Section Insights
Understanding Blurriness in 70 mm IMAX
Why does the Odyssey look blurry despite being filmed in 70 mm?
The blurriness in the Odyssey, despite the high-quality 70 mm format, is attributed to the shallower depth of field that comes with larger film formats. This makes it more challenging for focus pullers to maintain clarity throughout the scene.
- 70 mm film captures more detail but has a shallower depth of field.
- Focus pullers faced difficulties in keeping everything in focus.
- The blurriness is a result of the film format's characteristics.
Challenges of Manual Focusing
What challenges did the crew face while filming with 70 mm IMAX?
The crew had to manually focus the camera without modern AI detection or autofocus systems, making it difficult to keep the actors and scenes in focus during dynamic shots.
- Manual focusing is challenging, especially with moving subjects.
- The absence of advanced camera technology increased the risk of blurriness.
- Human error in focus pulling can significantly affect image clarity.
Specialized Lenses for IMAX
What type of lenses were used in the Odyssey and how were they modified?
The Odyssey used Panavision's Primo 65 lenses, which were modified with anamorphic elements to enhance width and character, contributing to the film's unique visual effects.
- IMAX-specific lenses are rare and specialized.
- Anamorphic modifications can create distinctive visual characteristics.
- The choice of lens significantly impacts the overall look of the film.
Aperture and Depth of Field
How does the aperture of the lenses affect the film's focus?
The Primo 65 lenses have a T-stop of T2, which provides a very shallow depth of field, similar to a T1 or F1 aperture on full-frame cameras, making precise focus critical.
- Aperture size directly influences depth of field and focus precision.
- A T2 lens on 70 mm film behaves like a much wider aperture on smaller formats.
- Achieving sharp focus is more challenging with a razor-thin depth of field.
Consequences of Focus Pulling
What happens if focus is not perfectly maintained during filming?
If any element, such as the actor's position or camera movement, gets misaligned, the image will appear blurry due to the extremely shallow depth of field.
- Even slight misalignments can lead to significant blurriness.
- The film's visual quality heavily relies on precise focus pulling.
- Understanding these technical aspects is crucial for appreciating the film's production.
Transcript
0:00 Some audience members who have seen the Odyssey in 70 mm IMAX have noted that the movie looks blurry. But how is that possible? 70 mm is a huge format that is supposed to capture all of this extra detail. Well, the answer might surprise you. Part of the answer comes down to the 70 mm format itself. A larger film or a larger sensor means that you get a shallower depth of field, which also means that the focus pullers on the set had a harder time trying to keep everything in focus because this isn't a modern camera system with AI detection and autofocus systems. It is literally a human being trying to manually focus on the actors or on the scene as the camera's moving, as the actors moving, and as there are a ton of different things taking place on set. But what makes this even crazier are the lenses that they were using to film this movie.
0:50 With a normal camera, you can attach pretty much any type of lens, and these aren't super expensive. They might cost you a couple hundred dollars or a couple thousand dollars. But when we're talking about IMAX specific lenses, there are very few companies that make them. One of the big ones is Panavision. And so, for the Odyssey, they used a set of Primo 65 lenses, which are a large-format lens for IMAX that covers the entire film, but they actually modified them by adding anamorphic lens elements, which means you get a little bit more width, a little bit more character, and that blurriness effect is enhanced even further. But what really makes this impressive is that those Primo 65 lenses have a T-stop or an aperture of T2, which sounds crazy when you're thinking about conventional full-frame mirrorless cameras. But what you might not realize is that a T2 lens on a 70 mm film has the equivalent look or the equivalent depth of field as a T 1 or an F stop 1 F1 aperture on a full frame camera, which means they were focus pulling at an aperture that is so razor thin that if any single element gets out of alignment between the focus puller, between the actor, between the camera movements, yes, the image is going to look blurry.
2:20 Anyways, I broke down this whole thing in detail with charts and graphs and numbers over on YouTube if you want to check out the video.
Summary
- 70 mm film offers a larger format but results in a shallower depth of field.
- Manual focus pulling is more challenging without modern AI detection and autofocus.
- The film used modified Panavision Primo 65 lenses with anamorphic elements for enhanced width and character.
- A T2 aperture on 70 mm film equates to a very shallow depth of field, similar to T1 on full-frame cameras.
- Any misalignment in focus pulling, actor movement, or camera motion can lead to noticeable blurriness.
- The video elaborates on these concepts with detailed charts and graphs for further understanding.
Questions Answered
Why does the Odyssey look blurry despite being filmed in 70 mm?
The blurriness in the Odyssey, despite the high-quality 70 mm format, is attributed to the shallower depth of field that comes with larger film formats. This makes it more challenging for focus pullers to maintain clarity throughout the scene.
What challenges did the crew face while filming with 70 mm IMAX?
The crew had to manually focus the camera without modern AI detection or autofocus systems, making it difficult to keep the actors and scenes in focus during dynamic shots.
What type of lenses were used in the Odyssey and how were they modified?
The Odyssey used Panavision's Primo 65 lenses, which were modified with anamorphic elements to enhance width and character, contributing to the film's unique visual effects.
How does the aperture of the lenses affect the film's focus?
The Primo 65 lenses have a T-stop of T2, which provides a very shallow depth of field, similar to a T1 or F1 aperture on full-frame cameras, making precise focus critical.
What happens if focus is not perfectly maintained during filming?
If any element, such as the actor's position or camera movement, gets misaligned, the image will appear blurry due to the extremely shallow depth of field.