HVX and Mini35 - which lens to stop down on?

[Noah]

So I'm shooting on the HVX and mini35 with Zeiss prime lenses. I want to shoot at an f4. Do I have the HVX wide open and stop down on the zeiss prime lenses or do I keep the zeiss prime wide open and stop down on the hvx? What's the optimal setting to avoid noise on the HVX in low light and to avoid paper thin dof? Thanks

 

[Barry_Green]

You usually can't stop down the prime very far without seeing grain on the ground glass. When using the mini35 I usually stop down on the DVX, but if you want to avoid paper-thin DOF then you have no choice but to stop down the prime. The prime's iris controls the DOF of the shot, but stopping down too far can make the grain more visible.