Tutorials Video

Depth of Field for Video

By Infinite Creation · Intermediate · ~25 min

A 1960s mid-century comic book style editorial illustration showing a video editor and a director reviewing the cut together, with a set of prime lenses, a camera on a tripod, a phone clamped to a rig visible in the frame.

Overview

Depth of field (DOF) describes how much of your frame is in sharp focus. A shallow depth of field keeps only a narrow plane sharp, giving you the blurred background (bokeh) effect seen in cinematic interviews and portraits. A deep depth of field keeps everything from foreground to background sharp: used in documentary, landscape, and action sequences. Understanding what controls DOF lets you use it as a deliberate storytelling tool rather than a happy accident.

What You Need

A camera with manual aperture control
A lens with a wide maximum aperture (f/1.4, f/2.8 ideal for shallow DOF)
Our Depth of Field Calculator to preview values before shooting

Steps

What depth of field is

A lens can only focus precisely on one distance: the focal plane. Objects in front of and behind that plane gradually become less sharp. Depth of field is the range of distances that appear acceptably sharp to the viewer, not a single line, but a zone. Within that zone, objects look focused. Outside it, they blur into bokeh. The size of that zone is what you're controlling when you talk about deep vs shallow DOF. A razor-thin zone means only your subject is sharp. A wide zone means foreground and background detail are both resolved.

The three controls: aperture, focal length, distance

Aperture is the most direct control. A wide aperture (low f-number: f/1.4, f/1.8, f/2.8) gives shallow DOF and strong bokeh. A narrow aperture (high f-number: f/8, f/11, f/16) gives deep DOF with everything sharp. Focal length also affects DOF: a telephoto lens (85mm, 135mm) compresses the scene and produces shallower DOF than a wide lens (24mm, 35mm) at the same aperture. Subject distance is the third factor: the closer you are to your subject, the shallower the DOF, and the further the background sits from your subject, the more blurred it becomes. To maximise bokeh: telephoto lens, wide aperture, close to subject, far background.

Shallow DOF vs deep DOF

Shallow DOF (f/1.4, f/2.8): isolates a subject from the background, draws the viewer's eye, creates intimacy and cinematic weight. Used in interviews, narrative close-ups, product shots. The risk: critical focus becomes difficult. A subject moving a few centimetres can slip out of the focal plane. Deep DOF (f/5.6, f/16): keeps everything sharp, provides context, feels documentary or observational. Used in wide establishing shots, action sequences, instructional content where background detail matters. Neither is inherently better. The choice should match what you're trying to communicate.

Using DOF creatively

A rack focus (pulling focus from one subject to another during a shot) uses DOF to shift the viewer's attention without cutting. Common in documentary and narrative: the foreground object is sharp at the start of the shot, then focus shifts to a subject in the background. A follow focus tracks a moving subject to keep them sharp as they move toward or away from camera, requires a follow focus mechanism or reliable autofocus. Foreground elements placed partially in the frame in soft focus: a plant, a doorframe, a shoulder, can add depth and frame a subject more cinematically. Shallow DOF makes this technique very effective.

Focus pulling basics

Manual focus pulling is the skill of turning the focus ring on a lens to move the focal plane smoothly during a shot. Practise on static subjects first: focus on near object, then slowly roll focus to a far object. The speed of the pull should match the pacing of the scene: a quick pull for dramatic effect, a slow pull for a gentle reveal. Mark your focus distances with focus marks (tape on the lens barrel or a proper focus mark ring) if you're pulling to specific known distances. On a gimbal or handheld rig, touch focus or eye-detect AF can be more practical than manual pulls, but for narrative work, manual control gives you intention.

Pro Tips

Sensor size affects DOF: a full-frame sensor gives shallower DOF than an APS-C or Micro Four Thirds sensor at the same f-stop and field of view. This is why full-frame cameras are preferred for cinematic bokeh.
Use our DOF Calculator before a shoot to preview exactly how much depth of field you'll have at any aperture, focal length, and distance combination.
At very wide apertures (f/1.2, f/1.8), the DOF can be shallower than a person's nose-to-ear depth, making eye-level framing and locking off on a tripod critical for sharpness.
If you can't achieve shallow DOF with your lens, move your subject further from the background. Background distance has as much impact on perceived bokeh as aperture.

Calculated: what aperture, focal length, distance and sensor size do to depth of field

We worked out the page's list of controls on 2026-10-01 with the standard hyperfocal formulas. This is arithmetic. No lens or camera was used, and we did not compare the result with the site's depth of field calculator. The circle of confusion is 0.030 mm for full frame and scales with the crop factor, which is a convention and our assumption. Depth of field here is the distance between the near and far limits of acceptable sharpness, for the subject distance shown.

Case	What was worked out	Result
85 mm at 3 m, f/1.4	total depth of field	102 mm
85 mm at 3 m, f/2.8	total depth of field	204 mm
85 mm at 3 m, f/5.6	total depth of field	409 mm
85 mm at 3 m, f/11	total depth of field	813 mm
24 mm at 3 m, f/2.8	total depth of field	3.21 m
35 mm at 3 m, f/2.8	total depth of field	1.27 m
50 mm at 3 m, f/2.8	total depth of field	601 mm
85 mm at 3 m, f/2.8	total depth of field	204 mm
135 mm at 3 m, f/2.8	total depth of field	79 mm
24 mm at 0.8 m, f/2.8, same framing as 85 mm at 3 m	total depth of field, and background blur 5 m behind as a share of sensor width	206 mm, 0.59 percent
35 mm at 1.2 m, f/2.8, same framing as 85 mm at 3 m	total depth of field, and background blur 5 m behind as a share of sensor width	205 mm, 0.81 percent
50 mm at 1.8 m, f/2.8, same framing as 85 mm at 3 m	total depth of field, and background blur 5 m behind as a share of sensor width	204 mm, 1.07 percent
85 mm at 3.0 m, f/2.8, same framing as 85 mm at 3 m	total depth of field, and background blur 5 m behind as a share of sensor width	204 mm, 1.54 percent
135 mm at 4.8 m, f/2.8, same framing as 85 mm at 3 m	total depth of field, and background blur 5 m behind as a share of sensor width	203 mm, 2.00 percent
85 mm at 1 m, f/2.8	total depth of field	21 mm
85 mm at 2 m, f/2.8	total depth of field	89 mm
85 mm at 3 m, f/2.8	total depth of field	204 mm
85 mm at 6 m, f/2.8	total depth of field	829 mm
85 mm at 10 m, f/2.8	total depth of field	2.34 m
full frame, 50 mm, 3 m, f/2.8	total depth of field	601 mm
APS-C, 33 mm, 3 m, f/2.8	total depth of field	918 mm
Micro Four Thirds, 25 mm, 3 m, f/2.8	total depth of field	1.25 m

Most of section 2 holds. Depth of field grows in proportion to the f-number, so f/11 is about 8 times f/1.4. At the same distance it falls roughly with the square of the focal length: 24 mm gives 3.21 m and 135 mm gives 79 mm. It rises roughly with the square of the distance, as the table shows, and full frame is shallower than the smaller sensors, by about 1.5 times against APS-C and 2.1 times against Micro Four Thirds, when the field of view, distance and f-stop match.

One claim needs a condition. The page says a telephoto lens "produces shallower DOF than a wide lens at the same aperture". That holds at the same distance. If you step back to keep the subject the same size, the depth of field is almost the same for every focal length here, 203 mm to 206 mm. What a longer lens does change at the same framing is the background: a point 5 m behind the subject is blurred about 3.4 times as widely at 135 mm as at 24 mm. So the telephoto look is real, and it comes from the larger background blur, and not from a thinner slice of sharpness.

The nose to ear remark holds for a long lens wide open and close: 85 mm at f/1.2 and 1.5 m gives about 21 mm of depth of field, which is shallower than nose to ear, but 50 mm at f/1.8 and 2 m gives 169 mm, which is not. The circle of confusion decides how soft counts as acceptable, so these figures shift with it, and a real lens is also softer at its widest aperture.

Reference. Calculated 2026-10-01 by arithmetic with an assumed circle of confusion. No lens or camera was used and the site's depth of field calculator was not compared.

Knowledge Base

What You'll Learn

Control depth of field to isolate your subject. Learn how aperture, focal length, and distance affect focus. Master shallow DOF for cinematic interviews and documentary work.

Depth of Field Factors

Aperture (f-stop): Widest opening (f/1.4) = shallowest DOF. Narrowest (f/16) = deepest DOF.
Focal Length: 50mm = moderate DOF. 85mm = shallower DOF. 35mm = deeper DOF.
Distance: Close focus (3 feet) = shallow DOF. Far focus (30 feet) = deep DOF.
Sensor Size: Full-frame = shallower DOF. APS-C crop = deeper DOF at same aperture.

Achieving Shallow DOF

Use widest aperture available (f/1.4 if possible).
Use longest focal length practical (70-85mm for interviews).
Get closer to subject (3-6 feet).
Ensure background is far behind subject (at least 10 feet).

Common DOF Issues

Focus Hunting: Autofocus can't lock in shallow DOF. Use manual focus or pre-focus.
Focus Fall: Interviewer moves, goes out of focus. Pre-focus lock or constant manual focus adjustment.
Unintended Blur: Wide shots with narrow DOF look unnatural. Match DOF to shot type.

Where This Fits

Depth of field is one of the variables Cinematography Fundamentals reads for meaning, with focal length, exposure and camera movement.

FAQ

Q: Can I achieve shallow DOF on a phone?
A: Phones have small sensors and wide lenses. Portrait mode simulates shallow DOF via computation, not optical physics.