Hey guys I just had a quick question about depth of field. So one was is it the camera or the lens that determinants how much of the shot is in focus. So pretty much I'm asking could I have one lens that has a very small depth of field, and another lens that makes almost everything in focus? Or would I have to have a different camera that has a very large depth of field. I don't know if I used my terms right but hopefully you know what I mean.
Depth of field questions
- Thread starter Fwilly
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It's basically a combination of the sensor size, lens length, aperture, and plane of focus. This site lets you put in different variables and see how deep your DOF will be:
http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html
So it's not a question of having a lens for deep DOF and one for shallow, it's a combination of things. Given a particular camera and lens combination it becomes primarily about the aperture setting and focus distance.
The smaller the aperture (larger f-stop) the deeper your DOF, and vice versa, at any given focus distance.
With a specific aperture the closer your focus distance, the shallower your DOF, and vice versa.
If all other factors are the same, a wider angle lens will have deeper perceived DOF than a telephoto. This is where sensor size comes into play - the smaller the sensor the wider the lens needs to be to get a particular field of view. Camcorders typically have very small sensors, and so they use lenses that start around the 5-7mm range, which would be an extreme wide angle on a DSLR which has a much larger sensor.
http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html
So it's not a question of having a lens for deep DOF and one for shallow, it's a combination of things. Given a particular camera and lens combination it becomes primarily about the aperture setting and focus distance.
The smaller the aperture (larger f-stop) the deeper your DOF, and vice versa, at any given focus distance.
With a specific aperture the closer your focus distance, the shallower your DOF, and vice versa.
If all other factors are the same, a wider angle lens will have deeper perceived DOF than a telephoto. This is where sensor size comes into play - the smaller the sensor the wider the lens needs to be to get a particular field of view. Camcorders typically have very small sensors, and so they use lenses that start around the 5-7mm range, which would be an extreme wide angle on a DSLR which has a much larger sensor.
The image in this link under the circle of confusion title is the best explanation ive found on the subject
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/depth-of-field.htm
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/depth-of-field.htm
Also, do not forget about camera to subject distance, subject to background distance.
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