Michaelrosenblum
Well-known member
How much total control can you exercise over depth of field in video?
When I shoot stills, I know exactly where the focal plane is going to fall because of the hyperfocal distance scale on my 35mm lenses. I can set it exactly. But I can also manipulate shutter speed and ISO.
But when I shoot video, because you can't really change film speed all that much without things falling apart, and shutter speed is also pretty much a fixed event, there does not seem to be much room for movement.
Of course, I am using very inexpensive cameras, and the first place you pay for this is in the quality of the lenses.
I see in movies that rack focusing can be done with great precision, but (never having shot one), I assume this a function of 1) very expensive lenses on film cameras and 2) greater sensitivity of film over video.
How much depth of field control do you guys have and when you do rack focusing in video, is it hit or miss, or can you control where the focal plane begins and ends with as great precision as one can with film?
Thanks.
When I shoot stills, I know exactly where the focal plane is going to fall because of the hyperfocal distance scale on my 35mm lenses. I can set it exactly. But I can also manipulate shutter speed and ISO.
But when I shoot video, because you can't really change film speed all that much without things falling apart, and shutter speed is also pretty much a fixed event, there does not seem to be much room for movement.
Of course, I am using very inexpensive cameras, and the first place you pay for this is in the quality of the lenses.
I see in movies that rack focusing can be done with great precision, but (never having shot one), I assume this a function of 1) very expensive lenses on film cameras and 2) greater sensitivity of film over video.
How much depth of field control do you guys have and when you do rack focusing in video, is it hit or miss, or can you control where the focal plane begins and ends with as great precision as one can with film?
Thanks.
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