Bokeh, one more thread!

[Bias]

Hello there.
I want to capture a video with blurry background and good sound quality, and I'm looking for the right equipment.

First i must say that:

1)The camera will be stable on a tripod.
2)The external microphone will be on top of the camera (I have on mind a stero mic of Rode and i will attemt to capture the sound of the room with that.)
3)Imagine the subjects as sitting persons, say 1.5 meters high and 2 meters wide where we must focus, and the frame must contain also some ground below their feet and some spase over their heads and the same from their left and little more from their right...


The purpose is to achive a blurry background in a level that not to be able to tell what it is behind, very blurry...

And now my questions...

1) How far the tripod must be from the subject? considering zoom too, if needed to achive bokeh.

2) How far the background must be?

3) And if was you, what equipment you would use to achive something like that? camera and lens (money is not unlimited)

Till now my research leaded me to canon m3 maybe with a lens adaptor and some fast lens of canon in it (but which one?).

Please help here Guys!

THANKS

 

[Braineack]

use a long lens, have them stand in front of a solid background.

 

[480sparky]

You're a bit confused on your terminology. An Out-Of-Focus background is what you're wanting. 'Bokeh' is the aesthetic quality of that OOF background.

 

[zombiesniper]

Since you only want video and you gate this as an option.

And if was you, what equipment you would use to achive something like that? camera and lens (money is not unlimited)

Camera
Canon EOS C700 Cinema Camera 1454C002 B&H Photo Video

Lens
Canon CN7x17 KAS S Cine-Servo 17-120mm T2.95 (EF Mount) 9785B001

Want to try a budget now?

Almost any DSLR or mirrorless can do this. Where your set up will start to differ is the lens you have. Faster lenses will blur the background easier but even a slower lens will do fine if you have the space to move the subject away from the background.

Give a budget and we'll see what you have to work with and be able to more accurately help create a solution. Otherwise I stand by my first selection.

 

[Bias]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I thought by mentioning canon m3 in the original post, I gave an idea for my budget... which is about 600 euro for camera and lens... or 700 with blood !

here is a setup for example:

a m3 canon 450 euro the body

an adaptor for the normal canon lens 150 euro

and a 50mm f 1.8 canon 99 euro...

what do you think?

thanks again for the replies

 

[photo1x1.com]

The purpose is to achive a blurry background in a level that not to be able to tell what it is behind, very blurry...

Hi, I'm very sorry, but I think this is hardly possible with an unlimited budget, and impossible with your budget.
What is the reason that you don't want to show what's behind? If you blur it so much only that people don't know where it was shot, you could go somewhere else too.

We are just having a discussion in another thread about 50mm f1.8 lenses. I posted a sample there, Ill crosspost it here:

some thoughts:

1. This is just the upper body, your framing would be much further, increasing the sharpness of the background a lot.
2. These images are shot on a full frame body, Canon M3 has an APS-C sensor with a crop factor of 1,6. Again there is some difference in sharpness of the background.
3. The distance to the trees is between around 50m (dark one on the right) and 200m (trees on the left). The gradual softening to the left and right of the model should give you an idea what is possible.

 

[Adriaan]

Keep the distance as distance as possible to start with!
Play with this

 

[Bias]

Thanks for the information and sorry for the late reply... I have made my move and I exceed my budget limit by far already, and i only own a body... of a sony a7 (just a7 no ''s'' no ''ii'' non) I also found this lens
Mitakon Speedmaster 50mm f/0.95 PRO ver. - Mitakon - ZY Optics (Shenyang Zhongyi Optics )
which with no doubt will do what i need and more but the only way to get it is via internet and i feel little unsafe

I will be grateful for your opinion about what I did and mostly for what im about to do.

Thank you!

 

[photo1x1.com]

I´ve seen some awesome images taken with this lens and they definitely make me want one.
However, it is manual focus and has a very, very shallow focus. For video this is quite tricky, because you may lose focus pretty quick if you don´t have no big monitor to control your focus and maybe a follow focus to pull focus manually. An exception would be that the people in your video don´t move at all (also their head have to be static - talking about the movement from to camera - sideways is no problem).
I love the Sony alpha system. Don´t know much about the a7, but I own an a6000, A7s, A7rII and A7SII - they are awesome cameras. The s is a pretty slow focussing device though - contrary to the r - don´t know about the A7.

I have ordered quite a lot of stuff from China and other places around the world. So far I only had a single problem when they delivered a wrong item and didn´t want to pay for sending it back (well, and shipping sometimes costs quite a bit). Doing photography and filming for a living, I saved so much doing this ever so often (and got things I would have never been able to get in local stores), that I could live with the loss easily.

Depending on where you live, you need to consider that you might have to pay taxes and/or customs. Vendors often pack it as presents or declare a very small custom value. But sometimes the customs open the package and sometimes not.

 

[Drive-By-Shooter]

interesting combo. 2 years ago when i finally decided digital was better than film at an reasonable price and it was time to buy, i talked with a photographer who sells his color prints on metal pictures in a store on Kings Street in Charleston, South Carolina. his website that is on the back of one i have is www.colorsofcharleston.com, but is no longer. tried unsuccessfully to find his contact info for you.

he continues to run a thriving business on exactly that combination. he strongly suggested i go that way, too. even showing me how my nikon lenses can fit on the sony if i didn't want to spring for the lens yet. for more reasons than i have time to type now, i stayed with the SLR format, but i seriously considered his suggestion. if you can track him down, he will surely talk about it for as long as you need!

the bokeh he makes and sells (a lot of) is because of that amazing lens.

that's an exciting move for you. keep us posted!

Thanks for the information and sorry for the late reply... I have made my move and I exceed my budget limit by far already, and i only own a body... of a sony a7 (just a7 no ''s'' no ''ii'' non) I also found this lens
Mitakon Speedmaster 50mm f/0.95 PRO ver. - Mitakon - ZY Optics (Shenyang Zhongyi Optics )
which with no doubt will do what i need and more but the only way to get it is via internet and i feel little unsafe

I will be grateful for your opinion about what I did and mostly for what im about to do.

Thank you!

 

[Bias]

Hi guys I haven't buy lens yet, the plan about the mitakon 50mm 0.95 changed since i read some issues it has with deformed flares and even their e mount accuracy... the good is that Not far away from here is an retailer where i can find a Voigtlander 1.1 in the price of the site of Voigtlander... also with warranty.

If anyone has the lens or know about please share your expirience here...

the Voigtlander 50mm 1.1 has some of the worst reviews i have read on the internet the bokeh is terrible they say...

 

[Drive-By-Shooter]

have you examined sigma ART primes? they are amazing!!
D600 popup flash -.7, left hand held nikon 910 -.03 overall exposure -0.7

 

[Bias]

the images it produces are excellent... but is even bigger than noktron.. and very slow in comparison for the same price... i dont know.. one thing everybody agrees about noktron is its capability in the dark