Something for us beginners...

[Greg McCary]

For us beginners have you seen this free download???
http://www.dofmaster.com/custom.html
I wonder is this avaliable for my treo 650?????

[jbaldocchi]

This sound like a cool tool to have. DOF is very important if you want control over how your image is going to look out of the camera.

Jim B.

[Frog]

Why don't they put it on lenses anymore?

[Greg McCary]

To frustrat beginners like me I guess. I have some old ones that I still use from time to time and the markings are nice to have...
Greg

[another view]

Why don't they put it on lenses anymore?

Zooms are more common and it really can't be done on a two-ring zoom (one ring is the focusing ring, the other zooms). Some of the push-pull zooms had it on them.

Great tool to know about, but I'll throw my two cents in. The measurements that a DOF calculator or hyperfocal focusing markers on a lens will give you are a "black and white" set of figures. Don't take it to literally - if the close edge of the DOF works out to 12', that doesn't necessarily mean that something at 11'-11" is unacceptably sharp. However that also doesn't mean that something at 12'-0" is acceptably sharp either even though the calculator says it's OK. Try it out, test it and see what works for you. Print size will be a big factor as well - what you can get away with for a 4x6 ain't gonna cut it with a 16x24.

One photographer used to use the markers on the lens but stop down one more f-stop from what the markers told him to do, and he never had to worry about DOF. This worked for him, but it might not be necessary for other people - and of course might not be enough for others.

Another factor to consider - depending on the situation - is that by closing down the aperture one more stop to gain DOF, you lose one stop of shutter speed. This may cause something to blur due to the motion; think of grasses blowing in the wind for an example. If you closed down one stop, had one stop slower of a shutter speed and made the whole image blurry because of it, the DOF doesn't really matter (assuming that you want everything sharp).

Just stuff to think about...

[Greg McCary]

So you are saying that if you are shooting a landscape it's possible to get great Depth at any f/stop and 8 and 11 are just the "sweet spot"? If I am shooting a landscape what settings should I try for and which ones would be unexceptable?
Yesterday I was taking a picture of a flower, I was using a 28mm to 80mm zoom. I shot at several f/stops. The pedal of the flower stuck out further than the center. How is one to know the range or depth of your shot, and since the pedal stuck out so far what would be the focus point. If I focused on the center I didn't want the front of the pedal to be soft, or focusing on the front with enough dof to get it all in focus?

[another view]

So you are saying that if you are shooting a landscape it's possible to get great Depth at any f/stop and 8 and 11 are just the "sweet spot"?

DOF (in reality, anyway) depends on the focal length of the lens, aperture and focus distance. The longer the focal length the less DOF you'll get - again this is based on real-world and not the physics of how optics work. The smaller the aperture (higher "f" number), the greater the DOF. The farther the focus distance, the more DOF you'll get. Again, this doesn't mean that you should necessarily back up, use a shorter lens and/or stop down to get more DOF, but these are all tricks that you can use to get it if you need it. Depends on what you want in your shot. F8 and F11 usually work pretty well for landscape photography with 35mm or DSLR's and would probably be a good starting point if you want a lot of DOF. Stopped all the way down, some lenses lose sharpness so I usually don't go past f11 or occasionally f16, but have stopped down farther if need be.

If I am shooting a landscape what settings should I try for and which ones would be unexceptable?

Like I said, I'd usually start at f8 or f11 and see what my exposure worked out to from there. If the shutter speed wasn't fast enough to stop the blowing grass from being blurry (example), then I could either use a higher ISO setting (or switch to faster film) or open the lens up to f4 or f5.6 to get the shutter speed I needed. Exposure is an equation and it's really a balancing act to get what you need. Sometimes it's a choice of the lesser of evils - for example having to use a high ISO to get the DOF (aperture) and shutter speed you need.

Yesterday I was taking a picture of a flower, I was using a 28mm to 80mm zoom. I shot at several f/stops. The pedal of the flower stuck out further than the center. How is one to know the range or depth of your shot, and since the pedal stuck out so far what would be the focus point. If I focused on the center I didn't want the front of the pedal to be soft, or focusing on the front with enough dof to get it all in focus?

Good you tried several apertures to see what the results are. Focal length will matter too - longer focal lengths will give you less DOF here. I'm guessing you were very close to it, so even stopping down all the way (f22 or f32, depending on the lens) won't give you everything in the DOF. This isn't always necessary and doesn't always make the best images. Again, a successful photograph is getting the result that you wanted. Hope this helps!

[Greg McCary]

Thanks for the lesson. I guess it's like golf. Someone can tell you how to hit the ball all day long, but practice is the only way to get good at it. I'll play around as see what works and what don't....
Greg

[another view]

You're right about practice and experimenting. The physics of how lenses work may tell you a different side to the story but personally I don't photograph based on physics. I photograph based on what I see. Then I figure out what I want the image to look like and do it.

Learning the technical stuff can be a huge help. Know it well enough that you don't have to consciously think about what you're doing, because when that great light finally happens it won't last long! I'm heading north for a few days to look for some of that myself and maybe I'll have some decent examples when I get back.

[livin4lax09]

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

same site, different section.