Storytelling apertures

[koayst]

Hope someone can explain this to me.

Am reading Bryan Peterson's book titled "Understanding Exposure - Revised Edition"

On Page 39, it says:
"... since every storytelling composition relies on the maximum depth of field, you would first choose to set your aperture to f/22 and then align the distance above your distance-setting mark on the lens. Your focal length will determine which distance to choose".

Questions:

1. What distance was he talking above?
2. If my focal length is 18mm (I am using Nikon 18 - 70mm lens), what is the distance?

Thanks.

 

[bahibo]

Well i make a wild guess

Because he said maximum depth of field so i think he refer to infinitive. Which mean you have to choose the distance that at f22 , it is at infinitive. This is hard to see on digital lens i think, cause they dont have the mark on the lens.

For example : Take my zenitar 16mm. At 16mm , f22 , i set distance (focus ) at 0,55mm. F/22 therefore from 0,3 to infinitive will be infocus.

If the lens is nikon 50mm f1.8, f22 then is set distance to more than 3m a bit so from 2m to infinitive will be in focus.

So the distance he talking about is the focus , the distance between the lens and the subject that u want to be in focus. Use the lens in manual focus and pay attention to the marking on the lens when u focus, u will understand .

18-70mm dont have the aperture mark so i don't know the distance , that where the depth of field preview button come handy.

 

[Dream Merchant]

I think he's refering to 'hyperfocal' settings, and old fashion DOF markings on manual lenses.

 

[koayst]

Seeing all your replies and re-reading the book, a paragraph just before the one I posted earlier says:

Page 38:
" .. But with the proliferation of high-quality zoom lenses, most photographers have abandoned single-focal lenses in favor of zoom lenses. The trade-off, of course, is that we are then running around with lenses that don't have depth-of-field scales. But what we do have are distance settings. The distance settings are similar to the depth-of-field scale in that they allow you to preset the depth of field before you take the shot."

Looking at my Nikon 18-70mm lens, at the focusing ring there is distance scale from infinity to 0.38m.

If I wanted to achieve maximum depth of field, am I correct to do the followings (in your opinion)

1. Set camera to Aperture mode
2. Set lens to manual focus mode
3. Set to f/22
4. Set focusing ring to infinity distance
5. Press shutter and shoot.

 

[cosycatus]

Seeing all your replies and re-reading the book, a paragraph just before the one I posted earlier says:

Page 38:
" .. But with the proliferation of high-quality zoom lenses, most photographers have abandoned single-focal lenses in favor of zoom lenses. The trade-off, of course, is that we are then running around with lenses that don't have depth-of-field scales. But what we do have are distance settings. The distance settings are similar to the depth-of-field scale in that they allow you to preset the depth of field before you take the shot."

Looking at my Nikon 18-70mm lens, at the focusing ring there is distance scale from infinity to 0.38m.

If I wanted to achieve maximum depth of field, am I correct to do the followings (in your opinion)

1. Set camera to Aperture mode
2. Set lens to manual focus mode
3. Set to f/22
4. Set focusing ring to infinity distance
5. Press shutter and shoot.

lol.... chuck the book. Go out and shoot more.

 

[bahibo]

Set focus to infinitive not the way to do it. To maximize f/22 , u set the focus at somewhere middle of infinitive and the nearest distance that u want to focus. ANYWAY , it is crap to use this method on dx lens which for digital, this is because they dont have the hyperfocal mark ( dont remember what that call ) on the lens, so u cant really now, and that method should be use with fixed focal lens. Repeat, fix focal lens.

U can use f22 to have large depth of field but use AF instead, dont care about the infinitive thing actually. shoot at 18mm ,f22 u easy to have depth of field till infinitive , but careful , f22 can degrade the photo quality since too little light come in. I dont know how to explain after all....... u try 50mm lens then u know

 

[lsisaxon]

Seeing all your replies and re-reading the book, a paragraph just before the one I posted earlier says:

Page 38:
" .. But with the proliferation of high-quality zoom lenses, most photographers have abandoned single-focal lenses in favor of zoom lenses. The trade-off, of course, is that we are then running around with lenses that don't have depth-of-field scales. But what we do have are distance settings. The distance settings are similar to the depth-of-field scale in that they allow you to preset the depth of field before you take the shot."

Looking at my Nikon 18-70mm lens, at the focusing ring there is distance scale from infinity to 0.38m.

If I wanted to achieve maximum depth of field, am I correct to do the followings (in your opinion)

1. Set camera to Aperture mode
2. Set lens to manual focus mode
3. Set to f/22
4. Set focusing ring to infinity distance
5. Press shutter and shoot.

Here is a good read.
http://www.dofmaster.com/hyperfocal.html

 

[waileong]

Is there a depth of field mode for Nikon DSLR's? If so, learn how to use it. Canon users have such a mode, although it's a bit painful to use. But with no distance markings on lenses these days, there is not much choice.

 

[kelccm]

lol.... chuck the book. Go out and shoot more.

Ha ha, good idea.:bsmilie:

 

[lsisaxon]

Is there a depth of field mode for Nikon DSLR's? If so, learn how to use it. Canon users have such a mode, although it's a bit painful to use. But with no distance markings on lenses these days, there is not much choice.

You mean aperture priority mode? A on Nikon, Av on Canon?

 

[raptor84]

You mean aperture priority mode? A on Nikon, Av on Canon?

NO canon has a A-DOF mode where you fix the 2 points to be in focus and it does the rest. Kinda troublesome and I'd rather just use AV and the DOF preview button ...

 

[alvinchuan]

Hope someone can explain this to me.

Am reading Bryan Peterson's book titled "Understanding Exposure - Revised Edition"

On Page 39, it says:
"... since every storytelling composition relies on the maximum depth of field, you would first choose to set your aperture to f/22 and then align the distance above your distance-setting mark on the lens. Your focal length will determine which distance to choose".

Questions:

1. What distance was he talking above?
2. If my focal length is 18mm (I am using Nikon 18 - 70mm lens), what is the distance?

Thanks.

The depth of field is governed by 3 factors, namely the aperture, shooting distance and the focal length.
Hence with 2 factors the same,
A) the smaller the aperture the deeper the depth of field
B) the shorter the focal length, the deeper the depth of field
C) the longer the focusing distance, the deeper the depth of field

Hence I hope the above will explain the concept of achieving the maximum depth of field. If you to know how to obtain mathematically for any of the give factor then use a dof chart or calculator. You can easily find it on the net.

Cheers
Alvin

 

[lsisaxon]

NO canon has a A-DOF mode where you fix the 2 points to be in focus and it does the rest. Kinda troublesome and I'd rather just use AV and the DOF preview button ...

Oh.. Interesting.. Don't think it's available in Nikon or I'm not even interested in such a function. Like you, 'A' mode works fine for me. ;p