When you're shooting video, you're typically working with sensor sizes that are smaller or comparable to the average stills camera. What happens when you shoot with a sensor 2.5 times bigger than a full-frame 35mm sensor? Check out this review to see.
The Hasselblad H6D-100c is an absolute beast of a camera. Boasting a 100-megapixel 53.4 x 40.0mm CMOS sensor, it also shoots 4K raw video at 24 fps, which is what Filmmaker Christoph Tilley set out to test in the video above. Even though the camera offers very limited options for video shooting (you can't even choose a different frame rate or bit rate), seeing the medium format look certainly adds something special to the footage. There are some additional drawbacks as well, including compression artifacts in the shadows and a rather annoying post workflow. Nonetheless, the ultra shallow depth of field, liquid tonal and focal transitions, fabulous optics, and sensor size all combine to create a gorgeous result. Tilley's review seems to echo that of many photographically oriented reviews: it's cumbersome and the capabilities are limited, but if you're after that medium format look and the situation allows you to shoot it, you won't be disappointed.
[via ISO 1200]
Curios--is it using the whole sensor for video? As in, like no pixel-binning a la Sony and Canon?
Thanks! Love all your articles man. Seriously. I always stop by here to make sure I am up to snuff on your latest pieces. I appreciate your above average intelligence :)
Video suggest doesn't crop anything. It also shows 24mm ultra wide, so my guess would be full sensor. Otherwise there would be no point in using it, as it would not be medium format any more.
It shoots using the full width of the sensor which is awesome however the video coming from it in many cases isn't really useable due to the bugs and glitches that appear.
Thanks for the kind words, Kristopher! Yes, it uses pixel binning.
What does "medium format look" mean.
It is easier to explain by thinking of film and prints from the film only days. When you compare 35mm film with medium format film, especially the largest versions, the only relevant difference is that with medium format film you have a much larger area to capture the same image. As a result you end up with a much more detailed image and a much more smoother, and richer colored, image since you do not have to magnify the image as much as 35mm to get the same size print.
Now with digital, it gets more complicated but the idea in the end is the same. If you take a print made from a 50 megapixel 35mm sensor and compare the results with the same taken from with 50 megapixel medium format sensor, the medium format results from the film example from above will be the same with digital.
Actually, the difference will be less since the largest medium format digital sensor is smaller than the smallest medium film format, and tiny compared to the largest medium film format, but the same thing is happening though.
That medium format look boils down to resolution, and not the megapixel kind. More information captured for a given area film or sensor. When we say a camera is a 50 megapixel camera, all that is referring to is the height X width in pixels of the sensor.
The medium format look is kind of like the difference between APSC and full frame in terms of look. Basically, longer focal lengths have shallower depth of fields. On a larger sensor, the same focal length will have a wider angle of view but with the same shallow depth of field coming from the longer lens.
In a nutshell, a 100mm (MF) lens will have an angle of view of a 65mm (FF view) lens but with the depth of field of a 100mm lens.
Great review. I can only say the the "look" of shooting video with this camera is simple insane. My favorite shot inside the house at 5:07 is absolutely revealing.. the wide open perspective without the look of using a super wide-angle lens is just stunning. Impossible to get anything like that on any find of a smaller sensor, just impossible. Of course as for the workflow only shooting RAW and then first converted to CinemaDNG, its workflow impossibility. The video shooting capabilities were thrown as this camera "just to have" not ever thought thru. Its a shame. And imagine if you could actually shoot video using the full sensor irresolution instead of "just " 4K.. an IMAX in your hands. Stunning thought..