JVC GY HD100 - Depth of Field
 

Hey guys, I was wondering about the experience youve had controlling the JVC'S DoF. I'm buying one in a couple of weeks to shoot a narrative and need a shallow DoF. Is it easy to get a good, shallow DoF with the stock Fujinon? Being DV, I know its no walk in the park, but how does it compare with other HDV cameras? What can I do to get the best, shallow DoF?

Thanks.

The depth of field is virtually the same as all the other 1/3" CCD HDV cameras. Unless you're going to spend the money to use something like the "Mini-35" or the Redrock Micro M2, your best bet is to shoot at the longest focal length you can and keep your iris as close to completely open as possible. The downside with the stock lens is that this recipe also tends to increase the appearance of chromatic aberration (the 13x lens will do much better in the CA dept. albeit at a hefty price.)

Kenn is right.

Unfortunately, you need the distance from your talent for the shallow DOF.
This makes it tough for indoor shots. Also the chemistry of wide shallow DOF shots are not possible with these 1/3" cameras unless you're using a 35mm adapter.

You have to be careful of CA using the wide aperture and tele end of the lens.
Usually, you can fiddle with both of these and minimize it. Of course it depends what you're shooting. High contrast edges drive the CA.

One other problem is being at the tele end of the lens, small camera movements make it tough to get scrolling movement without exaggerating
camera shake.

Having said that, it is possible to get some shallow DOF footage.

What they said. It is possible to get some very nice DoF and Rack Focus effects. There are a few examples floating around the boards, usually referring to rack focus.

Another trick you can play around with, if your shot supports it, is to fiddle with the Macro focus ring. I've heard that you can get some interesting results with that, although I haven't tried it out myself.

Using the macro ring will probably throw your other focus calculations way out of whack, but it might work. Or then again, it might not.

The macro ring does help. I was shooting shots of people eating in a dinner the other day and I got some great shallow DOF shots and then I realized that I had left the Marco ring turned from when I was doing some close up shots the last time I used the camera. You will need to play with it, but it help some with the DOF.

Dan Weber

Hmm..
I have not tried that.
Has anyone else tried this?
It seems to good to be true.

Of course using the macro means that back focus will not work.

We have verified that you can do a really useable rack focus using the maro ring.

I have done it with success, along with the in-camera ND filters to force the iris to be as open as possible.

Luis

I use it often. The macro ring can be your best friend.

Thanks alot.

Do you think the Mini 35 is worth the money?

Greg,

I have not used it, as of now, maybe by the end of the month. But based on footage I have seen, along with good cinematic techniques, it will enhance your final work so much that if you have the money to own/rent it, IMHO is worth it. See http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=67270 for footage and information on this topic. Very immpresive.

Luis

I think only if you're using primes. The stock lens or 13x lens using macro ring technique can give outstanding results as well.

I'd personally look at Red Rock's Micro35 before springing for P+S mini35. I'm not sure if there's a difference in quality, but you can't beat the difference in price.

One major difference between the Mini35 and the Red Rock M2 is that the M2 requires the original lens be mounted, whereas the Mini35 mounts directly to the camera body.

I guess it kinda depends on what type of lenses you're planning on using. The HD100 + stock lens + M2 + Cine lens could get mighty long, mighty fast. But like Stephan said, you can't beat the price.

That's pretty lame, I didn't know that... Especially going through a zoom lens, that's an awful lot of glass between the outside world and the CCD.

Yeah, but you've got to remember the Mini35 has a bunch of extra glass inside that does the image reorientation. That degrades quality and loses light too.

I'd like to see a good side by side. The only one I know of was on the set of 24 where they preferred the M2 with an HD-100.