[Bob Cole]

Thanks Tim. I agree it’s a very tough thing to figure out.

But since it’s the common wisdom that you should use a monitor to ensure accurate focus when you shoot HD, I would like to ask the HD shooters out there, “What do you use?”

I suspect a lot of people would say, “I SHOULD use a field monitor, but…”

Personally, I’m waiting for the roll-up HD-pixel-mapping monitor that you can store in your gel case and use as a heating pad if your back hurts on the drive back home. Dishwasher-safe too!

BC

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[Bob Cole]

Thanks — it’s in 8-bit uncompressed and that’s how it will stay.

BC

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[Bob Cole]

External firewire hard drives, doubled up for vital stuff. (I don’t expect this to last forever, but it’s digital, so at some point I’ll move the important projects to whatever emerges as the next solution.) Masters go on Beta tape and get put on the shelf too.

Speaking of “the shelf” the other aspect to archiving is off-site storage. Haven’t done anything about that yet but I really should.

After reading this thread, I looked at LTO drives. At $1000-2000 they’re not that expensive, but the only ones I saw needed a SCSI interface. I’m planning to get a SATA interface card for my as-yet-unbought SATA RAID. Is there a way to adapt SATA to SCSI?

Bob C.

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[Bob Cole]

re: DOF. Please take a look at the links in the earlier post. Once more: https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/depth-of-field.htm Navigate to the section headed “CLARIFICATION: FOCAL LENGTH AND DEPTH OF FIELD”

There’s no point in continuing with this he said-she said — at least for my part, as I’m not an expert in the physics of optics and have nothing to contribute except for those links. I was just trying to keep someone from believing that he could fix a 1/3″ camera’s shallow DOF by moving the camera back and using the tele.

But at least this discussion has led to another question, which I’m going to post in separate thread.

Thanks!

“Cole-out”

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[Bob Cole]

[Todd at Fantastic Plastic] “[Bob Cole] “Somebody correct me if I’m wrong, but I think this is a common misconception. If you go far away and zoom in to, say, a head-and-shoulders shot, you’ll have as much DOF as if you stayed close and zoomed out for the same head-and-shoulders frame.”

Sadly, no. DoF is a function of a number of things including f-stop, size of image (film frame or chip size) and lens focal length. In the 35mm world, just as an 80mm prime lens has a much shallower depth of field compared to, say, a 28mm lens… by zooming in you are increasing the focal length of the lens and correspondingly decreasing the depth of field.”

Of course, but that’s not what we were discussing. The suggestion was to decrease the DOF by moving the camera further away and zooming in. Assuming a constant imager size, and a constant subject size (e.g. a head-and-shoulders in both cases) and subject position relative to the background, that doesn’t work. You’ll get a narrower slice of the background, but it will be virtually as sharp. I can’t find the source where I first saw this, but take a look at
https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/depth-of-field.htm or https://www.agilelevin.com/outoffocusessay.htm

I agree with your observation about how difficult it is to make a 1/3″ imager have shallow DOF. It’s made me much more careful about choosing a background and positioning the subject (I’m talking interviews here).

What I’m wondering about right now (as a Sony Z1 owner), is whether there is enough of a DOF difference to make a difference, between the 1/3″ imager and a 1/2″ (as in the new Sony EX). I have come to appreciate the light weight of the Z1, and I especially like the ergonomics of the EX. Do you think there will ever be a 2/3″ camera in something like the EX form factor? I dislike the weight of the new “cheap” Panasonic 2/3″ shoulder-mount cameras — & I really like being able to carry around an HD-flavor video camera like I used to carry an SLR!

Bob C

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[Bob Cole]

[George Socka] “When did you last see a tube TV in a board room?”

Thursday.

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[Bob Cole]

[Jeffrey B.] “Without buying new equipment, your only option is to get far away and zoom in as much as possible.”

Somebody correct me if I’m wrong, but I think this is a common misconception. If you go far away and zoom in to, say, a head-and-shoulders shot, you’ll have as much DOF as if you stayed close and zoomed out for the same head-and-shoulders frame.

The solution is to move the subject as far from the background as possible. For interiors, place the camera close to one wall, and bring the subject as close to the camera as you can.

Also, of course, shoot wide open, using a higher shutter speed if necessary. This can be tricky if you use the zoom a lot, as tele settings generally have a higher “wide open” f-stop.

You can also create the impression of shallow DOF by your choice of background (large objects without detail) and the lighting on the background (defocussed pattern lighting).

But the human eye has infinite DOF, so perhaps this is a new esthetic. Well, not so new, Citizen Kane.

Bob C

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[Bob Cole]

Try the lighting design pro’s forum here on the COW, but please be more specific, as your needs aren’t very clear from your question. By mobile, do you mean traveling by air? — getting around town? — shooting an interview while you and the subject are walking?

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[Bob Cole]

[john sharaf] “Another alternative is a barebulb product made by Dedo”

Thank you John. As always, a generous source of first-rate advice. My 20 degree fabric grid is on its way back to the store. It was actually a good experiment, and the results were really kind of nice — it was just a pain to keep the thing aimed right.

re: bare bulb fixture for Chimera; I am leaning toward the “Triolet” from Chimera, with the 2-pin bulb, which I’ve been told can be dimmed without buzzing.

I love using a ton of instruments, but there are many times when I would actually deliver better value to the client if I packed less, traveled lighter, and moved faster. Here’s my new plan for my one-man band, corporate b-roll/interview shoots: key with Diva, the Triolet/Chimera for fill, a 200 Pepper hairlight, and a Source 4 for the background — that may just be my 4-ton truck. Oh, and a roll of gaffer tape. (This from somebody who brings everything he can fit, usually.)

Thanks again, John.

Bob

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[Bob Cole]

I really wouldn’t spend that much, especially for less-than-ideal lights. I have used Tota lights for lighting a background, but I wouldn’t do it on purpose because it is difficult to control stray light. It isn’t very even on the background, and from the side, the bare bulb inevitably hits places you don’t want, like the lens or the subject. The Tota light in umbrella idea sounds great until you try it: lots of stray light, not enough light (for all the heat generated) on the subject. A good durable broad light with barndoors would be better. You can get open face broad lights on eBay (or perhaps Craigslist) for nothing. I am not trying to sell you here, but I have about six such old Colortran lights I won’t even try to sell on eBay because they’d net so little money for the hassle.

Ideally, you’d get a light designed for the purpose; I hope one of the lighting design experts chimes in here, but I think you’d want a cyc or a scoop — but a couple of good old broads like the Mole Nooklites would be just fine.

another idea:
If you have a permanent location, hanging your background lights from the ceiling would make the floor much easier to navigate. And once the background is evenly lit, having the lights somewhat inaccessible would keep people from moving them accidentally.

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