Large format: A hype or the new standard? 
 ARRI LF lf 
 By Vince 

 on 10/18/19, 3:41 PM • 471 views
It's been a while since brands such as Sony and Arri released their large format camera's.
But how well is it working in our industry besides all the other usual formats like S35.
To be honest, overhere in Belgium I only have shot on Large Format on several "big" commercials.
On fiction I have the feeling production is not willing to pay for the right people for the job. For instance a dedicated DIT for the rushes. Production also does not have all the recourses to invest in proper harddrives because they don't think it's a necessity. But at the end of the day, they are not happy when they hear that offloading will take some hours, and are not eager to pay overtime. My opinion is that Large Format is still only for the select shoots where production takes this seriously and not just a DP who want's to play around. The combination with a larger format (and shallower depth of field) and the speed and pace of the current sets does not make our jobs easier. What do you guys think about this, will large format take over our current workflow or will S35 stand strong? My guess is that Arri will come out with a brand-new S35 camera that has "true" 4K (or above) sensor camera and that large format will slowly dissipate in an "exclusive-big-budget-only" kind of place. Certainly for Belgium in my opinion.

How do you experience the large format vibe in your country, and how do you approach production when they want to shoot this way?
Comment below!
Vince




 bart van otterdijk 

 On 10/20/19, 3:31 PM
Well.. Last year I pulled focus on an English show in Morocco. 2x LF, The big ones. 3 and a half moths.. Leica-R primes. The 35, 50 and 80 opening at 1,5 and obviously shooting at that stop most of the time.
That was a 2 cam shoot and of course lots of data. Post/dit just has to gear up for that.
If only we'd be 'sensible' and only shoot when we should it's actually quite ok.. Sure enough the DIT should be equipped with proper RAID systems, preferably with SSDs.
Then again.. What's all that different as to shooting anamorphic wide open? Keep rolling??
That is just as demanding and bad..
And, Vince.. Making our life more difficult? Well. As a focus puller you need a certain degree of masochism, no?
Nobody cares about our 'feelings' really. As long as it's in focus you're best friends. As soon as there's a 'problem' -caused by ignorant dop/operators making impossible shots- it's your fault..
It's really not all that different from shooting anamorphic wide open (what I'm doing now and have beed doing the previous project too)
I think it'll stay around for a while and we'd better gear up for that.
...
b!




 Fernando Motta 

 On 1/6/20, 12:01 PM
Hi Vince, Here in Brazil arrived the LF cameras at the end of 2019. End of 2019 for Mini LF, and middle of the 2019 year for the Sony Venice.
What we are seeing here is that we don't have all the workflow to Large Format needing.
For example, we do have lenses, but the problem of the DIT, Data Manager worfklow it's too much more than the normal.
What i'm seeing now here is because we have the camera, the DOP and productions want to use because everyone is talking about this formats now, but they don't know how this is changed all the workflow of the production companies.
What we have different now is, we have the Venice and the Mini LF, for the Venice workflow we're already adapting our way of deal with things, but with Mini LF people are only using on commercial.
What I think is we will change to the LF format here in Brazil but it will take a little bit time. (my opinion) Because the costs of renthal all the setup for Large Format it's too much more expensive to film in normal way.
Regards,
Motta.




 Philipp Uhl 

 On 10/27/19, 1:33 PM
With the new Arri S35 camera coming next year, there will be a solid up-to-date high-end S35 option (hopefully with dual native ISO?) and with all the S35 vintage lenses I‘m sure this will still be used on a lot of shoots. Also, all those ALEXA Minis that are still out there sure won’t be outdated in the next few years just because there is something new. For all those projects where you don’t want or need LF, why shouldn’t you use the original Alexa Mini.

However, I know a few DPs who would shoot most of their work on LF if they could, but very often the budget for this isn't there.
I shot some commercials on the Alexa LF and a bit on the Venice, and I think they both are great cameras and definitely here to stay. I think these two formats will coexist for quite some time now.




 Martin Larsen 

 On 10/21/19, 6:31 PM
I’ve shot LF on commercials. Both Sony, Arri and the new Mini LF. But I’m kinda split on actually how much it’s will be used, as productions want (or maybe don’t understand) the LF for the same price as a “regular” camera package. Shooting on LF is something completely different than shooting on S35, not only from the focus pulling aspect but as a setup in general. It requires more people and a dedicated DIT to wrangle the data. Which drives the cost of the camera package up. I do believe it’s here to stay for those big commercials or feature films where the budget can match the price, but I believe a Arri Mini 4K camera will be the choice for most productions, most times.
 

 E. Roni Beraha 

 On 10/25/19, 12:40 PM
Well the new cameras are all in bigger resolution either full frame or 6k as well as the new lenses coming out are all FF.
Maybe not today but in 2-3 years time, we may be all working with new LF,FF or 6k cameras.
Regards

 

 Fabio 

 On 10/28/19, 11:14 AM
Here in Spain they are using FF cameras quite a lot, both in tv shows and commercials. Commercials usually have the budget, while tv shows (specially Netflix) are kind of forced to use it if they want to shoot Arri. I did a tv show with the Venice and right after it another tv show now in S35 with vintage anamorphic lenses and I have to agree with Bart... there’s no that much of a difference or at least I didn’t notice any. Not sure if it’s a hype or not, surely the arrival of other real 4K options on S35 will change the game. We will see, sure thing we will keep on being the good guy when the shot is sharp and the villain when it’s soft ;-)
 

 Gunnar Mortensen 

 On 10/30/19, 4:22 PM
A lot of what drives this is the Netflix 4K mandate that pushed a lot of streaming services to follow suit. My last 3 projects were all FF PVDXL2 and about to start a FF Arri LF feature. It doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. Too much money has been invested 
 

 Rasmus Frostell 

 On 10/20/19, 1:19 AM
I think it's a hype. I havent been out with any large format cameras yet but i think what happens is that the DOP on for example a big commercial has the budget for it and wants to try the LF cams for the sake of it. While a 2 month drama shoot thinks more about the costs of paying the DIT the OT haha. For me 90% of the gigs i do still use the regular Alexa Mini.
Rasmus
