Darren Addy wrote: >Fascinating. Thanks for sharing that Mark! > >"All the Presidents Men" is definitely in my top dozen favorite films, >but I was unaware of that technique before. Interestingly, there are >two Android apps that include doing calculations for split diopters, >which might make the necessity of the "calibrated bar" obsolete today: >Filmcalculator and Pocket AC.
I believe the "calibrated bar" was used to move the diopter left and right to compensate for the panning and zooming. >On Mon, Jun 29, 2015 at 6:37 PM, John <[email protected]> wrote: >> On 6/29/2015 7:06 PM, Mark Roberts wrote: >>> >>> Ever used a split diopter or, as they are sometimes called, half >>> diopter? It's essentially half a close-up diopter that you screw onto >>> the end of your lens; they cut the glass in half and leave the area in >>> the filter ring empty. That way you can have a very close foreground >>> in focus and a distant background also in focus without stopping >>> down to a diffraction-inducing tiny aperture (or you can just get a >>> greater effective DOF than even the smallest aperture would achieve). >>> Generally the dividing line is out of focus enough to be invisible but >>> you have to be careful how you position it in the composition. >>> >>> I was just reading about an amazing use of a split diopter in a motion >>> picture application. In the classic Robert Redford/Dustin Hoffman film >>> All the President's Men there's a scene where Robert Redford is >>> talking on the phone in the news room where the director and >>> cinematographer use the split diopter in an incredibly subtle yet >>> effective way, and one that fits thematically with what's going on in >>> the scene. >>> >>> Here's where I read about it: >>> >>> http://www.avclub.com/article/focus-key-most-subtly-powerful-moment-all-presiden-206873 >>> >>> Notice in the embedded video clip how on the right side of the screen >>> the foreground's in focus but the background is out of focus. Yet on >>> the left side of the screen the background is in focus and the >>> foreground (like the typewriter) is out of focus. I've seen this movie >>> several times and never noticed this. >>> >>> OK. Film geek moment over. You can go about your business now. If >>> you've even read this far ;-) >>> >>> >> >> Powerful technique. >> >> -- >> Science - Questions we may never find answers for. >> Religion - Answers we must never question. >> >> >> -- >> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >> [email protected] >> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >> follow the directions. > > > >-- >Life is too short to put up with bad bokeh. -- Mark Roberts - Photography & Multimedia www.robertstech.com -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
