As a landscape shooter I often wonder whether old rules for DOF still apply to current small pixels and sharp lenses. I therefore roughly measured the spatial resolution performance of my Z7 with 24-70mm/4 S in the center to see whether ‘f/8 and be there’ still made sense today. The journey and the diffraction-simple-aberration aware model were described in the last few posts. The results are summarized in the Landscape Aperture-Distance charts presented here for the 24, 28 and 35mm focal lengths.
I also present the data in the form of a simplified plot to aid making the right compromises when the focusing distance is flexible. This information is valid for the Z7 and kit in the center only. It probably just as easily applies to cameras with similarly spec’d pixels and lenses. Continue reading Diffracted DOF Aperture Guides: 24-35mm→
After an exhausting two and a half hour hike you are finally resting, sitting on a rock at the foot of your destination, a tiny alpine lake, breathing in the thin air and absorbing the majestic scenery. A cool light breeze suddenly rips the surface of the water, morphing what has until now been a perfect reflection into an impressionistic interpretation of the impervious mountains in the distance.
The beautiful flowers in the foreground are so close you can touch them, the reflection in the water 10-20m away, the imposing mountains in the background a few hundred meters further out. You realize you are hungry. As you search the backpack for the two panini you prepared this morning you begin to ponder how best to capture the scene: subject, composition, Exposure, Depth of Field.
Figure 1. A typical landscape situation: a foreground a few meters away, a mid-ground a few tens and a background a few hundred meters further out. Three orders of magnitude. The focus point was on the running dog, f/16, 1/100s. Was this a good choice?
Depth of Field. Where to focus and at what f/stop? You tip your hat and just as you look up at the bluest of blue skies the number 16 starts enveloping your mind, like rays from the warm noon sun. You dial it in and as you squeeze the trigger that familiar nagging question bubbles up, as it always does in such conditions. If this were a one shot deal, was that really the best choice?
In this article we attempt to provide information to make explicit some of the trade-offs necessary in the choice of Aperture for 24mm landscapes. The result of the process is a set of guidelines. The answers are based on the previously introduced diffraction-aware model for sharpness in the center along the depth of the field – and a tripod-mounted Nikon Z7 + Nikkor 24-70mm/4 S kit lens at 24mm. Continue reading DOF and Diffraction: 24mm Guidelines→
