What settings do you use for maximum depth of field?

F

Film Crazy

Active member
I have a gig coming up where they want me to shoot audience reactions at a business conference without sticks (hand held). I usually shoot narrative forms where I can measure everything out, so this upcoming gig is new territory for me.

I'm curious as to what settings people are using when they're shooting events with large audiences that require a large depth of field (e.g. weddings, corporates, music concerts, etc.). I'm not going to be able to really measure anything or adjust on the fly, and I don't like the "automatic" look (i.e., things coming in and out of focus as the camera adjusts when I pan, etc.). So, I'd like to shoot this manual.

Can someone advise me on what I need to do to get as much of the audience in focus and with proper exposure without being able to measure?

This event-shooter newbie would appreciate any help I can get. Thanks.
 
I'm a fellow noob here too, so take my advice with a grain of salt :-)

However the HVX has a very deep depth of field ... in fact the challenge with this camera is to lessen it, not deepen it, so as long as you're not zoomed way in and don't have the iris wide open you should be just fine.
 
You'd want to stay on the wide side of the lens and stop up as much as possible. Maybe even throw on a 220 degree shutter to give you a little extra punch and then dial in the extra ~half stop that will give you on your iris.


I don't think there are settings that will give you that set it and forget it type shoot. You will likely still need to be prepared to change your focus. You should be able to do it without bumping the camera.


Honestly though, even in these situations I still use selective focus. It makes for professional looking footage.

I guess I gained a lot of experience and comfort focusing when I shot that mocumentary feature and pulled my own focus, so I feel quite confident doing it. It's a combination of being able to quickly and clearly judge what's sharp, and eyeballing the distance readouts for double checking.

I loathe doing live events of any kind, but I still approach it as a movie, and I think clients like that. My corporate producer who lines up all the high paying gigs markets myself and our team as independent filmmakers who take that approach to all our work, and the clients seem to really respond to that. It actually makes us different than the competition and has landed us some pretty prestigious gigs in the corporate world.
 
Thanks for the advice NeverColdCall and ThousandWordPicture.


ThousandWordPicture: when you say you still use "selective focus", do you mean you use AUTO FOCUS selectively? In other words, do you use auto focus to help you out when you're moving all over the place and going hand held?

Thanks for the help.
 
No, he means having certain things / people in focus, and others out of focus. Having part of the image out of focus is how the eye naturally sees and why all the rage lately is really shallow DOF, like 35mm film. It can give a more professional look to footage.
The HVX naturally has a very large DOF like all other consumer / prosumer video cameras, and as long as you close the iris somewhat and keep the lens at a wide angle, you should have no problem having an entire room in focus.
The problem you can run into when shooting deep focus stuff is light, due to the higher F-stops. Consider extra light ( as you always should anyway when shooting video ).
 
it's best to do that in post where you have complete control over it. Shooting live and not having something in focus that ya need can be costly.
 
grinner said:
it's best to do that in post where you have complete control over it. Shooting live and not having something in focus that ya need can be costly.
Click to expand...
What??

We're talking reaction shots of a crowd here. Not first ever recorded UFO lands in a field.


I do broadcast news, so almost everything is run and gun for me. No time for measuring. And this sitution shouldn't really be any trouble at all.

But why can't you get a tripod with you? That'll make you able to zoom in tight on the great reactions. And when you zoom in you'll get the shallow DOF which I agree is a much nicer look.

Of course you can zoom in handheld, but it's not going to be steady unless you use avaible tables, floor etc. for stabilizing.

Since it's a business conference, I suppose you got plenty of light on the crowd? Maybe you should confirm that before shooting. Bringing your own light isn't a good idea. You're gonna bother the audience too much.

You have to go as unnoticed as possible. This is not a filmproduction, but a real life situation. Center of attention is the conference, not the filmproject.

If you still want the great DOF you need to be as wide as possible. But then you'll have two options: 1) Reactions will be from afar with poor facial expression detail or 2) You'll have to get very close with the camera - and I don't think the audience will appreciate that.
 
I do most of my writing in post as a matter of fact.
I document in the field and create the story while putting it all together.
You can take or leave any advice. This is whats great about group dicussions...
multiple flavors of the same answer.
 
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