Here's a clip I made this morning of my seven year old son's train set.

Shot this on XL-H1 in 24f, used HDVxDV to capture and convert to DVCPRO HD 1080. Used FCP to export to a quicktime movie. Zip'ed and uploaded for your viewing pleasure.


For PC/Mac/anybody (36MB):

http://www.cordellproductions.com/movies/h1trainset.mov

Original link that PC people had problems with (115MB):

http://www.cordellproductions.com/movies/xlh1 trains 24f.zip

Looking good John! I love the DOF, I presume this is just the standard 20x lens isn't it?

Looking good John! I love the DOF, I presume this is just the standard 20x lens isn't it?

Thanks.

Yes, it was the stock 20x lens, shot from about six feet away from the train set. I am finding that I'm very happy with how shallow a DOF I can get, and not just on objects that are 1/87th the size of their real counterparts!

When I unzip your file there is no file extension? I tried renaming the file to m2t, wmv, mov, avi with no luck.

What is the file extension? Thanks.

When I unzip your file there is no file extension? I tried renaming the file to m2t, wmv, mov, avi with no luck.

What is the file extension? Thanks.
It's a Mac thing... blech! I had the same problem.

Damn - and I like HO scale trains!

It's a Mac thing... blech! I had the same problem.

Sorry about that. I'll post something more PC friendly later today or tomorrow.

Uh...opened right up and played on my Mac. It's just a .mov file. Add the extension and you should be good.

KW

Uh...opened right up and played on my Mac. It's just a .mov file. Add the extension and you should be good.

KW
The thing is, Macs have a unique way of doing things, and that includes not adding an extension to file names. Windows has no idea what the file is, unless it has an extension.

Ok, here's another link:

www.cordellproductions.com/movies/h1trainset.mov

This one is a bonafide quicktime movie that downloads and, unlike the first file, works fine on my PC. I had used a bit of a strange export path on the first file, mostly in an attempt to deliver unadulterated video bits for fellow FCP users.

This new file is smaller, 36MB, and is compressed using H.264, so you will need a fairly current version of quicktime.

Yippee - can't wait to see it... . . okay here I go....

WOAH - I really liked that! I felt like I was watching one of those childrens shows on TV, that was really cool.

Any color tweaks or is that "out of the box"?

Cool, thanks.

The camera settings were not out of the box: gamma was cine2, master ped was -6, knee was H, sharpness was -5.

No color correction was done in FCP.

John - that was incredible. If that's the dof on the box lens , then 35mm adapters won't even be needed. It seems to be defying physics, or at least the commonly assumed limitations of the 1/3" chips. How is this possible ? Kurth

Shallow DOF with these camcorders is surprisingly easy, at focal lengths from midway to full telephoto. The only time it's really difficult is at the wide end of the zoom. Of course, you're more likely to need full wide when shooting narrative with human actors.

Small objects like HO-scale train sets from six feet away, no problem at all to get shallow DOF.

Easy... use the lens long. The XL2 has the exact same DOF. If you use the lens in the 8X - 20X zoom with the aperature wide open you can get a VERY shallow DOF. Here are some grabs from my doc all shot with an XL1s...


ash =o)

http://members.aol.com/ashvid/Grabs/joe16.jpg
http://members.aol.com/ashvid/Grabs/studio22.jpg
http://members.aol.com/ashvid/Grabs/studio23.jpg
http://members.aol.com/ashvid/Grabs/studio24.jpg
http://members.aol.com/ashvid/Grabs/studio32.jpg
http://members.aol.com/ashvid/Grabs/studio46.jpg
http://members.aol.com/ashvid/Grabs/studio61.jpg
http://members.aol.com/ashvid/Grabs/studio65.jpg

Hah, typing right on top of each other Ash!

John - that was incredible. If that's the dof on the box lens , then 35mm adapters won't even be needed. It seems to be defying physics, or at least the commonly assumed limitations of the 1/3" chips. How is this possible ? Kurth

As Ash and Chris have pointed out, getting shallow DOF on miniature objects is a piece of cake.

I will say that I've been quite happy with what I can get with human subjects as well. I had one shot where the camera as 8 feet away from a person, the wall behind them was another 6 feet back, and framed for a CU I was able to get very nice shallow DOF. Easier to get than it was with my DVX100, for sure.

In general, to get shallow DOF, back up, zoom in, open iris wide.

That makes me want to build a model train set just so I can film it blowing up!

Maybe you could do that with your son's set? :p

That makes me want to build a model train set just so I can film it blowing up!

Maybe you could do that with your son's set? :p

Actually, he's seven and he'd be totally up for it. His other main hobbies are crashing planes in Microsoft flight simulator and crashing trains in Microsoft train simulator. And all of his model train setups involve fires or disasters of some sort.

Actually, he's seven and he'd be totally up for it. His other main hobbies are crashing planes in Microsoft flight simulator and crashing trains in Microsoft train simulator. And all of his model train setups involve fires or disasters of some sort.

Man, I never grew out of that stage... I still enjoy destroying things, like a huge city in SimCity

The XL H1 is simply amazing at every level. Makes me frown upon my XL1s :(

Man, I never grew out of that stage... I still enjoy destroying things, like a huge city in SimCity

The XL H1 is simply amazing at every level. Makes me frown upon my XL1s :(

Maybe you can destroy your XL1s to give you a reason to buy the H1? I'm considering doing the same with my XL2 :p

Maybe you can first get an H1 and then film yourself destroying your XL1.

Maybe you can first get an H1 and then film yourself destroying your XL1.

Now THERE'S the solution! I can fulfill my satisfaction of destroying something beautiful, and get the H1.... hmm

I will say, that getting that great DOF can be easy in a filmic scene, where you can move way across the room. To get it in an interview setting is MUCH tougher. I interviewed my brother to test the XL2 and got amazing DOF when zoomed in at 18 or 20x. Of course, I was half way across his back yard and practically yelling him questions. He asked, "Are most interviews done like this?" I didn't get into a DOF conversation with him. :-)

kW

I will say, that getting that great DOF can be easy in a filmic scene, where you can move way across the room. To get it in an interview setting is MUCH tougher. I interviewed my brother to test the XL2 and got amazing DOF when zoomed in at 18 or 20x. Of course, I was half way across his back yard and practically yelling him questions. He asked, "Are most interviews done like this?" I didn't get into a DOF conversation with him. :-)

kW


It's not just a factor of him being far enough away to use the .long end of the lens.
You can shoot considerably closer but need to have a background that is far enough away from the subject to get shallow DOF.
For instance sooting outside, with the subject 15 feet away but the background of a treeline or fence line etc, perhaps 100' away.
You can get reasonably shallow DOF with a traditional wide CU if you're tight, with wide aperature and a distant background as well.