Best focal length for portrait shots in Super 8?

[Stephen Gordon]

Research I have done suggests that when shooting 35mm feature film projects, a lens focal length of around 100mm may be considered to offer the most flattering rendition of the subject with little distortion of features. I am interested to know what forum members might consider a similarly flattering focal length when shooting portraits on Super 8. I'm thinking of a lens like the Optivaron 6 - 66mm commonly found on the Beaulieu 4008 series cameras. Anyone have any experience to share? 

[Tyler Purcell]

100mm on S35mm is a bit long actually. I really like 50mm for portrait work. 

Yea the 6 - 66 I've shot with a bit on my 4008, but I'm never really looking at the zoom control when finding a good shot. I kinda move it until I like it and shoot. That's the nice thing about zooms, you can figure out what looks good instead of worrying about numbers that really don't mean much in the long run. But I do think the 6-66 is probably your best option, you aren't going to get a better range in a zoom for super 8. 

[Stephen Gordon]

Thanks Tyler - your response is appreciated and I take your point. I had read that 50mm is considered 'normaI' (most approximating human field of view) in relation to S35mm so interesting to hear your own preferences.

I guess I was looking for a rule of thumb but from what you say it sounds like experimentation is the best approach. Cheers!

[David Mullen ASC]

It’s a bit controversial or confusing because traditionally the 50mm is considered “normal” for the full-frame format (where the 85mm is a popular portrait lens) — and yet people have been saying for decades that the 50mm is also “normal” for the 35mm cine format, when it should be a 35mm focal length.

Anyway how distorting a lens is depends on how physically close it gets so some of this depends on how tight your portrait shots are.

Longer focal lengths that allow the lens to be physically farther away create a flatter effect on the face which is a good or bad thing, depends on the face — the face looks fatter / broader and the nose smaller. On some faces that isn’t necessarily more attractive.

 

 

[David Mullen ASC]

http://www.danvojtech.cz/blog/2016/07/amazing-how-focal-length-affect-shape-of-the-face/

[David Mullen ASC]

Anyway just divide your focal length used in Super 35 by four to get the 8mm equivalent more or less. So if you like a 100mm in Super 35 you’d use a 25mm in Super 8. That’s off the top of my head, the real crop factor requires the frame dimensions.

[David Mullen ASC]

Super 8 is 5.63mm wide so if you consider Super 35 to be 24mm wide, that’s a 4.26x crop factor, so the Super 8 equivalent to 100mm is 23.5mm (just looking at the horizontal view).

[Doug Palmer]

There's so much wideangle phone footage these days, maybe we are all being conditioned to accept shorter focal lengths on faces. 

Super-8 has great depth-of-field which is not necessarily good for obtrusive backgrounds. Sometimes only way to get over that is use long focal length on zoom.

 

[Stephen Gordon]

Thanks for the detailed replies David - I've always considered your advice to be pretty definitive and this is no exception - I note the fact that a 35mm lens should be considered 'normal' for 35mm cine format. I did not know that!

Your formula for getting to the equivalent of a 100mm (when using 35mm cine film) using Super 8 is really helpful, as is your more detailed calculation to arrive at 23.5mm. I shall try some testing with these starting points over the holiday.

That link is a great tool for learning - thanks!

Doug - you make a great point. I have found it very difficult to get much shallow DoF even at the telephoto end of the zoom using small stops.