DOF with multiple chips?

Question

Which will give shallower depth of field on a camcorder (assume without any additional lenses) a single 1/3" sensor or three 1/4" sensors?

Answer 1

I totally agree with Pon. It is very hard to get a shallow depth of field on a consumer camera, but generally speaking, the larger the chip, the shallower the DOF. Professional Digital Cinema cameras, like the RED One, and several others, have a what is called a Super35mm sensor that gives you the equivalent to a 35mm film camera's DOF, which is real shallow. Pro ENG cameras have three 2/3" image sensors, which is close to the DOF of a 16mm film camera. The Sony EX1, a professional quality camera for a prosumer price has 1/2" sensors. However, most have 1/3" sensors which in most cases, does not have a good shallow DOF. They are still slightly better than 1/4" sensors, but so much so to make it better than a 3 chip camera with 1/4".

      In conclusion, I think the benefits of a 3 chip camera outweighs the DOF advantages you'd have with a large sensor. For one, 3 chip cameras give you much better color reproduction. Besides, there isn't much of a difference between 1/3" sensors and 1/4" sensors.

Even with 1/4" sensors, you can still achieve shallow DOF. Try setting the aperture to manual. Open up the iris, setting the aperture to something like f2 (as low an f-stop as possible. In other words open the iris all the way). This may make your picture to bright, and in that case, you can turn up the shutter speed or use a Neural Density filter to darken the image. Along with aperture, you'll want to zoom in all the way (the more you zoom in, the shallower the DOF)

Or, you could purchase a 35mm adapter, like the Letus 35 Extreme  (or mini) or the Redrock M2 adapter. They'll give you real shallow DOF.

Well, I hope that helps. Best of luck!

(btw: what cameras are you looking at?)

Answer 2

the larger 1/3" sensor would go shallower.  if you have fully manual controls, you can just zoom in and adjust your exposure and shutterspeed to control DOF.  to an extent, the more you open the aperature (larger f stop #) - the shallower the dof.

Answer 3

well its hard to get shallow DOF on any camcorder unless its a high quality camera with quality lenses (mainly interchangeable lenses).  Video overall has difficulty achieving shallow depth of field.