Depth of field on included lens

J

jeffyjones

Well-known member
I'm a current HVX200 owner, and have enjoyed using it over the years mostly for run-and-gun shooting to be posted on the Web. I'm considering using it for a short "film" but of course I'm not satisfied with the depth of field using the built-in lens. I really like Redrock Micro's 35mm adapter, and have a lot of high end Canon EOS lenses.

But buying all of that gear to dress up the HVX200 is a questionable endeavor in my mind because it's still an HVX200 underneath, with the lower native resolution and other feature differences compared to an HPX300. I'm invested in P2 at this point, so to buy the new camera, I only "need" the camera and batteries. There comes a point where it makes more sense to just pursue the new camera.

My question is, not being strong in my knowledge of video lenses, how would you compare the depth of field ability of the included lens on the HPX300? If you were to compare it to a 50mm lens on any 35mm camera, what kind of aperture would it be comparable to? If you could get it to f/4, that would be adequate in my mind.

Your input is very much appreciated!
 
Depth of Field relates only to focal length and aperture (and, in practice, sensor size), so variation from lens to lens will not affect size of DoF (just the quality of it).

The HPX300 and HVX200 are both 1/3" sensor cameras, so they will produce the same DoF at a given focal length and aperture.

A 35mm camera, HPX300, and HVX200 at 50mm will all have the same DoF. However, the 1/3" cameras will have a much narrower angle of view due to their smaller sensor, equivalent to a 360mm lens on a 35mm camera.

To get an angle of view on a 1/3" camera equivalent to your 50mm/35mm standard requires a 7mm focal length, which in turn has a much wider DoF.

If all you seek is shallow DoF, I recommend looking at the Canon 5D, which is by far the cheapest way to get super-shallow DoF without using a 35mm adapter. However, there are many other advantages to the HPX300 (and other real video cameras) that will all depend on what you shoot and how you shoot it.

The HPX300 is a fantastic, versatile camera, and the included lens, while not spectacular, is highly versatile and holds its own with other cameras in its price range. Letus just announced a 1/3" relay lens which should provide great, shallow DoF results with their 35mm adapters if you want to add that down the line.
 
Yeah, if I sell my HVX200, I still need the kind of every-day ability I already have, so a 5D Mark II wouldn't be ideal (not to mention I have the original 5D!).

I understand the differences in sensor size as it relates to focal length, since I've certainly used point-and-shoots and even the older SLR's that have "field crop" unless you use the glass tooled for the smaller sensors. That's not really what I was after. I was asking about how shallow the depth could go in the existing optics in the included lens without an adapter based on its iris being wide open, much as you would an SLR lens with the aperture wide open.
 
The HPX300's lens is 4.5 to 77mm. The HVX200's lens is 4.2 to 55mm. So from 4.5 to 55mm, the HPX300's DOF will be identical to the HVX200.

From 56mm to 77mm, it will be correspondingly shallower, as the lens is longer. But from the range where they overlap, it'll be the same.
 
Ah, that's what I was looking for. I'm hoping my local shop has one to play with so I can give that a whirl. Thanks, Barry!
 
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