Which digital camcorder can give me some depth of field?

Question

I also want to get a digital camcorder which provides some depth of field (somehow gives a little bit TV or movie look and field). Any inexpensive digital camcorder which can give me a little bit depth of field, not too flat looking?

Answer 1

You mean like in the movie "Citizen Kane", where both the foreground and background are in sharp focus throughout? (Some of this -- the "bottle and spoon" scene, for instance -- was actually done using trick photography, but most of the effect was achieved just by good choices of lighting and lenses.)

Depth of field is dependent upon aperture size (aka f-stop number: f/8 means the aperture is 1/8 of the focal length of the lens). A pinhole will always give a sharp image irrespective of the distance away -- but it won't let much light through. The larger the aperture, the more light it will let through -- but the shallower will be the depth of field. When the camera is focussed sharply on an object at a certain distance, then objects nearer or further away will be blurred; the degree of blurring depends on the difference in distance. That, unfortunately, is a limitation inherent in the laws of physics.

The low-grade image sensors used in cheap-and-cheerful cameras need plenty of light to operate, so will require a larger aperture -- and therefore, give less depth-of-field under any given lighting conditions -- than a more expensive image sensor. Additionally, spherical aberration (worse in cheap lenses, and magnified by poor construction) will tend to make things look even less sharp.

Many inexpensive camcorders also have "auto everything" -- although this makes things simpler for you the user, sometimes the camera's choices aren't the choices you would have made. That's not to say you have to invest a fortune in a semi-industrial camcorder; but if you want quality, you will have to pay for it.

Finally: Be sure to try before you buy, and don't let the sales assistant rush you -- it's *your* money.

Answer 2

cheap camcorders have good depth of field due to the lack of aperature on the built in lens. If you want to reduce the field depth to the minimum, possible with your lens, the best approach is to put some neutral density filters on. If you want just the subject to be sharp, a center clear filter will keep the focus while slightly fogging the surrounding area.

Movie people use lighting and shadow to define the subject. That requires skill and smarts, has nothing to do with the quality of the camcorder.

Answer 3

find a 300X or a 330X zoom anything higher is a fake.They dont make the optics any better than that.