Re: a blessing and a curse
- From: Douglas Herr <telyt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: leica@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 5 Jul 2005 09:46:13 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
> The big problem with a 1280mm lens combo, is the incredible lack of Depth of
> Field.
>
> Out at Tunkwa, the day before yesterday, I saw a marmot...
>
> See: http://www3.telus.net/~telyt and then click on Featured Photo.
>
> This shot is sharp as a tack ... see his (her?) right (our left) eye. Yet the
> DOF is so small at such focal lengths,
> that the nose and teeth are fuzzy, to the point where the entire photo looks
> unsharp. And closing down does
> not seem to make any appreciable difference, at least until you get to the
> point where you can't use the view
> finder, and it all becomes pointless.
I have this DOF problem with much shorter lenses too, but then I'm using a much
lower ISO and larger apertures. The best work-around for me has been to get
the crucial elements of the critter all in the plane of focus:
http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/thrushes/mobl00.html
This was made with a 250mm lens, cropped slightly, at f/4. Critical focus on
the eyes is essential, but I also wanted the rest of the bird's head and as
much plumage as possible in focus too. One of the Really Big Things I like
about the SL's viewfinder is that I can quickly and accurately tell what parts
are in focus no matter where the bird is in the viewfinder. By shifting my
position slightly I'm often able to place the plane of focus on as much of the
bird as possible. This is one of the blessings of using a shorter focal
length, and one of several reasons I'd rather not use extreme focal lengths:
with a shorter lens, the change in position required to shift the angle of the
plane of focus is smaller.
Doug Herr
Birdman of Sacramento
http://www.wildlightphoto.com
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