Depth of Field

Brendan Brooks · June 25th, 2007, 05:55 PM

Thanks Daniel, I didn't know the difference between DOF and background blur. Your post has been very informative for me and hopefully others out there as well...now it's off to practice practice practice.

"B"

Noel Evans · June 25th, 2007, 06:44 PM

Id like to take a quick step into this thread. First few posts I noticed that people said zooming in effects exposure. On the subject your zooming in on your exposure WILL NOT change. The A1 will tell your overall exposure levels have gone down because you most likely cutting out the brighter components on the edge that the camera uses to determine what it THINKS correct exposure should be.

For example you shoot a wide shot of a guy in a black suit. If you then go for a MCU your camera will say underexposed - but if you adjust exposure - your exposure on the guy in the black suit will be different in both shots.

If you are doing a shot like this, you should expose the shot (based on what youre trying to achieve) on the subject. If your shooting a wide shot first - zoom in expose your subject correctly then out to get your wide shot. Then just reframe for your mcu without touching exposure - of course though you need to consider your overall look. If you find that you zoom in and expose your subject how you want then zoom out for the wide shot and everything is overexposed well the answer is simple - you need to light your subject more.

Im out of time right now but there are some other things I want to address on this thread. More later.

Lloyd Coleman · June 25th, 2007, 11:16 PM

Noel,

My interpretation of the posts regarding zooming and exposure were that they were referring to the fact that the A1 has a variable aperture lens. When you are at the widest you have a max aperture of 1.6 and when zoomed in all the way the max aperture is 3.5. If you are trying to maximize a shallow depth of field you will be shooting with as large an aperture as possible, so in this regard zooming in does affect exposure, not because the scene being metered changes, but because the lens can't stay at 1.6 while being zoomed.

Noel Evans · June 26th, 2007, 12:32 AM

Right you are Lloyd, should have taken the time to read it thoroughly.

June 25th, 2007, 11:16 PM	#18
Lloyd Coleman Major Player Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 256	Noel, My interpretation of the posts regarding zooming and exposure were that they were referring to the fact that the A1 has a variable aperture lens. When you are at the widest you have a max aperture of 1.6 and when zoomed in all the way the max aperture is 3.5. If you are trying to maximize a shallow depth of field you will be shooting with as large an aperture as possible, so in this regard zooming in does affect exposure, not because the scene being metered changes, but because the lens can't stay at 1.6 while being zoomed. Last edited by Lloyd Coleman; June 26th, 2007 at 12:32 AM.

June 25th, 2007, 05:55 PM	#16
Brendan Brooks New Boot Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Grass Valley California Posts: 5	Thanks Daniel, I didn't know the difference between DOF and background blur. Your post has been very informative for me and hopefully others out there as well...now it's off to practice practice practice. "B"

June 25th, 2007, 06:44 PM	#17
Noel Evans Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Tokyo, Japan Posts: 157	Id like to take a quick step into this thread. First few posts I noticed that people said zooming in effects exposure. On the subject your zooming in on your exposure WILL NOT change. The A1 will tell your overall exposure levels have gone down because you most likely cutting out the brighter components on the edge that the camera uses to determine what it THINKS correct exposure should be. For example you shoot a wide shot of a guy in a black suit. If you then go for a MCU your camera will say underexposed - but if you adjust exposure - your exposure on the guy in the black suit will be different in both shots. If you are doing a shot like this, you should expose the shot (based on what youre trying to achieve) on the subject. If your shooting a wide shot first - zoom in expose your subject correctly then out to get your wide shot. Then just reframe for your mcu without touching exposure - of course though you need to consider your overall look. If you find that you zoom in and expose your subject how you want then zoom out for the wide shot and everything is overexposed well the answer is simple - you need to light your subject more. Im out of time right now but there are some other things I want to address on this thread. More later.

June 26th, 2007, 12:32 AM	#19
Noel Evans Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Tokyo, Japan Posts: 157	Right you are Lloyd, should have taken the time to read it thoroughly.