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Is there a crop factor when using Zeiss Arri Super 16 Superspeeds when shooting Super 16? Confused


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Hello, first time here on the site. I just shot an exposure test on a roll of super 16 on the Aaton LTR 54 with a Zeiss ARRI Super 16 Super Speed lens set. The guy I rented the lenses from muddled something about one of the lenses actually working out to being about twice the FOV of its actual focal length, and this has stuck with me. Is a 9.5mm lens built specifically for Super 16 cameras, not just that original 9.5mm FOV? Here is a still from the test roll that was shot using the 9.5mm lens, and since I've had this supposed crop factor bugging me, this doesn't seem to have nearly as much barrel distortion as I'd expect from a 9.5mm lens -- in fact it looks something more like an 18mm which would make sense if there were a crop factor.... But is there? It's driving me nuts! The girl in the still was quite close to the lens.

 

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This interactive comparison might help.

 

https://www.abelcine.com/fov/

Thank you. Is Super 35 Film 16x9 the reference then that all other sensors/film formats are compared to? I just figured lenses labeled Super 16mm were labeled in focal length as is. Then according to this there'd be a 2.1x crop factor and workout to a 19.95 (basically a 20mm) lens.

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The starting point in crop factors is 35mm Full Frame still photography or sensors like the Canon 5d mark II DSLR

The focal length of a lens doesn't change when the format changes.

A 9.5mm lens will always be 9.5mm whether it's on a large format camera or a tiny super 8 camera, but changing formats will change your field of view. Having said that though, that 9.5mm was designed for that camera format and wouldn't work on a 35mm camera. The image circle wouldn't cover 35mm film and would vignette horribly.

If you wanted to have a similar shot of your actress above with a 35mm or APS-C camera you'd probably grab an 18mm or 20mm lens.

What the rental guy said about "twice the FOV of the actual focal length" is confusing.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Aaron, what stock is that? I'm guessing 7207. Every time I see a scanned frame of 16mm film I am amazed at how good it is. I am also reminded at how bad photo scanners are. Everywhere I see scans of 8-perf 35mm Tri-X or Portra and they don't look as fine as this. Even 6x6 negatives show grain that just shouldn't be there. I can see why 16mm is going to have a long life. :-)

 

The sad bit is that many of the productions that are shooting digital could be shooting S16!

 

Edit: cute little chick. :-)

Edited by Karim D. Ghantous
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