Indoor interviews - exposure

[Thomas Kaufman]

Guys,

Thanks for the responses. For better of for worse, some clients like to shoot with shallowest DOF possible. So, yes, I've had shots where the eyes were sharp and the end of the nose wasn't. Not optimal, and not using the best part of the lens at f/4.0, but it makes the client happy.

Interesting about the trim feature of the ND adjustment. So, could one use it for adding small amounts of ND?

This is what my original question came down to: It's not unusual for me to have to light someone in their house during daylight hours. If you can't control the ambient light, you're kinda flooded with daylight to start, especially at maximum aperture f/1.4

So I have to add ND. But the BTL filters are big corrections. I can fine tune the exposure by changing ISO to a low number, but I think the lowest I've found is 280. Does the F3 go lower than that?

thanks

Tom

[Dennis Hingsberg]

At f1.4 focusing can become an issue for any animated subject, so what your client really likes is not the DOF on the face from nose to shoulder but likely the level of bokeh in the background which could easily be accomplished shooting at f2.8 to f4 and having a larger distances between the actual background and subject, and subject to camera.

In portrait photography using f11-f16 is very common to yield razor sharp images yet it is still possible to get some nice bokeh in the background but with those stops you need at least 10 feet to subject then another 20 - 40 feet behind them for some nice bokeh. In a small office something like this isn't going to happen but there are ways to cheat the shot by moving desks further from walls, shooting through doorways, etc..

Another option for getting more bokeh in your shot where you might not have the "distance" is using a full frame sensor camera like the 5D where you can increase your DOF and shoot at the same f-stop as you would be with the super35mm format or APS-C.

The F3 does not go lower than -3db. I find I'm often combing the internal ND filter (3 stops) with lens filters to get where I want to be. In extreme cases (6 stops) using the internal ND filter on the F3. Gotta love that native 800ISO level on the F3!

[Chris Medico]

I shot a bunch of interviews with the F3 for Discovery recently and they specified no larger than f/5.6 for the 85mm lens. The subject was 10' or so from the camera.

Not saying one setting is better than another but a national client wanted to make sure the whole person was reasonably in focus.

[Steve Cocklin]

Originally Posted by Chris Medico

I shot a bunch of interviews with the F3 for Discovery recently and they specified no larger than f/5.6 for the 85mm lens. The subject was 10' or so from the camera.

Not saying one setting is better than another but a national client wanted to make sure the whole person was reasonably in focus.

I've been doing some political & corporate spots all on an indie dolly, 1/4 section curved track. If I had all of the track the track diameter would be 20 feet, so I have been placing my subjects all at 10 feet center (radius) from the camera and shooting with an 85mm and 50mm f5.6 and f4, the dolly grip gives me a very smooth slow move, not much focus pulling with this method and framing stays the same throughout the shot. With the 85mm at 10 feet you get a nice head shot, you need at least 15 to 20 feet behind the subject to make it work though.

Just out of curiosity, are you shooting the native codec from the F3 for Discovery or do they require something better?

[Thomas Kaufman]

Steve,

Most of my clients prefer to shoot 4:2:2, which means you can't use the internal SxS cards. As to Discovery, I recently shot a show that did use the SxS cards. It's a good question to ask if you have an upcoming project.

Cheers,

Tom

[Chris Medico]

Originally Posted by Steve Cocklin

I've been doing some political & corporate spots all on an indie dolly, 1/4 section curved track. If I had all of the track the track diameter would be 20 feet, so I have been placing my subjects all at 10 feet center (radius) from the camera and shooting with an 85mm and 50mm f5.6 and f4, the dolly grip gives me a very smooth slow move, not much focus pulling with this method and framing stays the same throughout the shot. With the 85mm at 10 feet you get a nice head shot, you need at least 15 to 20 feet behind the subject to make it work though.

Just out of curiosity, are you shooting the native codec from the F3 for Discovery or do they require something better?

We shot native using the SxS media.