XL1s Film Look Lens

[Arthur To]

Hey im thinking of buying a PL mount (the red one) from xl1solutions.

and im not sure what lens i should attatch to it for a matrixy film look

anyone got any ideas about what lens i should put or if i should get the pl adapter or not?

thanks
-arthur

[Kieran Clayton]

What's the obsession with making your film look like the matrix?

An arri PL mount will not make your footage look more like film per se. And I mean that in two senses; it won't look smooth and silky like big budget film stuff and it will not reduce the depth of field. It will allow you to use high quality primes, but you're going to have to pay a fortune for these. Furthermore, the magnification factor involved in using the adapter will make many lenses unusuably long.

You should realise that many films have been shot using exactly the same cameras and film stock as the matrix and look nothing like it whatsoever. That's becuase the look of the film is down to lighting and colour correction/grading.

Personally I think you'd be far better off getting a good manual lens specifically designed for the XL1s.

Kieran

[Arthur To]

ooooooooh.

wow that was helpful =) saved me money too.

thx

how bout skin detail and quality?

like.... through my camera, skin looks like "blah" a color..... on the big screen, i can see every little PORE in his face.

is that the lens?
or is that...?
and how can i go about achieving that?

arthur

[Charles Papert]

Arthur, you should compare your images to others made with an XL1s, not with 35mm originated images. Kieran's suggestion to get a good manual lens such as the Canon 16x or older 14x is a good one; after that, there's a whole world of filmmaking techniques including lighting, composition, filters, post-production work etc. that make the difference between "blah" and "wow"!

Keep at it, but don't get hung up on the equipment side of things. Some amazing things can be done with the gear you already own.

[Rob Lohman]

Try not to over decide what to do or to get. As you pointed out,
you just saved a lot of money. Investigate what you want and
what would be the best way to do it. Then look at what you
would need for that.

Don't be too obsessed about a certain "look". Make your own
and learn what works and what doesn't.

There are a lot of reasons why your footage is looking less
sharp then a professional motion picture. It might be that
you aren't in perfect focus (which can be hard to do with the
standard color viewfinder!!) [which you could check with a
seperate monitor]. If you shoot in frame (progressive) mode
it will soften the image as well.

[Rob Lohman]

You need to go through a learning curve and most important,
experience as well to understand what does what and how.
Can't just learn to crank out "the matrix" look after pushing
some buttons and reading a few tutorials. That takes practice
in both story writing, pre-production, shooting, post-production
(editing, color correction, effects, music etc.).

If you want to know more about color correction just do a search
on that here on the board. Much threads to be found on that.

Thanks and good luck!

[Arthur To]

o wow, thanks man!

=)