A Quick Lesson on Working with Split-Focus Diopters to Achieve Deep Depth of Field

Achieving deep focus can give your images a very interesting look (just look at the work Orson Welles and Gregg Toland did in Citizen Kane) and one way to get it is by using a split-focus diopter.

Used in films like Jaws, All the President's Men, and most recently Queen of Earth and The Hateful Eight, split-focus diopters (or split-field diopters or split diopters) utilize a convex glass attachment that makes a camera lens nearsighted, giving the illusion of deep focus. And even though its use has become less common now that filmmaking has shifted toward digital, there are still plenty of benefits to using one in your films — and Joey Shanks of Shanks FX is here to show you how.

We've taken a look at the use of split diopters before, but in case you're unfamiliar with the effect they have on an image, here's a supercut Shanks mentions in his video's description that shows a bunch of classic, as well as modern uses in films.

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