How can I get deep depth of field in low light when shooting video on a Canon T3i?
Asked 1/18/2017
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2 answers
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I’m shooting video on a Canon Rebel T3i with the 18–55mm kit lens. I want deep depth of field, but in low light I’m forced to choose between a darker image at a small aperture or a brighter image with shallow depth of field. I’m filming at 24 fps, so I’m keeping shutter speed around 1/50. At apertures like f/12 or smaller, the image gets too dark, and raising ISO to 3200 already looks too noisy. Is there any lens or camera setting that will let me keep deep depth of field and a bright image, or is adding more light the only real solution?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
9y ago
2 Answers
2
There are three variables you can change on the camera to modify the exposure. Unfortunately in your case, you can't lower the shutter speed, you can't use a wider aperture and you're already unhappy with the grain so you don't want to raise the ISO any further. A new lens won't help you as you still need to keep the aperture narrow for your DoF requirements.
Therefore you have two options:
- Get more light onto the scene
- Get a sensor with better low-light performance. The T3i is certainly not class leading in this regard, so you could certainly do better. Note that moving to full frame isn't an obvious a win here as is it in other cases, as you'd again need to stop down to keep your DoF - but something like the Sony A7S, which is class-leading in its low-light performance would still help.
Originally by user11371. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user11371
9y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes—adding more light is the main solution.
With video, exposure is limited by three controls: shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. If you want to keep shutter around 1/50 for 24 fps, keep a small aperture for deep depth of field, and avoid raising ISO because of noise, then the only remaining way to brighten the image is to increase the light on the scene.
A faster lens will not solve this by itself, because its benefit is letting you open the aperture wider—which reduces depth of field.
Other possible approaches:
- Use a wider or ultra-wide lens: shorter focal lengths naturally give deeper depth of field, though they change the look of the shot.
- Upgrade to a camera with better low-light performance: this can help reduce noise at higher ISO.
- A smaller-sensor camera can also make deep depth of field easier.
But if you want the same framing, deep depth of field, and cleaner image, more lighting is the straightforward answer.
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