Selective Focus

[swolff13]

Hey all-

I'm relatively new to filmmaking, and I've been frustrated with my inability to create a good selective focus. Lighting and audio are all swell, but I would really like the ability to have some quality focus to get the feel I want. At the moment, I'm using a Vixia hand-held. I've heard that backing away from the subject and zooming helps, but it hasn't proved too effective so far, and I find it a little harder on the lighting when I do so. Other options would be a 35mm film adapter or something of that sort, but that's a little out of my budget range.

Am I doomed, or is there a trick to squeezing out some focus with what I have? Is there a cheap solution?

Many thanks to anyone who can help!

 

[Zensteve]

Lighting and audio are all swell

Any links to examples?

 

[chilipie]

Welcome to IndieTalk!

There are very limited circumstances in which you can get shallow depth of field on a small sensor camera, which is the main reason why 35mm adaptors and now DSLRs have become so popular.

As you mentioned, backing the camera up and zooming in can help enormously, but this is often difficult to do unless outdoors or in a very large interior location. If you have any kind of manual aperture control on the camera, make sure it's as wide open as possible - a smaller f/ number is better. Finally, you can create the illusion of shallower depth of field by moving the subject further away from the background, but this is also of limited usefulness in a small space.

 

[swolff13]

There are very limited circumstances in which you can get shallow depth of field on a small sensor camera, which is the main reason why 35mm adaptors and now DSLRs have become so popular.

Thanks a ton for the help! I'm glad to know that photographic principles apply to film and video as well.

To further the question a little, what would be the beginning price range for a camera that offers an image sensor large enough for a shallow DOF, high video quality, and good sound? Is there a certain brand that you've learned to trust, or have you had a good experience with any low-budget camcorder? I'm just beginning to look for a higher quality camcorder, and I'm feeling a little drowned in all of the options.

To Zensteve- Sorry, none of the work has been published yet, but I appreciate the concern!

 

[brianluce]

To further the question a little, what would be the beginning price range for a camera that offers an image sensor large enough for a shallow DOF, high video quality, and good sound? Is there a certain brand that you've learned to trust, or have you had a good experience with any low-budget camcorder? I'm just beginning to look for a higher quality camcorder, and I'm feeling a little drowned in all of the options.

To Zensteve- Sorry, none of the work has been published yet, but I appreciate the concern!

They're actually cheap. Panasonic GH1 is $399, the G1's are less. I think the Canons start at around $600.