Best Lens Selection & Follow Focus Techniques for DSLRs — Part 1
To begin with, you must have a thorough understanding of Depth of Field, Camera Position and Lens Choice.
Whenever you select gear for your project, choosing the right lens is always a top priority. Well, there are many for whom choosing lenses for the camera is not an uncommon thing to do. There are several individuals that have worked on more than 100 films, music videos, documentaries as well as commercials. You maybe a director of photography (DOP), and your can be of a visual storyteller, and the visual prospect would come through based on the type of lenses you opt for.
What considerations will you make when it comes to choosing which lenses should be used for a motion capture project?
As DOP, you aren’t just an artist; you also happen to be the chief camera technician as well. You’re responsible for ensuring that the shoot will not be hindered by technical limitations by the choice of your gear. In general, the technical requirements will seem apparent.
For instance, if you are going to work in a location with no light, and where you will get an option to add lights, you will have to make sure you include a few aperture lenses that work their way out quickly for you to get the right exposure.
And you have to take dramatic components into account. You are fussy about picking your lenses. At times you favor zooms and primes as well. In the end, it all depends on the look you’re craving for. During capture, you’ll be able to tell plenty of different stories in a number of ways with the use of the same lens. It may sound obvious, but it’s your choice of lenses, and how you use them is entirely at your discretion.
How do you determine if you have to use a lot of focus or the least possible change of focus in a film?
One of the most neglected technical elements that one can inspect and analyze in a film is depth of field. For a person who’s an amateur and just starting out purely follow focus shall be considered; for instance, how much will be in focus on a lens in particular and camera combination at a f/stop and distance specifically.
A main key to sharp focus is ensuring the camera, lens, f/stop and distance-to-subject work together for generating sufficient depth-of-field, which is also known as window of sharpness.
Before we proceed, it will be feasible to define depth-of-field. Does it have a same meaning for a photographer Vs. a videographer? Or, it turns out to be entirely different?
Irrespective of the type of lens, camera, distance and f/stop combination used, there will always remain the “focus point.” This is the point where the lens is supposed to focus on the subject appropriately. Depth-of-field, or DOF, is nothing but the space in front of and behind a focus point, which is still deemed to be sharp.
Well, there is actually no difference in science between depth-of-field used for photographers and videographers. Practically, a videographer captures things in motion which indicates that the science of what remains in focus and what not is changing continuously. But photographers have the benefit of capturing a single moment in time. As far as videographers are concerned, they have to emphasize on constant motion.
How is getting focus as a DOP different than obtaining focus as a photographer?
It’s important for you to know that achieving sharp follow focus can be quite difficult no matter you’re shooting a photo or video. You know that your goal is same, still the method to adopt for focusing photos Vs. Videos can be extremely contrasting.
Focusing for much of digital photography in today’s world counts extensively on realizing the autofocus system of the camera, and in grasping how to make use of the autofocus in an effective manner. Well, photographers have a lot of room for committing an error, but still photos have to be sharp at a single moment when it is taken.
Inspite of outstanding lenses as well as cameras available nowadays, it still seems a manually operated game for motion capture to be done professionally. Well, it may come down to the skills of the camera operator, and of course the person’s acumen to remain familiar with how and what the camera is picking up.
Without a doubt, getting the right gear paired to the job, and setting precise depth-of-field per the conditions, play a very essential role. As you can figure out, quality of footage relies on the caliber of the technician.
A sensible DOP knows well about the environment and has a firm understanding on storyline capture requirements. This person remains informed of what the camera and the subject have to do and are carrying out.