Bill Bruner
Forum Replies Created
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Hi Dave – sorry it has taken so long to get back to you.
Here is a brief explanation of the numbers. But you probably want to do some further reading.
Focal Length
The first number in lens specifications is “focal length” in millimeters, abbreviated as “mm”. The focal length of your lens will determine the magnification of the image projected onto your camera’s sensor.
Longer or “telephoto” focal lengths will produce larger images. Shorter or “wider” focal lengths will produce smaller images. Camcorders usually have “zoom” lenses, with a continuous range of focal lengths from wide to telephoto.
Image size also depends on the size of your sensor. Although it is a little counterintuitive, a small sensor will show a larger image size than a large sensor with a lens of the same focal length.
For that reason, camera and lens manufacturers will often express focal lengths in terms of “35mm equivalent”. In other words, the focal length the lens would have if used with a standard full frame 35mm film camera.
Aperture
The second number in lens specifications describes the lens’ maximum aperture – usually expressed as the “f stop”. Smaller f-stops mean a larger maximum aperture, and a more light sensitive (and more expensive) lens.
Lens Comparison
So, an apples to apples comparison of the lenses listed above would be:
$1549 Sony MC2000U,: 29.8-357.6mm (35mm equivalent) with an aperture of f/1.8-3.4
$1599 JVC GY-HM70U,: 29.5-476mm (35mm equivalent) with an aperture of f/1.2-2.8
$2698 Sony NEX-VG30: 27-300mm (35mm equivalent using a 1.5x magnification for the camera’s large sensor) with an aperture of f3.5 to 6.3
Caveat
But be careful – lens aperture/sensitivity does not necessarily equal low light performance. Your camcorder’s sensor size, sensor sensitivity, image processor and image processing algorithms are also very important.
The VG30’s large sensor means that if you put an f1.8 lens on it, it’s ability to record high quality images in low light would blow any of the small sensor camcorders away.
Another Camera Suggestion,
Since my last post, the Sony HXR-NX70 has been marked down to $1999 at Amazon. This was a great weatherproof camera at $3000, and is even more amazing at $2000.
It doesn’t have the VG30’s huge sensor, but here is what it can do:
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Suggestions for further reading
Book: “A Complete Idiot’s Guide to Independent Filmmaking”
Please see this excerpt from the book on focal length and aperture for a better explanation than I can give: https://books.google.com/books?id=rOhLfJi4cGoC&pg=PA201&lpg=PA201&dq=aperture+and+focal+length+filmmaking&source=bl&ots=q9SGXsVFom&sig=Ist-1P85d62UNv7DW-VSsj2I8Vg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=7-vjUbfTEsH-iwKM34DwCA&ved=0CGkQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=aperture%20and%20focal%20length%20filmmaking&f=false
Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focal_length
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-numberAgain, hope this is helpful,
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Hi Dave – I’ve shot with the VG20, and it did pretty well in low light, but I had to step the gain up a little. Sadly, the only way to set the gain, as I recall, was with a tiny wheel on the bottom left side of the camera.
Or perhaps your challenge with the VG30 was the slow f3.5-6.8 18-200 kit zoom?
For my low light shots with the VG20, I replaced the kit zoom with an inexpensive old Canon FD 50mm f1.8 and a $24 adapter (the beauty of interchangeable lens cameras).
That said, coming from the MC2000, you might be more comfortable with the ergonomics of the shoulder mounted $3199 Sony NEX-EA50. It has the same large APS-C sensor as the VG30, with the addition of the shoulder mount and pro XLR mic inputs. With the addition of an inexpensive fast prime (such as the $298 50mm f1.8), here is what this camera can do in low light:
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Hope this is helpful,
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Hi James – Dave is correct, the crop is 2x – so a 300mm lens would be equivalent to 600mm in full frame.
But you will not get full functionality with the long and fast Olympus 4/3 lenses and the DMW-MA-1 adapter. You will get auto metering, auto iris and push autofocus – but full time autofocus will not work.
The Panasonic AF100 lens compatibility chart shows this for the Olympus 14-35mm f2.0 (see the bottom of the chart in the “Four Thirds Lens” section – note that Panasonic mis-titles the lens itself as an Olympus micro four thirds lens :))
That said, your best bets for fast telephoto are the adapted Olympus 4/3 lenses. With adapted Nikons, you’ll get metering, but no auto-iris and no autofocus whatsoever.
Here is an example of what the $2500 Olympus 35-100mm f2.0 can do on the AF100:
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Longer options are the $2500 Olympus 150mm f2.0, $6000 Olympus 90-250mm f2.8 and $7000 Olympus 300mm f2.8.
At these prices, you may want to pick one of these lenses up used. You can find the Olympus 35-100mm f2.0 for less than $2000 on eBay, for example.
Hope this is helpful,
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Yes, it does. 24fps is more susceptible to stuttering than 60fps, though.
Bill
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Hi Brett, to avoid stuttering (and motion blur), the rule of thumb for cinema (and video) is that your shutter speed should be about 2x your frame rate. So for 720/60p, your shutter speed should have been 1/125 and not 1/60.
You may want to do some reading on “the 180 degree rule”.
When I get a few minutes, I will post some links.
Cheers,
Bill
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Hi Greg – if you mean, “can you change the default file name from “number assigned by camera”.mts to “name assigned by user”.mts, the answer is yes.
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Hi aroonz, if your budget allows, you should get the C100 (marked down to $5499 at Adorama and at BigValue via eBay). You already have lenses for it, and it will definitely solve your moire issue.
The 5D Mark III has very little moire, but it is “soft” straight out of the camera. This can be fixed in post, or with the RAW hack, but you may not have time for that.
Here is a pretty good side-by-side comparison between the two cameras:
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Hope this is helpful and good luck with your project!
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Hi Walerian – sorry to hear that the Sonys didn’t work out for you – but you’re not the only person who doesn’t like Sony color reproduction.
I would trade the NX30s in for Panasonic AC90s – and I would trade the CX740 for a Panasonic GH3 DSL or their latest flagship consumer camcorder, the X920. All of these cameras have good low light performance, and good color reproduction.
Here is what the AC90 can do (intercut with a hacked GH2 – shot by Panasonic guru Paulo Teixeira):
Everybody Talks (cover) – PopALERT
Here is what the GH3 can do – note how the camera holds the skin tone despite the changing color of the background light (please watch at 1080p):
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The X920 is too new to have a lot of concert or nightclub footage, but here is how it handles low light:
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The AC90 is $1743 in the US, £1650 in the UK and 2458€ in Europe.
Hope this is helpful,
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Hi Jordan – welcome to the world of digital filmmaking!
To answer your questions in order:
1. A lens hood will work just fine to reduce glare indoors or out. The only reason to use a matte box is to be able to slide filters in and out without screwing and unscrewing them on and off your lens.
2. It depends on how much you want to spend and what “look” you want. I use a $30 set of Cokin P ND filters outdoors with a $50 matte box to keep the lens aperture open in bright sunlight, which shallows out my depth of field.
3. Again, it depends on how much you want to spend and how good you need the sound quality to be. You can spend tens of thousands of dollars on audio – or a few hundred. On a budget, I would use a $149 Sony ECM-AW3 Bluetooth wireless mic. Here is what this mic can do:
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Hope this is helpful,
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Hi Bill – For best results in low light I would stay away from trying to hold focus in low light with manual lenses – and dialing up the gain with slow Panasonic system lenses will lead to low quality results.
For $5000, you can afford a B stock AF100A for $2995 with a 90 day Panasonic Warranty from Texas Media Systems, a $199 Sigma 19mm f2.8, a $199 Sigma 30mm f2.8, and a $1200 Panasonic 35-100mm f2.8 lens.
But the low light, large sensor king below $5000 would be the $3999 Sony NEX-FS100 with relatively inexpensive Sony 35mm and 50mm f1.8 NEX system lenses.
The FS100 wins every low light shootout with the AF100 I have ever seen – as in Phil Bloom’s Christmas Shootout Part 2 in 2011:
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Hope this is helpful and good luck with your interviews!