Before you buy a DoF adapter...

B

Bob Gruen

Well-known member
Before you but a DoF adapter try this: run you're camera like a film camera...

What this means is you get the camera as close as you can to the talent to push the background back (in terms of percentages anyway).

What this means is, you do NOT use the iris to control the amount of light hitting your sensor, you use neutral density filters. Run your iris wide open (or one or two ticks closed) at all times.

What this means is that instead of spending hundreds on the adapter and hundreds to thousands more on lenses you will just spend a little over $200 on three ND filters to see if you can get to 'good enough' by using the same techniques that you will start to use when you have a DoF adapter attached. Many cameras have an ND.9 and an ND1.8 built in (like the Panasonics), buy screw on .6 .3, and .15 and use them to set your exposure.

Best of Luck,

Bob
 
This is hardly the same or closed to using an adapter. Sure, if you use ND filter you can get a bit more shallow DOF with wide open iris but you also lose the ability to adjust exposure in fine increments. Plus the fact that you're zoomed in all the time compresses the background which also limits your aesthetic choices, especially on wider shots, and of course if you're stuck in a small area and can't back away then it won't work.
 
Bob Gruen said:
Before you but a DoF adapter try this: run you're camera like a film camera...

What this means is you get the camera as close as you can to the talent to push the background back (in terms of percentages anyway).

Bob
Click to expand...

Shouldn't that be you move the camera further away and ZOOM in to the talent. This will give the narrowest dof just on the talent when you focus on them..
 
NewHPXuser said:
Shouldn't that be you move the camera further away and ZOOM in to the talent. This will give the narrowest dof just on the talent when you focus on them..
Click to expand...

It's basically the same thing. You're changing the distance between the subject and the background which is a contributing factor in how out of focus the background becomes. Of course doing it this way enlarges the subject in front of the lens which can be undesirable depending on the intended effect.
 
I shot this clip without an adapter with the panasonic hpx170

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA-mIHLfBR0

Look at 0:41 I think that's not bad. I think with good light and zoomed in you can make a good look. But never the less I will buy the SG Blade because with only little light it is hard to get that filmic look.
 
What if my talent isn't a talent? =/

Sorry, just had to! =p. I love the DOF adapters because the overall look you get, not just the dof. And no matter what, no ND filter is going to give you that special look as the adapter does.
 
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