THE EXCHANGE
One of the significant challenges in capturing background plates for a volume environment is finding lenses that are well matched. Often, VFX will ask for a significant amount of overlap between cameras in an array so they can find clean points at which to stitch the images. The more overlap you need, the wider the focal length you’ll have to use, which creates the appearance that the background is further away than you might want. The Panavision Array Lenses are neutral and rectilinear, with each focal length precisely calibrated and matched, saving significant effort and expense on the VFX side and allowing less overlap from camera to camera, so you can use longer focal lengths with greater background magnification. DEF: FOR DOPs PLANNING LONG-TERM INVESTMENTS, HOW IMPORTANT IS IT NOW TO THINK ABOUT FUTURE-PROOFING AGAINST NEW CAMERA SYSTEMS? ANY ADVICE ON THAT FRONT? KG: At Panavision, we don’t sell our lenses, we only rent them out. Part of what underpins this rental-only model is the genuine belief that it affords filmmakers greater flexibility to choose the lenses, cameras and accessories that are right for each individual project. Anamorphic or spherical, large format or Super 35 coverage, modern or vintage, our own proprietary lenses or ones from other manufacturers – we’ll help you find a package tailored to the specific needs of the project at hand. DEF: AS CAMERA SYSTEMS AND POST-PRODUCTION TOOLS GROW EVER MORE CAPABLE, WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE ROLE OF THE LENS IN DEFINING THE FEEL OF AN IMAGE? IS IT EXPANDING, NARROWING OR EVOLVING IN NEW DIRECTIONS?
FEEDBACK LOOP The Ultra Panatar II (above) was developed with advice from DOP Trent Opaloch
KG: Today’s digital sensors are excellent, and the choice between one camera and another often simply comes down to comfort level and familiarity for the cinematographer. It’s in the choice of lenses and their lighting that cinematographers really define a project’s look and feel. Contrast, sharpness, aberrations – these and other qualities are inherent in the lens. You can be incredibly creative in the final grade, but the fundamental look of your project is established on-set, through the lens. This is something we talk about with our colleagues at Panavision’s post-production division, Light Iron. It’s so important to consider the entire imaging chain – all the way through to the types and sizes of screens that audiences will ultimately be watching your project on – as you choose your lenses, camera, LUT and make further creative decisions in the final grade. All of these elements are connected, and you want to make sure, for example, that your LUT works in tandem with your lenses, complementing rather than counteracting the optical qualities that drew you to the lenses you’ve chosen. Collaborating with your final colourist
during camera and lens tests, taking that footage into the grading suite and looking at it on all sizes of screens will help to ensure the optical qualities you see in the lens will be preserved through the imaging chain and ultimately have the desired impact on viewers. DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE OPTIMISATION? IF SO, HOW, OR HOW COULD IT BE? DO YOU SEE POTENTIAL HERE IN THE FUTURE? KG: We see the evolution that’s happening with AI and DEF: IS AI BEING AT ALL INTEGRATED INTO LENS we are exploring where and how it might come into play as part of our design, optimisation and customisation processes. One area where we recognise potential is in the interplay of real-world optics and visual effects. Our optics team have used computer models to aid their designs for many years, and what’s interesting is that the models only ever take you so far. These programs emphasise mathematical perfection, but when we then look at that prototype lens with a cinematographer, we inevitably push the design somewhere outside the box of mathematical perfection. As we hear from DOPs, there’s always a human element essential to imbuing a lens with character that filmmakers – and, in turn, audiences – will respond to. That human element is and will remain absolutely critical for our customers.
IT’S SO IMPORTANT TO CONSIDER THE entire imaging chain ”
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