obtaining Depth of Field

Some things that can help are to try to light so your lens is as wide open as possible. If there is a lot of light you can add ND filters to cut it down. Also use the longer part of the lens (zoom in more). Move your camera far away from your talent instead of up close. All these things are the basis for shallow depth of field.
 
There was a detailed post on here about Shallow DOF (I thought it was stickied), but I don't see it anymore.

If you want to save yourself some time, buy Barry Green's book (has info in the book and on the DVD about Shallow DOF). It answers 90% of the newbie questions that you'll have.
 
the adapter is called a mini35. It allows a person to attach a 35mm lens onto the DVX (or mostly any other camera). the mini35 gives you the depth of field similar to that of a 35mm camera. Probably the most film like you can get

there are homemade adapters now which get similar results to the professional ones which can cost thousands of dollars. The new craze is the micro35... go to www.micro35.com

I think he's about to ship out a manual to build it for like $40

the results of the micro35 are amazing, definately check itout
 
vjbrennan said:
Running out and getting more stuff is not the only answer.
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yeah, who said that one thing..? ' the person with the most creativity and the smallest amount of cash and make a better movie than the person with no creativity and tons of money everytime. ' :thumbsup:
 
is it possible to obtain DOF if say you aren't using a camera such as the DVX but say a camera that is a lot lot cheaper...just a normal DV camera that costs a couple of hundred bucks and has crappy image quality and it doesn't have ND filters or any of that?
 
probably not unless you make an adapter like those micro/ mini 35's. The focal length on those smaller lenses are a lot longer and there usually isn't any adjustment for exposure ( other than presets ).


is it possible to obtain DOF
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you mean a shallower depth of field. You will always have a depth of field, its just that it can be deep or shallow.
 
Does anyone remember who makes those "blur screens" ?

That is not what they're called, but it used to be that a google search for "mini35" would bring up an AdWords for a company whose product looked like a 6x6 net but its material looked kind of like a diffusion or better yet, a shower curtain.

The idea was put the thing behind your subject and keep your camera close to them and the background would be blurry. The download video looked pretty good but I never honestly considered getting one since a year ago everyone (me, included) was trying to macgyver themselves a mini35 equivalent. Now that I am over the invention stage, I am actually pretty interested in this "blurry-shower-curtain" kind of thing. Kind of stinks they don't advertise on AdWords anymore.

Does anyone have any idea where to find this thing? Walter? Ever tried something like this? By the way, your lighting strategies and tutorials are of great benefit to the video and film community, thank you for the interest in helping others become better... I'm still looking to buy some of those Grafflights!!!

Brian
 
Holy crap, those things are expensive.

Ya know what helps your film more than shallow depth of field? A good script. Everyone get out of your garages, trying to make mini35 adapters and go brainstorm a story idea.

Just my thought.:kiss:
 
Thanks to BigTime for uploading this clip. Right click and "save as" to download.
It's a simple 15sec shot of a birdfeeder shot wide, filling the screen and shot tight filling the screen and edited side-by-side. But it does a good job of showing the different "look" you can get with DOF.
 
Easy DOF =

- Stand all the way back,
- Zoom all the way in,
- Focus
- Crank open the iris (then play with your shutter speeds)

Use this as your starting point and tweek. If you are ALL the way bac with full zoom, you'll need to be pretty steady ... obviously.
 
TC said:
Ya know what helps your film more than shallow depth of field? A good script. Everyone get out of your garages, trying to make mini35 adapters and go brainstorm a story idea.

Just my thought.:kiss:
Click to expand...

I'd agree with that TC.
 
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