Shallow Depth of Field w/Fujinon Lens

[Piotr Niemcewicz]

1. maximum distance
2. ND filter on 2
3. Open iris to maximum
4. if to dark, maybe little gain – about 3dB

[Will Granzier]

Hey

We use the same cams as well as GY101’s to shoot bodyboarding for broadcast television. This how i do it.

Set your cam to shoot at an iris of around 4 or even lower. That reduces your focal depth big time. Set up the cam about 3 m away from the person you want to interview. Zoom in to the subject and get your framing right. Focus and voila !

Well the more out of focus u want the backdrop – move the cam back and zoom in to your subject !!

[Charlie Cogar]

Thank you folks. I’ll try it again using your recommendations.

[Phil Balsdon]

The difficulty is not in the lens, its the 1/3in CCDs. The only way to get a really shallow depth of field with small chip cameras is to use an adaptor such as Mini35 or Letus or a number of others.

This is also one of the reasons the new HD DSLR cameras have become so popular.

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/

[Will Granzier]

I have never had an issue to get the desired effect with tthe cam even when shooting with a 1/3 to 1/2 inch lens adapter using a pegasus 2 fujinon.

The principle works the same on all cameras. The ccd is irrelevant. Just open ur iris all the way. Then up or down your shutter speed to get the exposure. Simple as that. Slr are ok for home movies of the kids in the garder, but arrive with one of those a news eng shoot and you will be sent home quicker than a pizza at a weight watchers convension.

Its horses for courses.

[Phil Balsdon]

Never shot home movies, never shot the kids in the garden. Just 40 years of shooting feature films, documentaries, tv commercials, music clips, done tons of ENG too even back when it was 16mm film, etc etc.

Wonder why George Lucas(you might have heard of him he made “Star Wars”) has just used HD DSLRS for a feature film, wonder why the final episode of “House” was shot with Canon 5Ds, wonder why the Iaccoca Mustang commercial was shot with Canon 5D HD DSLRs.

Want to learn more try here https://philipbloom.net/
and then here https://www.zacuto.com/shootout

“Youth and enthusiasm, no match for old age and experience”

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/

[Will Granzier]

Good for you using a SLR

Because you can drive a car with your feet doesnt make it a good idea.
There are 12 international TV adverts that were entirely shot and produced on mobile phones !! What does that make it the next thing to shoot broadcast with ??

Point is you dont need a SLR with a Nikon lens to get what the chap wanted to achieve. You can do it with PD 150 for that matter.

If the SLR’s are so good that even George is switching, I wonder why NBC, CNN, Sky and 20 of the top networks wont touch them ?

[Phil Balsdon]

Lets get back to the original post. Charlie wants a shallow depth of field and is struggling to achieve the effect as extremely as he wants. He specified a Fujinon lens, I simply pointed out the problem is not the lens. There’s a limit to how shallow the depth field is achievable with the 1/3in format.

Three things impact on depth of field:

1. F stop, the larger the better for shallow depth of field. ie 1.8, 2, 2.8 are preferable to f16 or f11.

2. The focal length of the lens. The longer your focal length the shallower your apparent depth of field.

3. The size of the image plane. This goes hand in hand with focal length because on smaller image planes the apparent magnification is greater for the same focal length.

Getting your camera as far away from your subject as possible and zooming in, opening your f stop as wide as possible, adding some ND or a Polarizer is the only option. This is okay if you’re outside and have space but if you’re in a smaller room you are restricted. The other consequence is the perspective of the field of view. Moving away and zooming in will greatly magnify the background in relation to your foreground subject. If you want to see a complete panorama in the background and have it soft in focus you’re really struggling.

The range 35mm adaptors that appeared on the market following the introduction of the smaller HD cameras almost all work on the principle of introducing an intermediate larger 35mm format focus screen on to which an image using a 35mm camera lens is focused. This intermediate image is then re-shot using the cameras lens or a special intermediate lens. This system works well and is really popular for drama and commercial shooting, it is however a little cumbersome and requires skill and care. The better versions of these adaptors are also more expensive than purchasing a good HD SLR with a good lens or two.

Everything comes at a price and the sacrifices made to achieve HD images in smaller cheaper cameras was a smaller CCD, normally 1/3 inch. The forfeit is they’re less sensitive so in low light can be a struggle to get a good exposure and they don’t offer the same low depth of field images as their 2/3in or larger film format cameras.

I’ve been shooting with a JVC HD111e for almost five years and I love it, so do my clients. It speeds up shoots enormously and delivers a very high quality image. However more recently I’ve been shooting more and more with a 7D because producers want the filmic low depth of field “look” that’s easily achievable with this camera. The down sides are audio quality, but dual system recording overcomes this. Shot duration is restricted to 12mins, but this just requires a momentary button off then on again, during a question is good and the audio recorder is still rolling, so this moment can be covered with a reversal or a cutaway. For some events this is an unacceptable restriction, such as concerts or sporting events when you don’t want your vision to crash at a critical moment.

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/

[Phil Balsdon]

If the SLR’s are so good that even George is switching, I wonder why NBC, CNN, Sky and 20 of the top networks wont touch them ? If the SLR’s are so good that even George is switching, I wonder why NBC, CNN, Sky and 20 of the top networks wont touch them ?

Perhaps some one told them;

Slr are ok for home movies of the kids in the garder, but arrive with one of those a news eng shoot and you will be sent home quicker than a pizza at a weight watchers convension.

Great thing about the worldwide web, everyone is free to say what they think.

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/

[Will Granzier]

Phil

Now youre talking sense !