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What F-stop is ideal?
  • 30 Replies sorted by
  • suresure123suresure123

    @Imackreath I can't be bothered to re read what I said but IF i said I didn't think movies have shallow depth of field shots I would of miscommunicated I think most movie would have some shots that use a shallow depth DOF for various purposes. My point was always generally as in MOST of a movie is not shot shallow DOF....and so my question was what is the ideal stop to get a good frame balance and spatial 'infocus' with some depth of field for separation but not go wedding video shallow.

  • caveportcaveport

    I would suggest you do a photography course to learn more about how it all works. It's not about the f-stop alone, it's about the combination of scene size & contrast, lens, available light, motion blur & a whole host of other considerations.

    Shoot some tests. Experiment with the DOF (f-stop) that you prefer and note the f-stop for each test. Make a list to choose the settings you prefer for each 'look'.

  • goannagoanna

    image

    Hyperfocal distance.

    Hyperfocal distance is basically the distance that you can focus to at any given aperture, where the resulting depth of field will retain sharpness in the scene from as far away as infinity to the (hyperfocal distance / 2) point.

    @suresure123 If you want to get a similar look to what you see in a film, I suggest looking at a few stills from films or videos. It's often easy to guess distances between camera, subject and features such as architecture or streets. If you see a shot you want to emulate, note what's in focus and what's fuzzy. Then use the hyperfocal distance chart to reproduce it.

    Read about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperfocal_distance

    http://canon5dtips.com/photo-and-camera-software/tutorials-how-to/how-to-calculate-depth-of-field/

  • tetakpataktetakpatak

    @suresure123 the reason for some DoPs to use the same f-stop for whole the movie might be simply their way to get rid of some problems like CA or so. But the very same zoom lens will have totally different DOF at different focal lengths so you can bet on that: the identic DOF isn't a reason to shoot with the same f-stop.

    There were many good advices by the forum mates, but if you insist on disliking unexpected answers, try to shoot with the same f-stop. To achieve similar grain with different ISO settings add some grain to the low ISO shots (in the PP) and use Neat for the high ISO shots.

    Not willing to use anything between the lens and the object in terms of the picture quality is just theoretically a good idea. But with a clean high quality filter you won't get any visible difference. In fact, even with a dirty, scratched- or even broken front element of the lens astonishing picture quality can often still be achieved.

  • HaberdasherHaberdasher

    "To achieve similar grain with different ISO settings add some grain to the low ISO shots (in the PP) and use Neat for the high ISO shots"

    Great advice, simple and easy solution to noise.

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