How does this night shot have hyperfocus in it?

[ironpony]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jeMWsnCOU8

In movies like that one, they show a skyline at night, and it seems to be shot at at least f8 or lower even. How do they do that under low light? The lights on in the building windows seem to be what's illuminating the scene, so do the filmmakers go to every building in downtown L.A. and have arc lights blasting through every one of those lit up windows, just to make it bright enough for the camera to capture at a low aperture?

 

[Moseph]

35mm film has a deeper DOF than what it sounds like you think. Kodak has this great iPhone app which is telling me that even at a 1.4, hyperfocal on a 50mm lens is only 230 feet. This is well within the distance that those buildings are from the camera.

 

[ironpony]

Oh okay. A DP I am collaborating with says he can only get a few feet of distance at 1.4, and that those buildings most all be lit from the inside windows or something.

 

[j1clark@ucsd.edu]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jeMWsnCOU8

In movies like that one, they show a skyline at night, and it seems to be shot at at least f8 or lower even. How do they do that under low light? The lights on in the building windows seem to be what's illuminating the scene, so do the filmmakers go to every building in downtown L.A. and have arc lights blasting through every one of those lit up windows, just to make it bright enough for the camera to capture at a low aperture?

The fly over LA in a helicopter seem to be using a wide angle lens, and so will have a 'natural' deep focus appearance.f

As noted, several apps are available for the iPhone, Toland and pCam, which I have both, do the ugly calculation.

 

[ironpony]

I could use an iphone, but... should I? I have access to better cameras. And a DP might feel an iphone is beneath him.

 

[j1clark@ucsd.edu]

Oh okay. A DP I am collaborating with says he can only get a few feet of distance at 1.4, and that those buildings most all be lit from the inside windows or something.

Either you or the 'dp' that you are talking to don't know how to explain yourselves. If you are focused on a 'near object', one may have only a few feet of DoF at 1.4. If one is focused at 300 feet, one may be beyond the hyperfocal distance, and so, the result should be as the clip you put up.

Focusing on a 'near subject' is not using the hyperfocus distance.

 

[ironpony]

Oh okay. So at f1.4, the hyperfocal distance is further away, than compared to f8 for example.

 

[David W. Jones]

The suggestion was not made to use an iPhone to shoot the shot, the suggestion was made for you to purchase an iPhone app like pCAM so you will have all this information right in front of you.

 

[David G. Smith]

Here is an on line DOF calculator.

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

With 35mm (Cinema) at at focal length of 35mm and f1.4 the hyperfocal distance is 113.8 feet. IMDB says that "The Replacement Killers" was shot in Super 35mm and that calculator does not show S35 but the difference in the DOF between 35mm and S35mm would not be that great in the shot that you cited. I think that the shot was also done with a lens wider than 35mm. At an 18mm focal length at f1.4 the hyperfocal distance is 30.1 feet.

 

[j1clark@ucsd.edu]

Oh okay. So at f1.4, the hyperfocal distance is further away, than compared to f8 for example.

Yes, for my GH-1 the hyperfocal distance is 17 ft for f/8 and 97 ft for f/1.4 with a 25mm lens.

This was given by the calculator referenced by David G. Smith above and is found here.

Learn to use these sorts of tools...