Lenzfx
>>Does any of this make sense, or am I just muddying the waters?
No, Yes. <G>
I do a lot of rack focus effects with a camera and sometimes do effects like
capture surrounding reflections in peoples sunglasses. Here is how it always
works in the real world. The focus can either be the surface of the mirror
eg. scratches/printing/frame/ even dust and dirt on the mirror surface, or, it
can be a distant reflection of the world surrounding seen as an image in the
mirror. The only time it is possible to focus in on both is when the camera is
receiving enough light to allow for greater depth of focus where the range of
focus includes the distance between the mirror and the light path to the real
world surrounding the mirror that is being reflected. To facilitate this
greater depth of focus I use a wide angle lens and shoot the mirror surface up
close. To achieve the rack focus effect I use the telephoto lens and then vary
the focus ring over time. Telephoto has a much tighter depth of focus.
This is not a complicated issue for a cameraman but I guess it is for people
knowledgeble in the laws of optics physics and virtual reality experts. <BG>