I was thinking, especially for action shots, to switch from a wide angle lense for the wide scenes, and perhaps something more narrow for the others. However both lenses I have right now, the color is different on both. Not a lot, but probably noticeably. Should I just stick to one lens, and move in real close for narrow shots, or should I shoot with both, and fix it in post if that's a good idea?
Question about switching lenses during shooting.
- Thread starter harmonica44
- Start date
My friend, you are trying to do brain surgery before you've learned to take blood pressure. You need to figure these things out on your own and compare your own results. There is no easy way.
Well I have done both, and got the color difference. I just wanted to know before tomorrow's shoot. But I will just use one lens, just in case.
What kind of color difference? Switching from a modern cheap Canon to a modern Sigma you shouldn't see much difference. Do you have filters on the front? Cheap UV's and ND filters can tint the image.
Yeah the green problem was solved. Turns out it was just somehow set to that by accident. Set to 'custom'. I thought it was the fog that made the picture green, but I could tell later, that it was the settings Thanks. No the lens does not have a filter. One has an image stabilizer and one does not. Could that be a problem at all?
Well, I'm glad that mystery's solved.
Having image stabilisation on one lens and not on the other will not be a problem. If you think it will be, you can always turn it off.
Okay thanks for the input people. My new lens has a very sensitive focus though, and if an actor moves more than five or less feet out of it, they loose focus. It's a 35mm. And I need to do a bunch of action footage of them, with can moving around. I don't want them to fade out of focus constantly of course. If I switch to auto focus that might help I'm guessing, but I was told not to use auto in filmmaking according to one of the articles I read on it. Unless that just counts for specific scenes where you want the option of manually focusing the camera while shooting.
Oh boy, are you going to have fun! It's all manual focus for any serious work. Check out those expensive PL mount lenses (cinema lenses) and there is no auto focus.
Auto focus will let you down as much as it helps you in movie mode. Again, we're in a practice, practice, practice, situation. The make follow focus rigs, but that gets pricey and you still have to practice.
Yikes!
Get a UV filter on there pronto to protect your naked lens!
Leave it on there 24/7/365.
I think my nubie cam lens has had maybe five minutes of fresh air since I bought it.
Stop down your aperture and everything will be in focus.
You can tinker with settings to even keep some remote sense of DoF, though.
Figure out where the (distance from the camera) middle ground where your actors will be moving about.
Example: 15-25 out away from the camera. No one closer than 15' from the camera. No one farther than 25' from the camera. Left right doesn't matter.
Then zoom in on a focus target set at 20', halfway into your 15-25' focal field, set focus manually.
Zoom back out.
Adjust aperture until everything between 15-25' is in crystal focus.
f3 or 4?
Objects 4' and 40' away should have fuzzy edges.
What the h3ll. Worth a try!
GL!
No autofocus on your camera while shooting video. It doesn't have that feature. It will autofocus between takes but not live.
5 feet isn't very shallow at all. Try an inch or two. Most of us have been there. Besides, didn't you get the DSLR hoping for the shallow DOF filmic look?
Chances are it is more shallow than 5 ft. Though it is wider... Be sure to zoom in digitally 10x between takes to check focus when working shallow conditions. (it's a button on your cam) what looks in focus on a small viewfinder you may learn is out of focus on a real screen.
5 feet isn't very shallow at all. Try an inch or two. Most of us have been there. Besides, didn't you get the DSLR hoping for the shallow DOF filmic look?
Chances are it is more shallow than 5 ft. Though it is wider... Be sure to zoom in digitally 10x between takes to check focus when working shallow conditions. (it's a button on your cam) what looks in focus on a small viewfinder you may learn is out of focus on a real screen.
Ah! I've been finding this out the hard way lately as I push my PC's NLE capabilities.
To keep my cr@ppy old PC from displaying video in glitchy-play I used to record material in lower resolution WVGA 854x480 which hid some of the focussing issues.
Now I can tolerate the slightly glitchy-play of recorded HD720 1280x720. (I don't dare try to even fool with recording HD1080).
However, with the higher resolution I'm noticing what looks like it's "probably" in focus on the poopy little 2.7" camcorder screen is DEFINITELY NOT in focus when later played back across the computer monitor.
So I was tickled pink when I recently got my hands on a dual 25' customary+metric tape measure.
I can set the manual focus to the closest metric increment (I'm not good at guessing metric lengths), adjust the camera position and shoot without fretting over "poopy little 2.7" screen focus" vs. what it's gonna look like blown up on the PC.
"Yay!" dual-unit tape measure!
@rayw- nice. That's the way a pro first AC does it... Or at least did it. A lot of them don't even look at a monitor. Just the distances and marks they've set up.
Yikes!
Get a UV filter on there pronto to protect your naked lens!
Leave it on there 24/7/365.
I think my nubie cam lens has had maybe five minutes of fresh air since I bought it.
Stop down your aperture and everything will be in focus.
You can tinker with settings to even keep some remote sense of DoF, though.
Figure out where the (distance from the camera) middle ground where your actors will be moving about.
Example: 15-25 out away from the camera. No one closer than 15' from the camera. No one farther than 25' from the camera. Left right doesn't matter.
Then zoom in on a focus target set at 20', halfway into your 15-25' focal field, set focus manually.
Zoom back out.
Adjust aperture until everything between 15-25' is in crystal focus.
f3 or 4?
Objects 4' and 40' away should have fuzzy edges.
What the h3ll. Worth a try!
GL!
This action scenes I'm shooting are at night and that's why I got the 35mm 1.4 cause it's very hard to see at night on film even with light, without 1.4, at least in my experience so far. I will try to darken it as much as I can, but don't want it to look too bad or incomprehensible.
I will practice as much as I can before the shoot. Since it's a fight/chase scene, I will have to do a lot of takes, and having to weed out the ones that are in focus, will make my pickings even more difficult.
Okay thanks I'll do some shots and try that out.
Thanks for the other input people.