DOF Guidelines***

NorBro

NorBro

Major Contributor
If you're shooting outside with plenty of light, and you would like to achieve shallow DOF, are there certain things you can do to optimize the situation?

I know it depends on so many factors, but for instance...if you're shooting pretty close to a subject, is it better to have your aperture wide open and balance out exposure with the shutter speed or the opposite?

Also...just out of curiosity, if I'm shooting on a tripod, how would my image be affected if I did leave OIS turned ON. Does it matter?

Thank you.
 
If you are close to a subject, a large aperture will be the start, depending on the lens, but the issue with then using the shutter speed to control exposure is that motion will get really weird looking in daylight - like saving private ryan.

Ad some ND filters, and perhaps move the camera back and zoom in a bit if on the kit lens.

Also, on a tripod, have the OIS turned off, as the gyro can slightly degrade image quality if the image is already stable.

- Blackout
 
I'm on the kit lens and most of the shots don't have too much motion in them, which is why I probably never noticed it being wide open and a high shutter speed.

Interesting about the OIS...I always turned it off when on sticks, but I knew it must have done something since I've seen lots of videos where the person mentions that the OIS was off leading me to believe that if it's worth mentioning, it may affect the image in some way.
 
For video you should keep within the 100 - 400 ISO / Aperture as low as you can get it. If too much light then you need to use ND filters. At FHD (1080p) you should keep your shutter at 1/50 and at SH (720p) you should keep it at 1/60 or 1/125 for slow motion. In a bright sunny day you are pretty much stuck with having to use ND filters so it's safe to just get a set of ND filters.

Photographs... play with shutter all you like and ND's are still helpful.
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/depth-of-field.htm

As for the O.I.S. you can get some unexpected results leaving it on with a tripod. Anything unexpected is bad and especially since you can't see it too well on the LCD or EVF until you get it on your system and is too late. Best to turn it off. I have it off at all times for video and only use it for stills. With the right software you can correct unwanted shake in post, depending on how severe it is.
http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/MegaOISExplained?storeId=15001
 
As mentioned you want to keep your shutter speed at 1/50 for the look and consistency when cutting. this means get yourself a fader ND or nd filters. Ive got a fader ND and it does a great job. You can drop your fast primes right down for super shallow DOF in daylight.
 
1/125...that's crazy...

I've had the GH1 for a few days now, and I've been shooting outside with a tripod (mostly static). I'm wide open with speed b/w 1000-2000 to get correct exposure.

I know Blackout mentioned you may get a weird motion thing going on, but what other consequences can there be? I'm not planning to do any slow motion as there is not much movement.

I'm definitely going to purchase filters. I usually like to keep the aperture open as wide as possible, but I've read that the real sweet spot in lenses is somewhere in the middle.

As far as the OIS, that's a done deal...for the most part, I'm always going to keep it off.
 
Oh, btw....does anyone have any filter kits recommendations?

There are just so many to choose from....
 
Never use the shutter speed to adjust exposure with a video camera. It affects the look of the motion.

Use ND filters instead.
 
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