Cosmas Demetriou

Thanks to everyone for your replies. I appreciate it.

David, by "50mm being the normal lens for Full-Frame 35mm" do you mean still camera 35mm?

I haven't, but your point is well taken. I will ultimately talk to him, of course, but I want to just have a starting point that is in the ballpark. I appreciate your point. Thank you.

Hello, Cinematography.com members. You have been so helpful in the past that I want to ask another question. I am a set designer going to a location on Monday (downtown Boston) and I want to use Artemis on my iPhone to see what the camera will see. We will be filming an action sequence on a prominent street with brownstones. We don't know yet what our camera platform will be but wondering if I set my platform to Super 35mm Panavision Genesis what would be a good range of lenses to cover for? From wide angle (but not extreme wide angle) to "normal" (if that is a term that is used any more.) What I'm concerned about is "what is the widest that the camera might see." Wondering if the concept of a "Normal lens" still exists? I thought it was the point where a wide angle lens becomes a telephoto. In 35mm still photography, I believe, it's the 50mm lens but wondering if the term is used any more. Thank you.

Wow. That's interesting. So to use extreme examples, if I was making a film in a room (like the movie Room, for example) and I was comparing the fields of view of a 65mm camera and a 16 camera there would be no real difference. Is that true?

Hello, This is a simple question about the fields of view of different camera platforms.From my days as a film student, I was under the impression that a 35mm camera would have a wider field of view than a 16, which in turn had a wider fov than an 8mm and so on. I'm wondering if this is really true. I know the fov is connected to the focal length. The shorter the lens, the wider the fov. Now, I'm starting a project that might be filmed in Super 16 and we're going to be filming in some really tight places. Bathrooms on location, elevators etc. At first I thought, hmmm... the Super 16 will be a problem because of the tight spaces but then, it occurred to me that maybe the fov is NOT tighter, but that you just use lenses with shorter focal lengths. For example, the widest lens that one might use with Super 16mm would be much shorter than the widest lens that one might use with Super 35mm. Is this correct? Thank you. Cosmas Demetriou

Thank you, David. That's interesting.

Thank you, David. That is very helpful. I really appreciate the reference to Birdman. That was a striking film. Particularly with all the tight spaces!

Hello, I am a set designer working in the film industry and using 3d models to show directors, production designers and cinematographers what they would see by a particular lens. I know there are MANY lens packages, but can someone give me an idea what lenses are the most "popular"? I am referring to the wide angle lenses. I know this is a difficult question, but what wide angle lenses are likely to be used -- and at what point do they begin to distort so much that they are rarely used. For example, Stanley Kubrick uses wide angle lenses a lot in his films. How wide would he go? Thank you. Cosmas

Thank you, Phil. I really appreciate your quick response. Can you recommend some of the better apps for this?

Hello, Good morning. I am a set designer in the film industry who is often asked about the field of view on a particular lens -- so that we can see how much of a set the camera will see. I ask them what camera package they are using, then the aspect ratio, and then the lens. The missing piece of information, it seems to me, is the size of the film frame. Is this correct? If I know the size of the film frame (in inches or millimeters) and the lens (in millimeters, of course) then I can draw a diagram showing the lens in front of the film frame and figure out the field of view (as an angle). I wanted to just confirm that this is correct. Now this applies to celluloid film. Does it also apply to digital cinematography? If I know the size of the chip, would I be able to figure out super-accurately and will full confidence what the field of view angle would be? As you can imagine, when we are designing sets, it is essential that we know how much of the set the camera can see. When we film on location, where we can not wild out a wall, this is, of course, even more important. Thank you. Cosmas Demetriou Member Local 800