DSLR: Understanding Aperture

DSLR Video Tutorial at Creative COW

Richard Harrington
RHED Pixel
Washington District of Columbia USA

©2011 CreativeCOW.net. All rights reserved.

Article Focus:
In this DSLR podcast, Richard and Robbie discuss aperture using various lenses on DSLR Cameras in different shooting situations. Some topics covered are depth of field, lighting, zoom and shutter speed.

This tutorial is also available as a podcast.

Comments

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Re: Understanding Aperture
by Paul Lewis

Also, fixed aperture zoom lenses are better for video if you want to actually do any zooming in or out, because variable aperture lenses twitch while you zoom, making the video look pretty bad.

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Re: Understanding Aperture
by Richard Harrington

A vari ND filter is nice (beyond coverage of this episode).

If you de-click lenses (which we mentioned) then this is not hard to do and can be smooth. But we really weren't talking about WHILE rolling.

Richard M. Harrington, PMP

Author: From Still to Motion, Video Made on a Mac, Photoshop for Video, Understanding Adobe Photoshop, Final Cut Studio On the Spot and Motion Graphics with Adobe Creative Suite 5 Studio Techniques

•

Re: Understanding Aperture
by Richard van den Boogaard

Hi,

Turning the Aperture dial when shooting should really be a no-go, simply because the focus area (circle of confusion) expands/contracts. Also, you will see each noticeable click in the image, mostly rendering it useless for your edit.

If you want to maintain a constant aperture and still be able to smoothly control the incoming light, you need to use a variable ND Filter. These are available from both SinghRay (VariND) and Lightcraft (FaderND) and typically allow you to control light from 2 to 8 stops.

Richard van den Boogaard
Freelance cameraman • Glidecam Operator • Editor • YouTube expert

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Re: Tutorial: Understanding Aperture
by Larry Melton

I'm a 30-year veteran of videography just moving over to DSLR video, and I just want to express my appreciation for your podcast. I've been doing a lot of research here on the COW and elsewhere, but your podcast contains some of the most clear and succinct info I've found. Keep up the great work.

Larry Melton
1041 East

Larry Melton
Triangle Productions Inc

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