What type of lens would I need for this?

H

harmonica44

I want a deep focus lens for my Canon T2i. But it seems all lenses for it are shallow. I would want to get the a lens that can be snapped onto it with an adapter, I am guessing, but the camera stores were not of much help for adapters. I looked it up on the net, but not finding anything that can go on the T2i with an adapter for it specifically. Is there any?
 
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I'd like to mention again that a rack focus and pulling focus are not necessarily the same thing. If you have a good focus puller who can pull focus well and you light to about f/5.6 and use a 32mm lens, you'll have a deeper focus look. The focus puller might be constantly pulling focus if it's an intense scene, but the point is you don't see the actual act of pulling focus unless it's a deliberate focus pull.
 
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;)
Some people seem to think that pulling focus means opening up to T/1.3 and slowly racking focus from something that's 3' in front of camera to something that's 15' in front of camera.

The job of the focus puller is much more than that. They keep the image in focus constantly. A good one is better than the auto focus on your camcorder. Just because there's no noticeable focus pull, doesn't mean there's no-one pulling focus.

To add, I have a friend I was discussing focus pulling with and he called me up the next day excited because he watched a film he'd watched before and actually noticed the focus pulls. Sometimes you won't actually see the focus pull until you're looking for it.

As a side point, if you are really struggling to get a deep focus look, pull out your old camcorder with its 1/4" CMOS sensor and shoot with it zoomed out.

I'd also like to point out that using the hyperfocal distance can be useful, but can prove impractical on longer lenses. For example, the hyperfocal of an 85mm lens at f/5.6 aperture on an Alexa is 220'. Whilst that means anything farther than 110' is going to be in focus, in a smaller room/scene pulling the camera back 110' may be completely impractical if not impossibe.
 
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Well I've been thinking and I think I still might want a split diopter for deep focus just for style. Now with the diopter the background and foreground can be in focus but the middle cannot, is that correct? Is it possible to get the lens to a low enough aperture, that the middle will be in focus too?
 
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With a split diopter, the leftside distance can be in focus, and the rightside near can be in focus (or vice versa)... it's literally two lenses cut down the center and glued together. There is a line down the middle fo the frame that will never be in focus either near or far and you have to be OK with that. They used one in the warehouse in Reservoir Dogs with Mr. Pink sitting on the floor frame left and Mr. Psycho Ear guy frame right. Pause and examine that frame.

It's a complicated lens to use lighting wise and requires the camera to be locked down on a tripod (or some really careful planning of camera movement (down to the inch for each element in the frame and the camera) as the left and right sides of the frame will have different depths of field and focal lengths.

I'd A) warn you about tackling it at your current experience level... and B) tell you to do it and learn how difficult it really is... then post your experience with it... keep in mind, it's a specialty lens and most likely somewhat expensive to rent.
 
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If you want deep focus, get one of the aperture finder tools, punch in your near and far distances and it will tell you what aperture you need.

But again, just because you have a focus puller, doesn't mean that everything is in shallow focus. Even 'deep focus' looks have focus pullers. I pull focus on 21, 25 and 35mm lenses in broad daylight stopped down to T/8, T/11 and T/16. Most people would comment on the 'deep focus' and wonder what the need for a focus puller is. It's certainly much less work and less critical than 85-100mm at T/2.0 but a focus puller shouldn't be a commodity that you think you only really need if you're shooting shallow focus.
My 2c.
 
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Okay thanks. I keep doing test shots. There is a shot I wanna get of this cool looking building, but it keeps going out of focus. The signs on the street closest to me are in focus, and the buildings behind that building are in focus. But the building itself, is not. And if I put the building in, then the rest is not. I shot with the aperture at it's lowest which is 22. And I did the whole zoom in, focus, then zoom out, but it's not working. How do I get it all in deep focus?
 
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I can't move the camera back anymore, otherwise the building will be too far away. I am directly across the street from it. So can't move in any closer either. I can't move any further away, cause I want to get in closer to a specific part of the top for a project, and it will be too far away. It's already zoomed in all the way too. The f stop is already at the highest, or 22 if that's the highest or lowest.
 
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If the background is the thing in this shot... place the camera and frame the background, then place your talent so the shot works... it's the piece that is the most moveable in this framework.
 
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Okay thanks. Here's the video with the building. The whole thing would not upload, but most of the shot I wanted, did.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqtQdrpp0ek&feature=youtu.be

Now as you can see the writing on the wall of the building, is sharp, but the building is a little blurry, more so on the windows. But if you look to the side of the building on the street it looks a little more blurry, and the parking meters on the sidewalk are completely blurry. I shot with as much deep focus as I could or at least knew how to, and not everything came out totally sharp.
 
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Focus is a function of distance. If you're focused far away (to get all the buildings on that skyline in focus), the nearer stuff will be out of focus. There is an acceptable near distance and far distance (in this case - the hyperfocal distance of your lens) to every shot... if something is out side that range, it'll be out of focus. F16-22 will get you the longest DoF, wider lens (small focal length - mm #s) will hide the circles of confusion (making the image seem sharper). From there, you choose what you're focussing on. I don't see a problem with shot you have at all... unless there's something in there that needs to be in focus that isn't in the shot you've shown us. The pan will create blur, is this the problem? Are you analyzing a single frame of the clip and thinking that motion blur is the problem -- I think you're inventing problems that don't exist here.
 
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Looks fine to me. Actually looks like you're referring to image degradation from the compression and the incorrect exposure, rather than depth of field or focal distance.
 
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Not sure. The windows and the bricks on the building just look a little tad blurry possibly. If you look at the street lamp across the street, it looks more clear, even with the motion blur. Okay for next time, what can I do about the exposure? I had the aperture at 22, the ISO at 400, the shutter at 60. I tried with ISO at 200 but that made the building a little too dark in the shadowy areas. I can't get a reflector big enough to light the whole building I don't think. It looks a little blurrier with the picture blown up, but maybe I am nitpicking. I just want to get it right.
 
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harmonica44 said:
It could be the degradation. The windows and the bricks on the building just look a little tad blurry possibly. If you look at the street lamp across the street, it looks more clear, even with the motion blur. Okay for next time, what can I do about the exposure? I had the aperture at 22, the ISO at 400, the shutter at 60. I tried with ISO at 200 but that made the building a little too dark in the shadowy areas. I can't get a reflector big enough to light the whole building I don't think.
Click to expand...

Bring the ISO down to 100. If shooting at 24 or 25 frames, lower your shutter speed to 50, if 30 frames, then 60 is fine. Do the shadows of the building in a seperate shot that you can expose correctly for, or shoot on an overcast day so you don't have shadows. If the only thing lef t for you to get a proepr exposure is to bump your shutter speed, then do it - I've shot in the middle of summer in LA on a bright sunny day and had my aperture closed to f/22, ISO at 100, and still was overexposing by about 1/2 to 1 full stop (judging by eye, didn' thave my meter). THe only thing left to do is bump your shutter
 
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