Re: Real DOF
John Coyle wrote: Which is exactly why, a couple of years ago, we had a thread on the utility of DOF and I said then I thought it a waste of time on 35mm cameras. If you think you can judge depth of field accurately when you're stopped way down, as one usually is shooting macro, I believe, sir, you kid yourself! Other uses of DOF: 1) Check vignetting with a filter, reversed lens, hood, or anything else you screw onto the front of your lens (depends on finder coverage, but if you can see vignetting on, say, a 92% coverage finder, vignetting is definately going to show up on your film. Use your smallest aperature for this, and point the camera at something bright. Look at the corners. 2) Evaluate light fall-off (which I consider to be distinct from vignetting) with wide angle lenses. Here again, stopping down often reduces light fall-off 3) Check flare. Often stopping down will reduce flare. 4) Check bokeh as mentioned previously by others in this thread. And sometimes that check will show a telephone pole growing right out of your subject's head; one that you can't see with that fast prime without stopping down. 5) It is quite useful, IMHO, as a depth of field check at about 1/3 lifesize and higher when shooting closeups. 6) Prepare you mentally for some of those screwmount lenses you might be tempted buy that you have to use stop down metering for. Grin. John Shaw's books are my favorite for nature photography technique. He swears by both DOF and mirror lock, more so in his earlier books than his later ones. Apparently, John will even cover his head and camera when using DOF preview, and s-l-o-w-l-y stop down the lens, permitting his eyes to adjust. I don't go that far, yet, but I do use a wide-brim hat, block light with a free hand, and let my eyes adjust - and DOF then becomes more useful. - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
RE: Real DOF the Pentax K1000
John Coyle writes: Which is exactly why, a couple of years ago, we had a thread on the utility of DOF and I said then I thought it a waste of time on 35mm cameras. If you think you can judge depth of field accurately when you're stopped way down, as one usually is shooting macro, I believe, sir, you kid yourself! (Not you, Bill) I agree that you can't accurately gauge sharpness through a viewfinder. I must however point out that not everyone goes straight to f/32 when shooting macro. I like to make use of shallow DOF to separate the subject of interest (usually a flower) from its background. For this reason I find DOF preview is very useful, not only to give a rough indication of what will and won't be sharp, but also to make sure there aren't any major distractions in the background that are too blurred to be noticed when viewing wide-open. I usually end up shooting at f/4 or f/5.6 (not accounting for extension). Cheers, - Dave David A. Mann, B.E. (Elec) http://www.digistar.com/~dmann/ Why is it that if an adult behaves like a child they lock him up, while children are allowed to run free on the streets? -- Garfield - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
RE: Real DOF
John Coyle wrote: Which is exactly why, a couple of years ago, we had a thread on the utility of DOF and I said then I thought it a waste of time on 35mm cameras. If you think you can judge depth of field accurately when you're stopped way down, as one usually is shooting macro, I believe, sir, you kid yourself! (Not you, Bill) I agree it isn't as useful, but it is still indisposable. Whether you can see anything depends on the ambient light levels, the amount of modeling light you can bring to the subject, and, oddly, how far you are stopped down. Even if I can't see the DOF at the full setting of the aperture, I can get a much better feel for how the final image will look at some intermediate aperture where I _can_ still see the image. I use it to assess both the DOF on the subject as well as the DOF on the background -- if the subject isn't even close to being sharp enough, or the background is already too sharp at some intermediate aperture setting, then I know not to bother with taking a picture at the full aperture setting. Also, in the studio, I've been known to bring a ton of modeling light to some of my live insect subjects simply so I can assess the DOF at the full aperture setting, then turn it off an make the exposure using flash. A strange way to work to be sure, but it is effective. I've got a dandy 7X shot of an aphid where I used all of the above mentioned techniques. later, patbob ([EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]) - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
RE: Real DOF
Insect are some of my favorite subjects. So far 1x is all I've been doing in the field. I am going to attempt some 2x when I get some issues worked out. I'd be really interested in seeing the 7x aphid shot! Christian Skofteland -Original Message- From: Patrick White [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] I've got a dandy 7X shot of an aphid where I used all of the above mentioned techniques. later, patbob ([EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]) - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org . - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
Re: Real DOF
- Original Message - From: Skofteland, Christian Subject: RE: Real DOF Insect are some of my favorite subjects. So far 1x is all I've been doing in the field. I am going to attempt some 2x when I get some issues worked out. I'd be really interested in seeing the 7x aphid shot! Here is a close up of a computer screen.. http://pug.komkon.org/01feb/pixels.html William Robb - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
RE: Real DOF
Thanks Bill. I'd seen this when I was going through past PUGs nice shot. I love the goofy idea! Christian Skofteland -Original Message- From: William Robb [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Here is a close up of a computer screen.. http://pug.komkon.org/01feb/pixels.html William Robb - - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
RE: Real DOF the Pentax K1000
Which is exactly why, a couple of years ago, we had a thread on the utility of DOF and I said then I thought it a waste of time on 35mm cameras. If you think you can judge depth of field accurately when you're stopped way down, as one usually is shooting macro, I believe, sir, you kid yourself! (Not you, Bill) John Coyle Nicholas John Consultants Brisbane, Australia On Wednesday, October 24, 2001 1:46 PM, Bill D. Casselberry [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] wrote: John wrote: You could always look out for an old pre-set lens, where you get auto-DOF preview...:-) Sheesh Guys! Depth of Field was one of the first concepts I worked on and learned when I got the serious photography bug. At the time I was using an old Agfa B2 Speedex 6x6 folder w/ no ttl viewing at all. Later a Canonet QL17 GIII rangefinder. It is, after all, a simple relationship between focal length and focus distance - these days,w/ SLR's, I just do it naturally, (in my head, as it 'twere) and/or w/ a quick glance at the lens' scale. Rarely do I actually use the DOF preview function on my Spotmatics. Of course, using m42 glass on the K-bodies gives Auto-DOF Preview even though it's a bit dark to tell anything anyway. Bill - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
RE: Real DOF the Pentax K1000
But, as one other member said some time ago, it's useful for evaluating the amount of fuzziness in out-of-focus areas. The opposite of DOF, in other words. -Original Message- From: John Coyle [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: den 24 oktober 2001 09:22 To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Subject: RE: Real DOF the Pentax K1000 Which is exactly why, a couple of years ago, we had a thread on the utility of DOF and I said then I thought it a waste of time on 35mm cameras. If you think you can judge depth of field accurately when you're stopped way down, as one usually is shooting macro, I believe, sir, you kid yourself! (Not you, Bill) John Coyle Nicholas John Consultants Brisbane, Australia On Wednesday, October 24, 2001 1:46 PM, Bill D. Casselberry [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] wrote: John wrote: You could always look out for an old pre-set lens, where you get auto-DOF preview...:-) Sheesh Guys! Depth of Field was one of the first concepts I worked on and learned when I got the serious photography bug. At the time I was using an old Agfa B2 Speedex 6x6 folder w/ no ttl viewing at all. Later a Canonet QL17 GIII rangefinder. It is, after all, a simple relationship between focal length and focus distance - these days,w/ SLR's, I just do it naturally, (in my head, as it 'twere) and/or w/ a quick glance at the lens' scale. Rarely do I actually use the DOF preview function on my Spotmatics. Of course, using m42 glass on the K-bodies gives Auto-DOF Preview even though it's a bit dark to tell anything anyway. Bill - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org . - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
Re: Real DOF the Pentax K1000
Erik Nordin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: But, as one other member said some time ago, it's useful for evaluating the amount of fuzziness in out-of-focus areas. The opposite of DOF, in other words. Right. I use the depth-of-field preview more as a quality-of-bokeh preview. I know the background's going to be out of focus, I just want to see *how* out of focus it is. -- Mark Roberts www.robertstech.com - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
RE: Real DOF the Pentax K1000
This thread demonstrates the principle of FLDSAC. First Liar Doesn't Stand a Chance. Grin Len --- -Original Message- From: Mark Roberts [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2001 5:46 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Real DOF the Pentax K1000 Erik Nordin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: But, as one other member said some time ago, it's useful for evaluating the amount of fuzziness in out-of-focus areas. The opposite of DOF, in other words. Right. I use the depth-of-field preview more as a quality-of-bokeh preview. I know the background's going to be out of focus, I just want to see *how* out of focus it is. -- Mark Roberts www.robertstech.com - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
