ARRI ARRIFLEX D-21 manual A Film Sized Sensor & Film Lenses for a Film Look

A Film Sized Sensor & Film Lenses for a Film Look

Depth of field is the one of the most powerful creative tools available to cinema- tographers, and the shallow depth of field of 35 mm film cameras has become associated with cinematic imagery in the minds of movie audiences over the last 100 years. The D-21’s sensor has the same size as a Super 35 mm film frame to give cinematographers the same versatility and control of depth of field.

Having a wide range of lenses available is of immense importance, as it gives cinematographers the greatest flexibility in expressing their vision. The 35 film format enjoys the widest variety of prime, zoom and specialty lenses available for any format, and the D-21 is compatible with all those lenses thanks to its industry standard PL lens mount. Since the D-21 is the only high-end digital camera with a 4x3 aspect ratio like 35 mm film, it is also the only digital camera that can take full advantage of the unique CinemaScope look of anamorphic lenses.

Further enhancing the film-like quality of D-21 images is the camera’s rotating mirror shutter, which functions exactly as it does on 35 mm ARRI film cameras. This method of progressive image capture results in the most film-like motion portrayal possible.

The ARRIFLEX D-21 is the only digital high-end camera that can make full use of anamorphic lenses for the CinemaScope format.

The image, as recorded by the D-21	A simple 2:1 stretch and slight crop of the sides
with an anamorphic lens.	in post results in a CinemaScope format image.

FOR AN AUTHENTIC CINEMATIC LOOK

The D-21 PL mount. Inside, the sensor is visible on the left, and the half closed mirror shutter is visible on the right.

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