S35.  :)

[Nikkor]

6x7, 105mm. The great look of a 105mm lens with the horizontal fov of a 50mm FF. I hope they come up soon with a 0.5x speedbooster for the A7.

 

I love my 105 2.5 nikkor on Fullframe, but it's only a crop of the beauty that only the mamiya rz 110 2.8 or the pentax 105 2.4 can give on full 6x7. 4x5 is another story and not really handholdable.

[Guest 560a4aedcb80685284629074497fdc75]

I love my 105 2.5 nikkor on Fullframe, but it's only a crop of the beauty that only the mamiya rz 110 2.8 or the pentax 105 2.4 can give on full 6x7. 4x5 is another story and not really handholdable.

 

I have the 105mm 2.5 AI. It's beautiful. I've actually used it most on my BMPCC (with 0.71 speed booster) and love the combo for landscapes and people at a good distance. It really compresses the background, which you don't see to much with blackmagic footage.

[Inazuma]

I have a favourite focal length: 35mm (in 35mm terms). But I've yet to see anything that imperatively suggests sensor size in itself makes near as big a difference in image aesthetic as the technology behind it and the lens and lighting in front of it.

[Guest 560a4aedcb80685284629074497fdc75]

I've yet to see anything that imperatively suggests sensor size in itself makes near as big a difference in image aesthetic as the technology behind it and the lens and lighting in front of it.

 

But sensor size is directly linked to the aesthetic given by any lens (unless you don't care about what gets in the frame)!

[Nikkor]

I have a favourite focal length: 35mm (in 35mm terms). But I've yet to see anything that imperatively suggests sensor size in itself makes near as big a difference in image aesthetic as the technology behind it and the lens and lighting in front of it.

Sensor size, aperture size, that's completely irrelevent, it makes no difference at all, it's just a catch for retards so they spend money on big equipment.

[Inazuma]

I suppose what I meant to say is that I have a favourite angle of view (the angle of view that a 35mm lens on 35mm film gives or 17mm on m43). After that it's only the DOF that differs; but that's aperture dependent. Would I prefer the same angle of view but on FF for shallower DOF? Yes. Not totally sure if that's relevent to the poll though

[Nikkor]

It's not about shallower dof.

[Paul Cryer]

50mm lens. Tried out a Canon 50mm f1.2L the other week and wow, what a piece of glass. For sensor size, S35mm, the perfect sensor size for nice DOF and the look I like. 

[Guest 560a4aedcb80685284629074497fdc75]

I suppose what I meant to say is that I have a favourite angle of view (the angle of view that a 35mm lens on 35mm film gives or 17mm on m43). After that it's only the DOF that differs; but that's aperture dependent. 

 

 

 

EDIT: I was completely wrong about this. You learn something new every day ...

[Guest 560a4aedcb80685284629074497fdc75]

http://nofilmschool.com/2014/11/primer-focal-length-lenses

[Guest Ebrahim Saadawi]

I like shallowest depth of field possible. It's a dreamy look that audience can't see with their own eyes. Just really pretty and otherworldy. So my favourite sensor size is fullframe. I am sure if there were medium format video cameras I would love those, but that's not a real option now. Bigger sensor means I have more control, it means I can go shallow or can go deep, a smaller sensor means I am restricted to just deeper. 

My favourite focal length is 85mm on Fullframe or 50mm on s35. I can shoot an entire film with just that lens. 

Favourite aspect ratio is 1:85:0, the 4K DCI aspect ratio (or cinema 2K aspect ratio). It's almost 16:9 so fills the screen but leaves small bars on top & bottom on most screens, which look great but not severe as 2:35:1. I've come to really like that aspect ratio since I started shooting 4K with the GH4, not it's my favourite and I even crop my normal 1080p to that. 

[Nikkor]

Matt that's not right, there might be some distortion differences between focal lengths, but the perspective/compression only depends on the distance between the observer and the object. That's the way conical projections work. That's not an opinion, it's a fact.

A 25mm on m43 gives the same perspective/compression as a 50mm on FullFrame. The 25mm probably will have more distortions but that's because the m43 and c mount lenses usually have bad designs.

And don't trust nofilmschool, it's a place full of half-knowledge designed for advertising and sponsoring income.

[Guest 560a4aedcb80685284629074497fdc75]

Matt that's not right, there might be some distortion differences between focal lengths, but the perspective/compression only depends on the distance between the observer and the object. That's the way conical projections work. That's not an opinion, it's a fact.

A 25mm on m43 gives the same perspective/compression as a 50mm on FullFrame. The 25mm probably will have more distortions but that's because the m43 and c mount lenses usually have bad designs.

 

Really?! I'm very confused. :huh:  I'll take your word for it though (at least while I do some research!)  :unsure:

[Nikkor]

Imagine an infinite horizontal square section hallway, you are in the center of it with a camera watching down the hallway. The lines will converge on a point located at the same hight you are observing and located at an infinite point. You can use what ever focal length you want, they will always converge on the same point,and they will always have the same angle. The only thing that changes it the spatial relationship between points with different distances from the observer along the viewing axis.

 

or just watch this image:

Zooming in, or cropping in would have the same effect.

[Guest 560a4aedcb80685284629074497fdc75]

A 25mm on m43 gives the same perspective/compression as a 50mm on FullFrame. The 25mm probably will have more distortions but that's because the m43 and c mount lenses usually have bad designs.

 

Imagine you have a Canon 200mm full frame lens on a 5D. You are X metres away from the person you are filming, and quite far behind them and just to one side stands another person. However the 200mm lens makes the farther person's head look exactly the same size as the nearer person's head. Both heads fill about half the height of the frame.

 

Now imagine you have a GH4 with a Canon adapter (no focal reducer) set up right next to your 5D - at the exact same distance from the subject. You swap the 200mm lens to the GH4. Isn't the image is going to look exactly the same in perspective compression terms? Isn't the only difference going to be that the two heads now fill the whole height of the frame?

 

Now if you put a 100mm lens on the GH4, again in exactly the same position, yes the framing will match the 5D - the first head will fill half the height of the frame - but the farther person's head will be smaller. Won't it?  :blink:

 

Or am I being really stupid?

[Guest 560a4aedcb80685284629074497fdc75]

Imagine an infinite horizontal square section hallway, you are in the center of it with a camera watching down the hallway. The lines will converge on a point located at the same hight you are observing and located at an infinite point. You can use what ever focal length you want, they will always converge on the same point,and they will always have the same angle. The only thing that changes it the spatial relationship between points with different distances from the observer along the viewing axis.

 

or just watch this image:

Zooming in, or cropping in would have the same effect.

 

Hmm. I'm less convinced by what you're saying now!  :wacko:

 

Cropping in would have the same effect ... but changing to a different focal length is different. Lenses are different to the human eye. They do distort perspective. At least that's what I have understood ...

 

I'm still prepared to believe I'm missing something though.

 

Perhaps we are talking at cross purposes? This is what I mean about talking in equivalencies being confusing. I think!!!  :blink: