RhinoCam Vertex for Potraiture with Mathieu Stern

Creative professional photographer and filmmaker Mathieu Stern is no stranger to adapting unique lenses to his cameras, and his popular Youtube channel showcases some of his most interesting optical experiments. We were honored to send Mathieu one of our RhinoCam Vertex stitching adapters to try out, and he didn't disappoint, creating some stunning architecture and portrait photography with the adapter in his native city of Paris.

RhinoCam Vertex adapters let you mount medium format lenses to select full frame cameras, but with a twist! The adapter locks a medium format lens down on a tripod via a tripod foot, and lets you rotate your camera's body and sensor 360 degrees to four overlapping sections of the lens's larger image circle. You can then capture and stitch these four photos together for a higher resolution stitched image that captures more of the medium format lens's field of view.

This is a great way to breathe new life into old medium format glass, and Mathieu Stern has done just that! Here are a few beautiful examples of his work with a Bronica ETR to Sony E RhinoCam Vertex adapter.

One of the things we appreciate most about Mathieu's work is his willingness to try new things. Initially intended only for landscapes and still lifes, Mathieu pushed the RhinoCam Vertex further by incorporating it in portrait photography, and he proved that it works. One of the limitations of a stitching adapter like the RhinoCam is movement in your scene. If the subject moves while the photographer is capturing the four photos, these photos can be tricky to stitch together in post. Mathieu solved this issue by placing his model in one one of the four photos, making for a clean final stitch. He also experimented with overlapping photos of the model, asking them to hold very still and carefully blending the four images together in post so none of the slight movement showed.

Mathieu also experimented with using a projector lens on the RhinoCam Vertex. These lenses are often designed in such a way that they have an image circle closer in size to a medium format lens than a full frame lens, which means with a bit of modding, you can use them on the RhinoCam Vertex for beautiful swirly bokeh stitched images like these.

We love sending new adapters to Mathieu Stern to try, because we know he'll always create stunning photos and videos with them! Here's the full video Mathieu made about his RhinoCam Vertex experience. Check it out by clicking here.