tele adapter and Depth Of Field

sebastian___

sebastian___

Member
Probably this has been asked before, but I did some quick reasearch and not find anything significant.
So...I wanna obtain images like in some movies/music videos/comercials, when you shot a subject and everything in his back is blured. Well..I managed to shot a image like that with a Canon XL1 and his tele adapter. For that I placed the subject (a girl - in this case) and I moved at least 20 meters away from her, I did a zoom-in until her body almost filled the screen. The girl was in focus and everything in his back , was in blur. The problem was that, the blur was not strong enough like I saw in many movies and other shotings.
To obtain such effect with DVX100 I have to buy the Century Optics 1.6x Tele-converter from what I understand. Is that correct ?
Another question. If I buy the Century Optics 1.6x Tele-converter will I need to buy another thing for mounting the lens (suport rods ?) ? Or the lens could be mounted without anything else ?
Is there other tele converter for DVX ? perhaps with even greater zoom capabilities
achromatic diopter ?
 
Re: tele adapter and Depth Of Field

You won't get that look with just the Century 1.6 teleconverter (although it will let you get closer to the look you want).

The XL1 as (I believe) an 88mm lens. The DVX with teleconverter clocks in at 72mm. You said you had a tele-adapter on the XL1 as well? It likely was delivering quite a bit shallower depth-of-field than the DVX could then.

Read this forum for the DOF Tutorial, it'll tell you pretty much what to do and how to get the best, shallowest DOF the DVX can deliver. If you want it to look like the movies though, the only way to get there with a DVX is to use a Mini35 adapter or comparable adapter.
 
Re: tele adapter and Depth Of Field

In fact, I didn't have a tele-adapter for the XL1. I bought the camera with 2 interchangable lenses. One wide and another wich I use as a "tele" was in fact the standard/default 16x lens.
With the mini35 adapter I could probably get the look that I want, but I think that's way to expensive ( I think is well over 1000 $). So I think with a Century 1.6 tele and a Nikon 5T or 6T I will be ok. Question is can this 2 stack together ? If yes wich is best for a shallow DoF ? Nikon 5T or 6T ? Because this Nikon adapters are so cheap, I could buy two.
I have no experience whatsoever with achromatic diopters. But everywhere I looked it says that this lenses are made for close-up shoting : jewelry, electronic micro chips and so on. But in fact I will using this lens for normal shoting of persons and other "normal size" things, but with a shallow DoF. Is that ok ? Or the achromatic diopters could only be used for very close-up focusing and shoting.
 
Re: tele adapter and Depth Of Field

>>I think is well over 1000 $<<

Closer to $10,000

>>Or the achromatic diopters could only be used for very close-up focusing and shoting. <<

Only for close up shooting. It's almost impossible to focus beyond a few feet with one of these on your camera (dependent upon the strength of the diopter of course).
 
Re: tele adapter and Depth Of Field

Shaw is correct, they're primarily only for closeup shooting. However, the Nikon 5T is a low-power diopter that can be used in close quarters to give a shallower DOF look. It won't give you a shallower-DOF look than you could have gotten by backing up and zooming in, but it can be useful in tight quarters where you can't back up.
 
Re: tele adapter and Depth Of Field

Thanks for all the answers. I made my mind. I'm gonna buy the Century Optics 1.6 Tele (too bad that there isn't other tele option for DVX) and the Canon 500D. Canon 500D comes in 72 mm size (so I don't need step-down ring), have a pretty good reputations and probably don't vignette like the Nikons are suppose to. And the 500D is much cheaper then the Century Optics 72mm +2.0 Achromatic Diopter wich was my first choice. Anyone knows the difference (in quality) betwen the Century Optics +2.0 and the Canon 500D ? Probably is very small, not double or tripled like the difference in price.
 
Re: tele adapter and Depth Of Field

Hi Sebastian, I just wanted to add that using the built-in Neutral Density on the DVX will allow you to open the iris wider, throwing the background even further out of focus. That, and increasing the focal length, and also making sure the background is about 1/3 t0 1/2 stop hotter than the subject, will get you closer to your objective.

In the movies the 35mm size of the film stock is larger than the 1/3" CCD in the DVX, so it allows you less DOF when you use telephoto lenses due to the resolving distance from the film plane. In Akira Kurosawa's war movies, he used as much as a 1000mm lens and higher to get the right look, especially when armies attacked each other. It was so far away, the pan shot looked like a dolly shot, and the background was softer than the men, isolating even a large group of people.

Read about hyperfocal distance, that should also help you out. You focus ahead of the subject rather than right on it.

Good luck! ;D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top