Depth of Field Calculator

[onion99]

Will DoF calculations used for film apply to 3CCD cameras to get the same results?

 

[Digigenic]

No, a DOF calculator for film cannot be used for DV.
DV essentially has an unlimited depth of field, where the methods of limiting it require heavy use of telephoto, softscreens, physically placing subjects from their environment/background at great distances, or using a mini or micro 35 adapter. Now, the later of these, using the 35 adapter allows you to achieve a genuine 35mm depth of field on a standard 1/3 DV camera. In this case, you could probably get away with using a DOF calculator intended for film, though it may not be quite as accurate given the uniqueness of that particular application.

 

[David Mullen ASC]

Depth of field is based on focal length and f-stop chosen (and the circles of confusion, but that's too confusing to go into.) The reason consumer DV has so much depth of field is because the target areas are so small, and thus the focal lengths are quite short -- similar to the Super-8 film format. A 2/3" CCD has a depth of field characteristic closer to Super-16 because the focal length range chosen is similar.

There is a depth of field calculator here:

http://www.panavision.co.nz/main/kbase/reference/calcFOVform.asp

 

[Kevin_Zanit]

You can use a DOF calculator with DV. As David said, it all depends on the chip size (target area).

I believe the Kelly DOF calculator has a setting for at least 2/3".

I believe for the smaller chip 1/3" cameras you can use a circle of confusion of 15.24u (the symbol is not a ‘u’; it is the symbol for micron, of which I don’t know what key combination makes).

The CoC is complicated, as David said so if you don't know what it is, I think a few cinematography books discuss it.

Kevin Zanit