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F-stop for Glidecam follow cams

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Spol
Posts: 84 - Karma: 452
Anyone know which f-stop is ideal for follow cams so everything is basically in focus? I feel like f/22 is a little excessive.
Jan 1 2014 2:38PM
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Lou.
Posts: 1787 - Karma: 3,876
Anything over f/8 or 9 Id say. But for example my tokina 11 16 which is a super popular glidecam skiing uwa lense, there is aa focus I can set it on that just focuses everything so I can put it on any fstop I want. But thats only for higher end ones
Jan 1 2014 3:10PM
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Laurent.
Posts: 10054 - Karma: 25,277
There's no ideal.

The depth of field (area that's in focus), depends on the sensor size, focal length, aperture and actual distance of subject and ofcourse the effect you desire.
Jan 1 2014 5:00PM
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Balto
Posts: 25985 - Karma: 4,398
You should avoid stopping down that far, your lens will encounter diffraction typically around f16, though this does differ from lens to lens.
Jan 1 2014 5:31PM
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Spol
Posts: 84 - Karma: 452
That's what I use. How do you go about setting that up?
Jan 1 2014 5:37PM
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BA.berger
Posts: 300 - Karma: 300
I can easily have my desired subject in focus with a 30mm 1.4 stopped to f4. If you go much higher than f10 or something, your movie files will look weird
Jan 1 2014 6:58PM
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Splice.
Posts: 1381 - Karma: -192
making me jealous.
Jan 1 2014 7:00PM
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Lou.
Posts: 1787 - Karma: 3,876
Don't be haha, I just got the tokina and I had been saving for like a year and a half
Jan 1 2014 8:08PM
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Lou.
Posts: 1787 - Karma: 3,876
seriously could not be easier. You just set the focus ring to manual then twist it until you see the infinity sign. now EVERYTHING is in focus regardless of your fstop. pretty snazzy.
Jan 1 2014 8:09PM
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gravel
Posts: 5479 - Karma: 41,495
What I've gathered from reading around before, the best aperture is from 8 to 11 for filming skiing, and would agree that it works well. With the Tokina it also creates pretty nice looking sunstars.

Also, I'd say calling it "aperture" instead of "f-stop" because I figured that this thread was about the pack company.
Jan 1 2014 8:41PM
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Balto
Posts: 25985 - Karma: 4,398
They are two different things, aperture is the physical bladed unit in the lens while the f stop is the measure of the opening found by focal length divided by iris diameter
Jan 1 2014 9:09PM
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Lou.
Posts: 1787 - Karma: 3,876
Science... bitch
Jan 1 2014 9:37PM
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gravel
Posts: 5479 - Karma: 41,495
Rad, you learn something every day! My bad and thanks.
Jan 1 2014 9:39PM
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Spol
Posts: 84 - Karma: 452
Nice! I think I will do that, as well as try shooting with an f-stop between 8-11.
Jan 1 2014 10:53PM
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Spol
Posts: 84 - Karma: 452
Oh sick. I haven't had a really sunny day filming yet so I'll be pretty excited to see how those sunstars look on the Tokina when I do!
Jan 1 2014 10:55PM
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Mag
Posts: 8155 - Karma: 14,809
Makes my favourite sunstar out of any lens I've used so far, points get sharper(or more distinct at least) at 11/16, though the image does get noticeably(probably not if you're doing video) softer

f/9
Click for larger image
Jan 1 2014 11:13PM
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Laurent.
Posts: 10054 - Karma: 25,277
Hello Ken.

Click for larger image
Jan 2 2014 3:38AM
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hugopeckham
Posts: 210 - Karma: 1,040
There's an old thread somewhere on here about optimising DSLR footage. What I read there was if you go for F/8 with a lens up to about 20mm (so most UWA lenses) and focus to just below infinity and you should be pretty set.
Jan 2 2014 10:50AM
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