fbpx
Education Field Instructional

Getting the Look of Medium Format Using Smaller Sensor Cameras

Chris Gampat
No Comments
12/30/2015
2 Mins read

Last Updated on 12/30/2015 by Chris Gampat

Model: Bec Fordyce
Model: Bec Fordyce

Many photographers have long known about the panoramic stitch process; which in modern times been called the Brenizer Effect after photographer Ryan Brenizer’s use of it. Photographer Glyn Dewis recently shared a video on how to do it.

Essentially, what you’re doing is visualizing a scene in your head–so this first requires a specific creative vision. Then using a telephoto focal length (85mm lenses or their equivalents are recommended) you shoot little bits of the scene starting from the middle and going around. The important technical aspect here to remember is that your lens needs to have a very shallow depth of field, the exposure/white balance needs to stay constant, and your focus need to be locked in on your intended subject. Then you switch to manual focus to ensure that the lens doesn’t keep refocusing if you’re using an autofocus lens.

As Glyn demonstrates in the video, you then stitch the images together. This is much better with modern software and lenses. If you use older lenses and older software, you get an effect like what’s below.

This may indeed look like a mistake, but believe it or not after Photoshop accidentally created an image like this, I tweaked the images for days until I recreated the effect myself.
This may indeed look like a mistake, but believe it or not after Photoshop accidentally created an image like this, I tweaked the images for days until I recreated the effect myself.

Artistically speaking, it can work well with older software and older lenses, but you’ll get something like what you see above. It’s a different look than what everyone else has.

The flaw with this entire process is that you end up with a scene created because you’re literally pivoting the camera all around from one central spot handheld. To do it absolutely technically perfect, you need to use something like a Fotodiox Rhinocam. What this device does is allows you to move the camera into a specific spot each time you shoot a frame so that you have no worries about overlap. Additionally, it shoots every image on the same focusing plane–which to an absolute T, the Brenizer method does not.

sensorsjpeg

The reason why this gives you a medium format look is because of the fact that the film plane/sensor is larger with medium format than with 35mm or APS-C. For the untrained eye that doesn’t know the first thing about true medium format though, this is all more than good enough.

brenizer effect brenizer method medium format video
Shares
Written by

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
');
You might also like