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ksmprod

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Would adding a wide angle lens give more depth of field similar to a 35mm lens adapter?

I recently shot and event with another videographer as my second cam and he used the cannon 5d and its footage is unbelievable.

Just looking for something to add a little more sizzle to my footage in the future
 
The wider your lens is, the deeper your focus will be, which is the opposite of what you're trying to achieve.

Want the shallowest focus possible with a camera's native lens? Step back and zoom in!

Also, consider a low-cost 35mm adapter like a used Letus35 Mini. I recently picked up the full Letus Mini bundle with 2 lens mounts, rails, and a case for $715 through this forum ($1300ish if bought new), and used manual focus primes are cheap. That said, there's no free lunch... adapters eat your light, and make the camera difficult/impossible to smoothly operate handheld without buying accessories like a shoulder mount with an external monitor for critical focus.
 
Thanks Jason... I appreciate the info. Didn't realize it would eat up more light, which is hard to come by on most of my shoots (weddings)

I guess I will just stick to the basics for now!
 
Yeah... just attaching a Letus adapter kills a 1/2 stop of light. Assuming you're shooting wide open with an f/1.4 prime lens (HARD to do if you want anything in focus), you lose another stop of light between the prime and the Letus adapter. Use an f/2.8 zoom on there, and it gets dark fast! Like I said, no free lunch!

For shallow focus with what you've got, you're going to just have to back up further, zoom in, and open up your iris.
 
lol... You're on probably the best site to find a used adapter right now: DVXuser.com

I recommend the Letus35 mini if you can find a good deal on one. It loses the least amount of light, and that's important on the HMC40.
 
Yes, it does eat light up, but not nearly as much light as adding a 35mm adapter and subsequent lenses in front of the adapter.

With the native lens at max zoom, your open aperture is f/2.8.

With an adapter like the Letus35 Mini that I have, your camera's native lens has to be zoomed in on the matte focus screen to at least Z60, with an effective open aperture of f/2.0-2.2 minus an additional 1/2 stop for the adapter itself, minus an additional full stop or more for any glass that goes in front of the adapter! Even with +12db Gain, you'll have a very hard time lighting an interior scene!

I had to use two Arri 650w fresnels + softboxes for key lighting, a third Arri 650w fresnel + softbox for fill lighting, and a bare 300w fresnel for a hair light earlier today in order to shoot an interior set interview with the HMC40 + Letus35 Mini + Nikon 105mm f/2 prime at f/2. The footage looks awesome, but that was a LOT of light for such a small room.
 
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