thefilmaddict
Veteran
I've read a lot of posts on this site saying that zoom lenses have sweet spots. I think that many of these people shoot video and do still photography. It would be great to know what zoom position and what iris setting produces the best HVX200 image.
I am the type of camera operator that is willing to work to use the camera in ways that produce the best image (meaning I am shooting short films where I have time to light, and am not shooting run and gun documentary type of shooting). This may mean setting up lights to get to a certain f-stop and placing the camera a certain amount of feet away to stay at the best zoom position (is this called focal point -- I forget?) to get the framing I want, but still keep the lens at its sweet spot.
Anyone know the sweet spot of the HVX? How would I find the sweet spot? Is this a silly way to work, or is this the best way to get the most out of the camera?
I've heard some people on this site say that the image falls apart when zoomed out (that was their opinion, not necessarily a fact). If your outdoors (and have plenty of room to move around) or in a large room, could you not get a nice wide shot (with the lens still zoomed in) by just moving the camera far away from the subject? This way, you would not have to zoom out the lens all the way to get your framing, you just stay zoomed in (perhaps not all the way, but maybe in the mid range of the lens) and move further back away from your subject to still get wide framing? This would also make the background a little softer than the subject (giving the image more of a film look). Does this sound right in theory?
I guess the downside to this method would be camera movement (the more zoomed in you are, the harder it is to keep the tripod movement steady). You could also run into sound problems. You would need a lot of XLR cable. Any other problems or solutions?
I am the type of camera operator that is willing to work to use the camera in ways that produce the best image (meaning I am shooting short films where I have time to light, and am not shooting run and gun documentary type of shooting). This may mean setting up lights to get to a certain f-stop and placing the camera a certain amount of feet away to stay at the best zoom position (is this called focal point -- I forget?) to get the framing I want, but still keep the lens at its sweet spot.
Anyone know the sweet spot of the HVX? How would I find the sweet spot? Is this a silly way to work, or is this the best way to get the most out of the camera?
I've heard some people on this site say that the image falls apart when zoomed out (that was their opinion, not necessarily a fact). If your outdoors (and have plenty of room to move around) or in a large room, could you not get a nice wide shot (with the lens still zoomed in) by just moving the camera far away from the subject? This way, you would not have to zoom out the lens all the way to get your framing, you just stay zoomed in (perhaps not all the way, but maybe in the mid range of the lens) and move further back away from your subject to still get wide framing? This would also make the background a little softer than the subject (giving the image more of a film look). Does this sound right in theory?
I guess the downside to this method would be camera movement (the more zoomed in you are, the harder it is to keep the tripod movement steady). You could also run into sound problems. You would need a lot of XLR cable. Any other problems or solutions?