Canon Vixia HF R600 Depth of Field

[habanero]

I just obtained this camcorder recently, and I need assistance in managing the depth of field.

I would like to record an interview with a single individual, and would like their face to be totally in focus, but their background, which is like 3 feet away, to be very much out of focus and blurry.

How can I set the camcorder to do this?  I have messed with the portrait setting which claims to do this, but its not working at that distance.  I have messed with manually focusing, however, you have to focus in at like 3 inches to make the background blurry.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

[Richard]

Hi Habanero,

Thanks for posting.

I recommend using your camcorder's Portrait mode. The allows the camcorder to focus on your subject, while blurring the background.

To access this mode, turn your camcorder on, touch the Shooting Mode icon, then touch the choose the "SCN" icon, and finally, choose "Portrait".

[habanero]

Thanks for the response.

when I use portrait mode it hardly adds a blurred effect. I am using a backdround that is about 4 feet behind the subject, and you can still read the titles of books on the shelf in the background. I want to blurr it so much that you can barely make out that they are books. I have tried to manually adjust the focus, but I can't seem to make this effect work.

[Waddizzle]

"When I use portrait mode it hardly adds a blurred effect. I am using a backdround that is about 4 feet behind the subject, and you can still read the titles of books on the shelf in the background."  

Only 4 feet, no wonder.  The books should be nearly in focus.  You need a lot more distance than 4 feet. 

[habanero]

How much distance is necessary to produce the effect?

[Waddizzle]

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@habanero wrote:

How much distance is necessary to produce the effect?

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That would depend upon how far away the camera is from the subject and the focal length that you're using, so I cannot give you fixed distance.  Experiement with it, outdoors if neccessary.  Because having the background just four feet away is far too close to expect it to be as out of focus as you seem to expect..  Longer focal lengths can make it easier to have out of focus backgrounds than shorter focal focal lengths.

[habanero]

So if I wanted to do this, I should have bought a DSLR instead of a camcorder then?  I have seen many videos on youtube where people make the depth of field very narrow.  For example, this youtube video demonstrates the effect I was expecting to be able to produce with my videocamera:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2B72Ve5E8o

[blekenbleu]

Yes, I am unable to approximate that effect with an HF R42 (same optics)

[Waddizzle]

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@habanero wrote:

So if I wanted to do this, I should have bought a DSLR instead of a camcorder then?  I have seen many videos on youtube where people make the depth of field very narrow.  For example, this youtube video demonstrates the effect I was expecting to be able to produce with my videocamera:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2B72Ve5E8o

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You still have yet to answer the question, how far is the subject from the camera. 

Depth of Field Table for CoC - 0.002

The CoC, Circle of Confusion, of your camcorder is approximately 0.002.  This can be calculated from the specifications, which list the actual focal length range as 2.8-89.6mm, having an equivalent 35mm equivalent range of 38.5-1232mm.

Circle of Confusion Calculator

That tool approximates your CoC constant as 0.002, which is used in the first link in place of a model number for a DSLR.  You must scroll way down to find a list of CoC constants.  When you enter a focal length into the DoF Table, you should use the actual focal length of the camcorder, not the 35mm equivalent.

[blekenbleu]

Depth of focus can be reduced by increased aperture (smaller f/number).  Aperture may be increased by reducing illumination.