I am quite interested in the shalow depth od field ability of PDX10, since it has a relative small ccd size, did anyone has tested the ability of bluring the backgroud by using pdx10? any sample images? Hope it is not a macro one...

Since the PDX10 lens has a maximum telephoto of 43mm, you're going to find it's very difficult, if not impossible, to get the shallow depth of field effect with it, unless you want macro shots. Otherwise your only option would be to use the SoftScreen (www.softscreen.us).

It's not the camera's fault, it's that you're battling the laws of optics -- a 43mm lens would be considered a wide angle in 35mm photography, and yet that's the most telephoto you can get from the PDX10. Even at wide-open apertures, there's only so shallow you can get.

The article on DOF is here (http://www.dvinfo.net/articles/optics/dofskinny.php). If you have questions on DOF the thread is here. (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3926)

<<<-- Originally posted by Barry Green : Since the PDX10 lens has a maximum telephoto of 43mm, you're going to find it's very difficult, if not impossible, to get the shallow depth of field effect with it -->>>

It is difficult, but not impossible....

http://www.greenmist.com/trovatore/film/20030909/manrico/05
http://www.greenmist.com/trovatore/film/20030909/leonora/04
http://www.greenmist.com/trovatore/film/20030909/ferrando/03

I tried to get a nice DOF effect on my PDX10 - and it worked beautifully. Shot at 1/60 shutter, exposed until I saw zebra (100) then backed off.

You can see the results at www.nattress.com - they are demo movies of my new filters for Film Look I've been working on for Final Cut Pro. The "original" movie is untreated, other than to compress it for the web, and the "G Film Plus" movie has had my 24P Film Look effect added.

The picture quality on TV in anamorphic widescreen is most superb. I'm very impressed by this camera.

Graeme

Good-looking shots, very interesting!

But, these are hyper-closeup macro-style shots, which is specifically what the original poster asked to avoid.

Try it with a headshot or 2-shot, indoors, and you'll find it's practically impossible on a PDX-10.

sorry nattres, I can not see any samples from your site...

I have visted Boyd's site, a greet amount of samples from pdx10, however I could not see quite clearly about the shallow DOF effects, many samples are from very low light conditions and seems have some soft lens effects on...

Thank you fro your replies, if anyone can provides me with some clear samples of how PDX10 can do for bluring background I will appreciate it very much.

Try this direct link:

http://homepage.mac.com/gnattress/gfilmplusoriginal.mov

No filters were used. And I'm zooming from full telephoto to full wide - and it retains DOF all the way :-)

Barry - I'm not sure what you mean about being macro shots - I was about 2 metres away from the sunflowers. I think the trick is just to keep the subject a decent distance away from the background - about 3 metres in my case.

Graeme

Macro was probably the wrong word, sorry. What I meant was, closeups of small objects, such as filling the frame with a flower. And yes, distance between the subject and the background is one of the cardinal factors in achieving a blurry background.

The closer you are, the more zoomed in you are, the further the background is, and the wider the aperture is, the blurrier the background will be. Unfortunately these combinations are usually not possible in an interview or closeup person shot, and that is what frustrates people when they're trying to achieve the shallow DOF look.

Sunflowers are pretty big - the size of a person's head :-) But I agree - the key is open aperture, and distance from background.

If you can't get the distance away from background, nothing will give you a DOF effect - you've got to have that separation or nothing will work.