How to adjust depth-of-field on HV20?

[Brian Boyko]

Filming newbie here (relatively) and wanted to know how you adjust depth of field on the HV20 - is it focus, aperture? A combo? What do you do to get depth of field right?

[Terfyn]

Depth of field is the range Front to Back that remains in focus for a shot. The focus is set (for the sake of the discussion) by hand and the depth of field is the distance back from the front of the shot that remains in focus.
In simple terms, if you want a long depth of field, you close the aperture and slow the speed. If you want a shallow depth of field you open the aperture and increase the speed. Note that the changes in speed are to compensate for the reduction or the increase in light reaching the chip (or film)
This is a simplistic explanation. I suggest you switch off Auto Focus, go to manual aperture (Av) and try focusing on objects. See then the distance in front of and behind the object that remains in focus. I also suggest that you do this in still photo mode, it will be easier to see the effect of changes in aperture.
Hope that helps.

[wolferic]

Filming newbie here (relatively) and wanted to know how you adjust depth of field on the HV20 - is it focus, aperture? A combo? What do you do to get depth of field right?

Depth-of-field is a combination of things:

1. Aperture (the opening of the lens or f-stop) - the wider the opening, the shallower the DOF.

2. Distance - the closer you are to your subject, the less DOF

3. Focal Length - the longer the lens (meaning the more you zoom in), the less DOF.

Video - especially when the sensor is smaller (like in consumer cameras such as the HV20) tends to have near-infinite DOF, giving it a particular 'video' look. This is neither good nor bad, just different from a more traditional 'film look.' This is why you will find so much good information on this forum regarding DOF Adapters.

For more info, check out this site:
http://www.mediachance.com/dvdlab/dof/index.htm

Hope this helps.

[Lunchbox]

Check out this thread. use the AV settings to change the depth of field.

http://www.hv20.com/showthread.php?t=1415