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"the larger the aperture the smaller the depth of field", right?
why is it that when i set my aperture to it's absolute highest 2.8 i still can't get a nice close blurry background. if my friend who has a digital slr sets his to 3.2 he gets a better result. does it have something to do with the lenses? i've noticed that point and shoot cameras tend to have everything in focus all the time. is there a connection?
i'm not sure i'll go check my finepix. i guess that's why those flatnosed little point and shoots don't create any depth of field at all.
i have no idea. i'll have to check my manual or the website. maybe there is a lense attachment i can get for it then.
factors that affect dof are the aperture, focal length and distance to subject.
Large apertures reduce dof
Higher focal length reduces dof
The closer you are to the subject reduces dof
However, compact digital cameras usually have a much smaller sensor than 35 mm cameras so when the camera tells you it is shooting at 50 mm focal length .. it is only an equivalent angle of view not an actual focal length..
the actual focal length zoom is probably around 8 mm to around 24 mm but the small sensor gives an angle of view equivalent to around 35 - 100 mm.
Unfortunately your depth even at f/2.8 is probably equivalent to the dof you would get on a 35 mm camera at 4 stops smaller..
i.e f/2.8 on the fuji finepix is probably equivalent to f/8 or even f/11 on a 35 mm camera due to the small sensor size and associated actual focal length of about 8mm. Even fully zoomed in it still only gives an actual focal length of about 24 mm
this is taking me a little while to absorb. not sure about "angle of view", "focal length"? i better get studying!!
4 stops??? that would make the difference then.
i was going to see if there is a lense attachment i can get for my finepix, but i'm not sure i want to spend more money on it. i'd like to upgrade to an slr sooner rather than later.
wow, that's very helpful, gentlemen...
hm, i'm giving myself away, i know nothing about photography. i'm going to read up on focal length and sensor size now.
Just set your zoom to maximum telephoto and you should see some improvement in you blurred backgrounds. Don't worry too much about focal length and sensor size!!
The ideal camera for portraits is thought by some to be a Medium Format one. It is very easy to get shallow DOF on those compared with 35mm let alone digicams with small sensors.
Hi again
regardless of your understanding of sensor sizes and f stops etc. The point is that compact digital cameras have extremely large depth of field because of the physical relationship between the components used to build them. (i.e. small snsor size and wide lenses)
What this means is that you will never achieve a depth of field as small as that of 35 mm film cameras or in fact a digital SLR since their film or sensor size is much larger than that of a compact digital..
It's a disadvantage when you are trying to intentionally achieve narrow depth of field however, it is a posiitve boon when taking landscapes or doing macro work..
Incidentally, most digita SLR's (except those with sensors the same size as 35 mm film) have at least 1.5 time the depth of field of traditional 35 mm SLR's... (a good comparison since everything else is equal except sensor size) and this is entirely due to the fact that the sensor is 1.5 times smaller..
In short, the camera is unable to give you the narrow depth of field you want. Carabosse's advice is about the best you can do here by using maximum zoom but also set it to maximum aperture of f/2.8 but even then it may not be enough for your purpose..
Regards
The link is very interesting. I remember similar discussions taking place (when I was 15) regarding medium format cameras (eg the Rolliemat) and the greater depth of 35mm cameras.
I believe similar discussion took place when the Rollies first came out. This time in comparison with the larger formats.
What will the next round of discussions be?
Just Jas
One more thing. Aperture is a physical feature of a lens 'opening' or 'aperture'. This does not exist in a digital camera (non SLR). It is merely an electronic facsimile of the SLR lens 'leafs' resulting in a proportional alteration in light equivalent to the f-stop scale of film cameras. F2.8 for example in a 35mm film camera lens is a measure of the area/size of the 'aperture'. This physical optical dimension has a significant effect on DOF. f2.8 on a digital camera is merely a measurement of sensitivity of the sensor and is independent of DOF.
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