D .O. F Question...!

S

Steve McClean

Carbonite Member
I think that may budget isn't going to be able to buy a cinema adapter plus lenses so I was wonder what if I just did without.

Say the character is talking and I step back 20 feet and zoom all the way in and then focus giving it somewhat of a dof effect. The question I'm asking is should I not do this because will it just make my characters look flat and alittle bit disoriented? Anybody know?


thanks a lot


steve
 
Yes you will of course get a shallower DOF, but you will not have a choice as to your field of view. you still won't be getting the same DOF as you would using a 35mm adapter.
 
I'd say you can get some pretty nice results without using a 35mm adapter if you've got large areas and plenty of distance to place your subects away from backgounds and still have room to zoom in a bit. Getting the camera close to the subject and zooming BOTH help to enhance shallow DOF so you have to kiind of balance between the two for a happy medium.

If you are looking at being in tight quarters or small sets, you will want the 35mm adapter.
 
Hit up craigslist or a local filmmaking forum, I bet you can find someone locally who'll lend out or rent the adapter to you for cheap.

If no adapter, then yes you can zoom in, but if you do it too much then the actor looks smaller, shorter and dis-proportionate to the rest of the setting. I'd suggest focusing more on lighting and make your subject "pop" from contrast rater than focus.

You can also do a gradient blur in post, but it looks funny.

Good luck!

- Greg
 
We just shot some interviews and created a decent shallow DOF with a stock HVX200.

10 feet from subject to the background which was as well lit. 18 feet to cam.

Iris wide open and zoom all the way.

It looked pretty good.
 
The stock lens it looks like is okay for a lot of situations. However its "bokeh" for the parts that are blurry is drastically different from 35mil film.

Also at Z99 or and fully open you will have a hard time following your subject and nailing focus. The focusing ring on the lens is motor driven/not direct and goes past infinity, which is quite annoying. There is also not a lot of tension on the ring itself so it's easy to skate it past whatever setting.

I wish there was a rotation ratio adjustment.

Unlke the Elmarit design which also zooms towards the film plane, the Dicomar skates focus curve in the zoom, which does make using slr primes and cine-zooms more attractive.

But I'd suggest getting every shot you can out of the stock lens before getting an adapter.
 
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