DVX 100A (Depth Of Field Question)

E

EMB145

New member
I am getting ready to shoot my first film and have a question about dept of field. I am a fairly new user to the 100A. I have shot a few small projects but nothing major.

I would like to shoot a few scenes using dept of field. Over the shoulder and keeping one in focus and one out. I have another shot that I would like to do where my actor is standing on a bridge and has the city lights behind her. Of course I want her in focus and the city out.

Can someone help me out with this please?

Thanks
Tim
 
EMB145 said:
I am getting ready to shoot my first film and have a question about dept of field. I am a fairly new user to the 100A. I have shot a few small projects but nothing major.

I would like to shoot a few scenes using dept of field. Over the shoulder and keeping one in focus and one out. I have another shot that I would like to do where my actor is standing on a bridge and has the city lights behind her. Of course I want her in focus and the city out.

Can someone help me out with this please?

Thanks
Tim
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Cant you do that with the focus? Or do you mean you have a 35mm adaptor for depth of field? If you do I'm jelous lol.
 
First off, every scene uses depth of field. You just want it shallow.

There are two things that make it shallow. The first is aperture; you want to be as wide open as possible. The second is focal length; you want to be as zoomed in as possible. That's it.

Oh, and obviously in order to exaggerate the effects you want as large of a distance between the two subjects as you can get.
 
what he said ....however with opening up ur aperature that introduces other factors such as overexposure...so u have to know how to deal with that by either using the ND filters (in camera or external) or shutter speed. And if you are shooting in 24p changing the shutter speed can have an effect of making the motion more blury or more choppy (sharp). its all about compromise and control.
 
Shutter speed will affect the motion characteristics of any frame rate, so it should be your last option for brightness control.

Fortunately, in nearly any situation, the on-camera ND filter will do.
 
I used to use the ND filter to adjust brightness, but stopped because it made the images too soft. Any thoughts on this?
 
never really noticed. so what do u used now?

I'd liked to compared the built in ND to an external. Gonna try get a Fader ND soon.
 
jennifer k said:
I used to use the ND filter to adjust brightness, but stopped because it made the images too soft. Any thoughts on this?
Click to expand...

what was your f-stop at? if it was wide open, your whole shot is going to look much softer than say, f 3.4 or f 8
 
I think I remember reading something on these boards about the use of ND filters actually increases DOF shallowness. Personally I dig the ND filters. I don't know if I'd say they soften the video but it definately brings out colour on a bright day.

As for aperture, wait a minute? I'm pretty sure a aperture leaning on the close side would give you that shallowness you're looking for. Ideally around f5.6 and higher.
 
blindowl said:
.........
As for aperture, wait a minute? I'm pretty sure a aperture leaning on the close side would give you that shallowness you're looking for. Ideally around f5.6 and higher.
Click to expand...
It's the other way around. A closed down aperture increases your depth of field. A wide open aperture reduces your depth of field, i.e. shallow. Adjust your ND to get proper exposure at the open end of the F-stop range and you will have a shallow DOF. As stated earlier, zoom in to increase the effect. I have gotten great results on the DVX doing just that and haven't yet felt the need to buy a 35mm adapter. For all other purposes, 5.6 is the ideal F-stop at which your lens can resolve an image. To give credit where due, I know this from reading Barry's book and seeing the proof in my own results.
 
also try to use f2.8 as the widestt you'll go to achieve shallow DOP. after that and resolution drops off dramaitcally. (also from Barry's Book)

So 2.8 widest
5.6 ideal resoltion...sharpest u'll get.
 
Good information. But just a little semantical clarification, when i was referring to shallow, my meaning was you have the subject in focus but the background not so much. Whereas a deep DOF you have most nearly everything in frame in focus. I think we are in agreement, but there''s a little confusion in terminology.
 
yeh thats what it means...but doesnt have to be background. But yeh.

And stopping down means higher f numbers and stopping up means lower f numbers. People can get confused with the terminology.
 
What everybody else said in addition to this, I usually have a test tape with me that I can do test shots with. I'll shoot for about 5-10 sec per setting and just keep bracketing until I find exactly what I like for a shot. I note all the settings I shot for each take and use the one I like the best when I review the footage.

The more I do this, the more I learn about aperture, focal length, shutter speeds, etc.
 
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