Could the output from an indieassist on a 16mm film camera be good enough to use for vfx purposes instead of using a larger 35mm film camera?

[Edith blazek]

I ask as they point of shooting on the larger format film (or even digital) cameras on 16mm productions is usually to have a higher technical quality image for vfx in a scene which would add film emulation on top to bring it back to looking like 16mm film (see something like winning time, the juggernaut music video, or even irreversible). Given that objective, would a good hd tap like an indieassist on a 416 be good in this regard?

[Brian Drysdale]

Video assists on film cameras use the V/F ground glass, which will have frame marking etc on it, plus the texture from the screen (even if it's no longer ground glass), so not the best starting point foe VFX.

[Tyler Purcell]

As Brian said, you aren't actually looking through the lens with the video tap, you're looking through an optic and a ground glass. Plus and this is critical, you aren't going to have a high quality image anyway because the amount of light going to the video tap is around 15% of the light going through the lens. So the digital imagers for the tap really struggle. No matter what, it really doesn't look good. Now a 100% video system without a ground glass, then we're talking. But that doesn't exist.