Changing Depth of Field in a Sony Handycam

I have a pretty cheap Sony CX100 Handycam. I know how to set the focus to manual, but it seems like the only options are to put everything in focus or everything out of focus. I was wondering whether it's possible to make a shallower range of focus in these contraptions, or if I'd have to get something with interchangeable lenses.

Thanks!
 
The standard video camera method is to get as far away from your subject as possible and zoom in all the way. This will blur the background and give you a smaller depth of field.
 
Yeah, when I used depth of field on my Samsung DV camcorder I found that the more I zoomed in on a faraway object to place it in focus, the sharper it became in the foreground. Give it a go. If this doesn't work for you then there probably is another solution.
 
HalfNaked,

Your first solution is to try the methods listed above. Even if you have a camera with an interchangeable lens, the method involves pretty much what was described above, by Uranium.

Every camera has depth of field. The only question is how shallow or wide you can make it. Well, "shallow" is of course a relative term -- it can mean different things to different people, depending on the situation. How shallow do you want it? Hopefully, the zoom-method Uranium described will get you what you want.

However, my intuition tells me that your are seeking something that's just not possible on your camera. I suspect you probably are envisioning a depth of field shallow enough that you'll have to try alternate methods, and basically, there are two popular methods that a lot of people are using:

First, what goober mentioned is a 35mm adapter. My understanding of how these work is a little limited, but in a nutshell, I think it's basically a way of turning a fixed lens camera into an interchangeable lens camera.

The quick and easy method is to just buy an interchangeable lens camera, but not everyone is a fan of shooting on DSLR, as they do have their downsides.

Things that will make your depth of field more shallow:

1. use a macro lens, or in your case, zoom in
2. open your aperture as wide as possible (lower the f-stop -- need interchangeable lens)
 
C-funk is right, it turns your camcorder into an interchangable lens system. the down side is you loose zoom capabilities on your camcorder. the great thing is i built mine for 11$. unfortunatly i dont have lenes so i havent been able to try it out yet.
 
C-funk is right, it turns your camcorder into an interchangable lens system. the down side is you loose zoom capabilities on your camcorder. the great thing is i built mine for 11$. unfortunatly i dont have lenes so i havent been able to try it out yet.

11$?! Nice! I'm curious to see the design, and/or pics of the actual adapter you built (and I'm guess the OP might, also).
 
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