hvx 200 panasonic p2 and the ps technik pro 35 adaptor

[Todd Terry]

Well firstly, that combination will not work… the HVX200 will not work with the P+S Technik Pro35 adapter. You would need the Mini35 adapter, not the Pro.

But as to depth of field, that’s a very difficult question to answer, because there is no one answer. Even with locked parameters like that (specifying a 50mm lens, specifying f2.0) the depth of field will still vary greatly… depending on how far your subject is from the film plane.

If your subject is relatively far away from the camera, say 20 feet or so, the DoF would be several feet deep. If you are focusing very close and doing closeup work (let’s say two feet from your subject, if your lens will focus that close) then the DoF will be miniscule… even down to millimeters… so that if you were shooting a newspaper at an angle you will be able to get one line in focus but the lines above and below will be out of the focus plane. A subject a few feet away, say five feet, would probably have a DoF of a few inches (i.e., a person’s eyeballs might be in focus but their ears a bit soft). Move them a little farther away (let’s say 10 feet), and your DoF might be as deep as a foot or two.

Bottom line, the farther away your focal point (your subject) is from the “film” plane, the deeper the DoF will be. So unfortunately, there really isn’t a single answer.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[John Alexander]

Thanks!

yes sorry it would be a Mini35 adapter.

The talent would be 10 meters away (fixed, sitting down) at f2 on a 50mm lenses.

and then 3 meter away at f4 (fixed, sitting down) on a 50mm lense.

would there be enough depth of field??

cheers

John

[Todd Terry]

[john alexander] “would there be enough depth of field??”

It just depends on what your goal is and why you mean by “enough.” Is your goal a super-shallow DoF?… or do you need something deeper?

This is just a guess, based on past experience and not looking at any charts or anything (I think there’s such a chart in the Cinematographer’s Handbook, if I recall… but mine is not where I can get my hands on it at the moment)… but 10 meters away with 50mm even f2 and the DoF is going to be at least a couple/few feet deep. You are not into super-critical focusing territory at that distance. Now at 3 meters (ten feetish) I can get a really shallow DoF if I want and open all the way up to f1.3 (Leitz-Panavision 50mm superspeed)…maybe five or six inches deep at that distance. Closing it down to f4 is going to increase your DoF a fair little bit… my pure guess is that it would probably be a couple of feet deep then.

Just depends on the look you are going for as to whether that is enough, too much, or too little…

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Richard Herd]

You need this: https://www.amazon.com/American-Cinematographer-Manual-Ninth-Vol/dp/0935578242

and this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_of_field

It’s also very important to note that DOF is also a way to tell your story because you can focus on the subject the audience is supposed to look at. The easy example is the over the shoulder shot. Close up of a person’s face and someone behind them enters the room, as they turn rack focus to the new person in the scene who then delivers his or her line.

[Emre Tufekci s.o.a.]

The talent would be 10 meters away (fixed, sitting down) at f2 on a 50mm lenses

your dof would be 11 feet.

3 meter away at f4 (fixed, sitting down) on a 50mm lense

Your dof would be 2 feet

(I had my ASC manual handy)

Emre
http://www.productionpit.com
Boxx Tech PC, dual-dual AMD 2.0,4BG ram,Avid Media Composer HD w/Mojo,UVW-1800,DSR-25, Adobe Premium CS3.Gspeed ES.Steadicam Clipper 2 OP/Owner.

“Creative cow is udder madness.”

[Todd Terry]

Hey, my guesses were pretty close!

It’s funny how after a zillion years and doing things countless times that you get to the point where you don’t even think about them any more… and when pressed for something like an actual number one has to stop and think about it for a bit.

It’s interesting that people are actually thinking about DoF now, and moreso how to control it, rather than just shrink it to as shallow as possible. Old-school cinematographers know that determining DoF… how deep or how shallow would be appropriate for a shot… was one of the first considerations in blocking and lighting. The need for a deep or shallow (or somewhere in between) DoF was determined first, and then the scene lit accordingly… rather than just lighting a scene and then throwing a meter on it and just using whatever f-stop happened to pop up.

Sure does make for a lot more creativity… or at least potential creativity…

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com