Today we learned another key element in filmmaking universe, depth of field. Depth of field basically means a distance between a closer and further object. It really depends upon what the cinematographer is looking for if he/she wants a shallow or narrow depth of field. Robin asked us the three main things for which the depth of field depends upon. I knew two of them which is the focal length of the lens and the aperture. The focal length determines the distance between the image sensor and the lens when you focus on the subject and the aperture determines what kind of field of view you are looking for. If we want a shallow depth of field to focus on one particular object then we decrease the number of F-stop for example F2.8 and if we require a narrow depth of field to focus on wide area in the frame then we increase the number of F-stop for example F16.

The third factor which I wasn’t sure was actually the distance between the object and the camera. In today’s exercise, we had three different cameras, DSLR, Sony EX3 and Sony Z7. We had to focus on the same subject but interestingly each one us had different focal length. DSLR was about 80MM, EX3 was on 20MM and Z7 was on 25MM. It is because of the different sensor size that each camera offers. Each does have its pros and cons, like DSLR doesn’t have a particular viewfinder (you can get a third party hardware and attach to its live view) but it gives less noise as compare to others. Ex3 although does face noise issue but certainly has all the features needed for the film making and as for Z7 I’m not sure as I haven’t used much but I do know that its focus pull is infinite and causes problem when marking the focus.

This weekend I’m shooting my film, booked dedo light kit. Wish me luck 🙂