Shallow DOF on EX1 on INT-NIGHT Scene?

M

musehead

Member
Hello,

I am shooting my first project soon. I still am very amateur, Im shooting Interior Night Scene in a bathroom. shooting it on Sony EX1.
I am not using the DOF adapters and so my question is, how can I achieve of getting a Shallow Depth of Field on the Ex1 while
shooting in a low-light conditions?

Using the ND filter will require to have a lot of light, I guess Im wondering if that would look "natural" on screen, blasting all that light when in reality the scene takes place in a dark bathroom? Any possibilities in post?

Any thoughts, advice would be highly appreciated!


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Shoot with the aperture wide open.
Set up the camera as far from the subject as possible and zoom in.
Separate your subject in space from the background as much as you can.

That's about the best you can do with a camcorder like the EX1 in terms of getting shallow DOF.
 
I can't really speak to the lighting but Shallow depth of field on the EX1 just requires a wide open aperture and a long focal length, it won't be as dramatic as a DSLR would get but it's a big improvement over your standard 1/3rd inch handycam.
 
musehead said:
Hello,

I am shooting my first project soon. I still am very amateur, Im shooting Interior Night Scene in a bathroom. shooting it on Sony EX1.
I am not using the DOF adapters and so my question is, how can I achieve of getting a Shallow Depth of Field on the Ex1 while
shooting in a low-light conditions?

Using the ND filter will require to have a lot of light, I guess Im wondering if that would look "natural" on screen, blasting all that light when in reality the scene takes place in a dark bathroom? Any possibilities in post?
Click to expand...

What others have said is right - without an adapter, your best results are if you open the aperture as wide as possible, and zoom in as far as you can.

Unfortunately, in many bathrooms, that's a lot to ask.

You won't want the ND filter unless the room was already blasted with enough light that it was necessary. The reason someone may have said it was important for shallow DOF work is because particularly in shaded daylight, it's sometimes possible to get a clean exposure by stopping down instead of using the ND filter. But stopping down creates even greater depth of field. So it's good advice - but for a different lighting situation.

As far as the bathroom being dark, you can't shoot an actually dark bathroom on camera and have it work the way it does for your eye. The camera sensor needs more light than your eye. So, I'd say, set the wide open aperture, then light to it.

If your lighting kit is too powerful for the small room, find ways to bounce it off of ceilings, scrim it down, or use dimmers.
 
using the ND filter is probably not the best way to get a dark scene. You want a dark room, you light for a dark room. the ND is meant to cut down bright natural light so you can have more control over aperture and shutter.

What others have said will get shallow focus on the EX1. small sensor cams just don't have good abilities for shallow dof. doesn't mean the stock EX1 can't shoot a good film. in capable hands it can get fantastic results, and shallow dof has nothing to do with it.
 
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I can see how misconceptions take place...

You want shallow DOF? Use the ND in daylight!
Click to expand...

How does this ND sorcery makes my DOF shallow?! :)

Since you mentioned you are a newbie, the ND just allows you to open your aperture up without overexposing the shot.

The ND is just a neutral density (ND) glass that cuts down brightness.
 
musehead said:
Thank you for all of your replies. I highly appreciated.

Apologies for the silly question...
Click to expand...

It wasn't a silly question if it's something you wanted to learn.

Frankly, what I didn't see mentioned above was when you think of "lighting" you consider how you could light the scene you want but use gels to change the color to suggest night time. A dark room, camera balanced for white light, and blue gels or a few other colors on the light heads will suggest to the viewer a different time of day instead of just thinking "white light". Look at films where it's "night" and realize they are using blue light to sell the idea of night time.

You can blast away with blue light. Making it bright enough to make the ND filter effective. Still getting the exposure needed for the image you want and also the depth of field desired. You'll have to play around with it to make it work. But that's part of the learning curve everyone goes through.

Experiment and make it happen! It's not as impossible as you might think.

And don't apologize for asking a question about something you want to learn! ;)
 
Shallow depth of field requires a larger aperture, so shooting down around f 1.9 is something that would be normal in a low-light situation anyway.
Further enhancement of the effect is to use the lens at the long end of the zoom range, which might not be practical in a bathroom, unless it's a movie set and you can put the camera 15' back from the subject.
For close-in work, I use the macro function of the lens and shoot with the camera 12-15" from the subject, full wide angle, f1.9. This works well, but it takes care to focus in macro mode because the lens is in full servo with no calibration scale.
It can be done, but you just have to use some techniques.
 
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