Okay, so, I have been playing around with my HD1000u camcorder a bit, wondering if it may actually have a smaller DOF, pehaps small enough for a film-like look...it does, in fact, the depth of field is small enough, you can get an extreme close-up of say...a ring being held by your fingertips, much like some of the great close-ups of the ring in Lord of the Rings, you can have the focus right on it, and have objects less than 7inches behind the subject already out of focus, by a noticable margin, reach a foot and the blurriness is even more pronounced. It is probably due to the long structure of this camera, having more room for the lenses inside to move and adjust than smaller, yet higher-end (in other aspects such as light sensitivity) cameras such as the VX2100.Lens size also has a big part to play in this, the HD1000u sports a 37mm lens, the VX2100 sports a 58mm lens, significantly larger, for wider shots, and bigger DOF by nature. This fulfills the number one step towards attaining that film-look--DOF! The next steps depend on physical and/or digital filters, but let's talk more about this camera...
Now, the HD1000u may not be ranked very high-end, but it does sport some great features that are worth noting, and if you manage lighting well, this may actually be just the right camera for you. Another really awesome feature, is the SPOT FOCUS. This camera features a touch screen, and the SPOT FOCUS feature enables you to touch the portion of the frame you want the focus on, and it will snap right to it! With these tiny screens built onto the camcorders, it can be pretty hard sometimes to really tell for sure if your subject is in fact in focus 100%, and the HD world is far less forgiving for being so much as a hairline out of focus--problem solved!
This camera does, like any camera that is considered prosumer, give you control of things like shutterspeeds, saturation, etc. So unless you need to be recording 60fps or higher, this camera should be just right for the job, just give it sufficient light, which, I think any of us is capable of that, it doesn't have to be anything beyond what proper set lighting is, keylight, fill, backlight, and you've got quite enough to eliminate noise. The only thing I now wouldn't use it as a primary, but only backup for now, is weddings, since unlike indiefilms, we cannot always control the amount of light available.
This camera shoots 1080i (1440x1080). I know, many of you want the "true HD" but do consider this for as second before paying for a camera that will give a resolution less than 1 pixel more per inch on screen (1920x1080...1920-1440=480 more lines, that's it), and natively progressive: Deinterlacing in post is always an option, and so many HD playing devices (best of which being an xbox360, should you encode to highest quality wmvHD) have newly improved upscaling techniques, that the difference between 1920x1080p and 1440x1080p (assuming you've deinterlaced) is really quite minimal or even invisible to the human eye, and though many do not know it, but even 720p looks surprisingly closer to 1080p than what the manufacturers would like you to believe.
Unless you need a supremely advanced camera for shooting at extremely high framerates andother such features, you may want to consider two or three of these cameras, which together could cost less than one of those beasts. This camera can be found on BH for $1400. Any questions?
Hope this is a help to you, I will be shooting some of my next projects with this camera, and utilizing its strengths if DOF for a closer to film look!
Now, the HD1000u may not be ranked very high-end, but it does sport some great features that are worth noting, and if you manage lighting well, this may actually be just the right camera for you. Another really awesome feature, is the SPOT FOCUS. This camera features a touch screen, and the SPOT FOCUS feature enables you to touch the portion of the frame you want the focus on, and it will snap right to it! With these tiny screens built onto the camcorders, it can be pretty hard sometimes to really tell for sure if your subject is in fact in focus 100%, and the HD world is far less forgiving for being so much as a hairline out of focus--problem solved!
This camera does, like any camera that is considered prosumer, give you control of things like shutterspeeds, saturation, etc. So unless you need to be recording 60fps or higher, this camera should be just right for the job, just give it sufficient light, which, I think any of us is capable of that, it doesn't have to be anything beyond what proper set lighting is, keylight, fill, backlight, and you've got quite enough to eliminate noise. The only thing I now wouldn't use it as a primary, but only backup for now, is weddings, since unlike indiefilms, we cannot always control the amount of light available.
This camera shoots 1080i (1440x1080). I know, many of you want the "true HD" but do consider this for as second before paying for a camera that will give a resolution less than 1 pixel more per inch on screen (1920x1080...1920-1440=480 more lines, that's it), and natively progressive: Deinterlacing in post is always an option, and so many HD playing devices (best of which being an xbox360, should you encode to highest quality wmvHD) have newly improved upscaling techniques, that the difference between 1920x1080p and 1440x1080p (assuming you've deinterlaced) is really quite minimal or even invisible to the human eye, and though many do not know it, but even 720p looks surprisingly closer to 1080p than what the manufacturers would like you to believe.
Unless you need a supremely advanced camera for shooting at extremely high framerates andother such features, you may want to consider two or three of these cameras, which together could cost less than one of those beasts. This camera can be found on BH for $1400. Any questions?
Hope this is a help to you, I will be shooting some of my next projects with this camera, and utilizing its strengths if DOF for a closer to film look!
