Matt Frazer hosts our first Road to SALT webinar of the new year. Our minds were blown with his technical teachings on how to create a cinema look while trying to stick within a budget. We only included a quick snippet of his information below, so be sure to watch the full webinar.
What is the Cinema Look?
Cinema Look in 3 Parts:
- Shallow depth of field
- Blurry background
- Highlight rolloff
- Bright areas don’t clip easily
- Smooth but detailed images
- Sharp but flattering to the subject
How Do You Get Shallow Depth of Field?
Sensor Size Creates Shallower DoF
- Full Frame = 35mm Photo Film
- 36mm wide x 20.22mm tall (16×9 video)
- Super 35 = 1/2 Full Frame
- 24.6mm x 12.97mm
- M43 = 1/4 Full Frame
- 17.3mm x 9.72mm
- 2/3” = 1/16th Full Frame
- 8.6mm x 4.83mm
- 1/3” = 1/56th Full Frame
- 4.8mm x 2.7mm
Secret #1
Most DSLR and Mirrorless Cameras Will Work!
Don’t buy until you know what you want.
- Borrow or rent full frame first
- Find volunteers who already have these cameras
- Longer zooms – shallower DoF
- Rent/borrow at least a 50mm (70-200mm is ideal)
- Find the look you want
- Use at least a 50mm lens
- Walk forward to find the angle of view
- Walk back and measure the camera placement
- Doubling distance doubles the focal length
- Decide on your sensor size
- Is the full frame too shallow?
Secret #2
Turn a Photo Lens Into a Servo Lens
Servo on the cheap!
- A photo lens is cheaper and could be brighter
- LUMIX 70-200mm F4 = $1,699.99
- LUMIX 70-200MM F2.8 = $2,599.99
- Canon 70-200mm T4.4 = $5,000
- Add an external zoom motor and controller
- Tilta for lower cost and includes your handgrip controls
- Chrosziel for LANC integration
Links to the LUMIX G series lenses with Parfocal drive (All full-frame S series lenses offer this).
- Leica 8-18mm F/2.8 – 4 DG Vario-Elmarit Asph. Lens (Micro Four-Thirds)
- H-ES12060 Lens
- H-ES50200 Lens
- H-X1025 Lens
- H-X2550 Lens
This webinar was put on in tandem with Hunt’s Photo & Video. You can reach out to Noah, our dedicated SALT rep, directly at nbuchanan@huntsphoto.com to inquire about specials from yesterday’s webinar including up to a 10% discount on select Panasonic Lumix products and more!
If you are interested in keeping up with everything else going on with Noah at Hunt’s, you can sign up for their email list.
