Occasionally we see home movie films having portions that were originally exposed out of focus. In most cases, this was the result of holding the movie camera too close to the subject matter. Virtually all 8mm home movie cameras had fixed-focus lenses so that the initial cost of the movie camera could be minimized. However, there were some high-end 8mm movie cameras that did have adjustable focus lenses. These allowed the consumer to shoot close-up scenes such as the text on signs leading to parks, portrait face shots, and other recreation places.
In the hands of a skilled Saturday filmmaker who took the job seriously, these high-end consumer 8mm movie cameras were capable of fantastic filming bordering on professional results. These higher-end movie cameras also came with very fine quality optics or glass. In the movie clip shown below, the original filmmaker did just this very thing, a macro shot, without planning it. The lens was set for a close-up shot, Therefore, as the youngster approached the movie camera, he started to come into focus while the object in the rear, his pappa, remained out of focus.
If this same exact scene were shot using a typical fixed-focus (and cheap) movie camera, the way the clip turned out would have been quite different (and favorably so). Favorably so until that is… Until the youngster walked up to the movie camera.
The movie clip shown below was shot almost entirely out of focus with the exception of the tail end when the youngster walked up to the movie camera. But even then, the youngster was still not entirely in focus. It is most likely that the focus was set for a macro scene such as shooting a wedding ring sitting on a table.
Thus we can say that there was a problem with adjustable focus lenses, or perhaps we should say…there was a problem with those Saturday filmmakers using high-end adjustable lens movie cameras. The problem was that it was very common for them to ignore the focus, unknowingly leave it set to a close-up scene, and then shoot a scene at 6 feet or more from the camera. Sadly, they would have been better off with a more consumer-oriented (and cheap) 8mm home movie camera.
But even more sadly, there is an appearance that we at W. Cardone Productions introduced the out-of-focus capture to movie film that was otherwise fine. The way to positively tell that it was a part of the original film is if while viewing the out-of-focus clip, that the next clip suddenly appears in focus with the next scene change or soon thereafter.
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