Crustal Clear Images - Focusing on families

[Bitter Jeweler]

See, heres the problem. People may want to ask questions that will indeed come off as rude. Like me.

See, I have to ask what your college photography course'S covered. Your question is a very basic one that should have been covered. If they didn't cover Focus and Depth of Field, you should get your money back.

I'll apologize if you find my question rude. DoF is a fundemental that applies to any and all phototography, regardless of camera, film or digital.

 

[o hey tyler]

See, heres the problem. People may want to ask questions that will indeed come off as rude. Like me.

See, I have to ask what your college photography course'S covered. Your question is a very basic one that should have been covered. If they didn't cover Focus and Depth of Field, you should get your money back.

I'll apologize if you find my question rude. DoF is a fundemental that applies to any and all phototography, regardless of camera, film or digital.

Talk of the realest kind.

 

[Derrel]

I went to Calypso b's blog and looked at several sets of her images...she's a prime candidate for a Canon 5D or other full-frame camera...her work is people photography, and the FF format is ideal for that type of work--it gives background control, normal focal length selection and normal focal length deployment in "traditional" places, at "traditional" distances, meaning she doesn't have to stand 35 to 40 frickin' feet away from a standing person in order to get them into a full-length standing pose with an 85mm lens...her 5D can do that from 20 feet...she's asked a question about how to get the absolute best focus in group photography...sounds like she wants to improve her craft...and this is the Beginner's Forum...she's received some pretty good advice so far...

 

[SrBiscuit]

Yes, this is a $3000 camera. May I ask what point you are trying to get at?

i cant speak for flyin-lowe, but i think what he was getting at was that you have a pro camera but may be lacking some of the basic fundamentals of photography. but again...i can't be sure.

I had a feeling that was what he was alluding to. So because I have a question about focusing on different planes, I am not "qualified" to own a pro camera? Ridiculous to say the least. I owned a rebel xti for 4 years, before that I owned a 35mm Minolta film camera and that is what I learned on in my university photography courses. When I was ready for another camera, I wanted a full frame camera and so I choose the mark ii. Yes I am still learning. I probably always will be. You probably always will be as well. I hardly doubt there is anyone on this planet who knows everything there is to know about photography. The camera that I own is irrelevant. Photography is my passion and I spend some time every day learning about the craft. I don't consider my purchase a waste of money in any sense. I also don't believe that my question demonstrates a lack of knowledge in some of the basics in photography when there are experts on here arguing the answer. Your post was not productive or helpful, just a way to make someone feel bad. There are many people on here who spend there time doing that. My suggestion for you, if you are going to take the time reply to someone's thread, you may as well use your time to be helpful and not catty.

surely your response was not directed at me...right? i was merely translating what i thought a post meant for you.
im well aware that the camera used doesnt define what skillset one holds...that's true on both sides.
i'd love a d3...whether my skillset required it or not. (and for the record, my skillset certainly does not require a d3 )

 

[Calypso b]

See, heres the problem. People may want to ask questions that will indeed come off as rude. Like me.

See, I have to ask what your college photography course'S covered. Your question is a very basic one that should have been covered. If they didn't cover Focus and Depth of Field, you should get your money back.

I'll apologize if you find my question rude. DoF is a fundemental that applies to any and all phototography, regardless of camera, film or digital.

I do understand the basics of depth of field but it is a very complex aspect when you get into the specifics of it. I am working on learning it well, hence my question.

 

[o hey tyler]

i'd love a d3...whether my skillset required it or not. (and for the record, my skillset certainly does not require a d3 )

OH DON'T BE SO MODEST!

 

[SrBiscuit]

oh tyler, im blushing

 

[vtf]

See, heres the problem. People may want to ask questions that will indeed come off as rude. Like me.

See, I have to ask what your college photography course'S covered. Your question is a very basic one that should have been covered. If they didn't cover Focus and Depth of Field, you should get your money back.

I'll apologize if you find my question rude. DoF is a fundemental that applies to any and all phototography, regardless of camera, film or digital.

I do understand the basics of depth of field but it is a very complex aspect when you get into the specifics of it. I am working on learning it well, hence my question.

It's geometry when you really get down to it.

 

[Helen B]

Most modern lenses are designed to be flat field lenses - ie the subject plane in focus is meant to be parallel to the image plane, it is not meant to be spherical with the lens as the centre of the sphere. In practice many lenses are not true flat field, but they may be very close to it - they certainly aren't likely to have a spherical field (they would look very bad in lens tests, which almost always assume flat field). The plane in focus can wander both sides of the ideal plane - it depends on the particular lens design. It's worth finding out about the lens you are using if it is important to you.

Best,
Helen

 

[Derrel]

Here's a short "stub" of an article dealing with flatness of field and focus performance. diglloyd - Understanding optics - Understanding Field Curvature

 

[Helen B]

From that short article:
"Yes, most lenses are sharpest in the center, but they can be sharp at the edges too, and blurry in the middle (at the same distance).

Wavy field curvature is the issue here..."

(Which is another way of saying "The plane in focus can wander both sides of the ideal plane - it depends on the particular lens design.")


So Derrel, now that you have read what someone else says are you happy that the plane in focus is not spherical (ie equidistant from the lens)?

Regards,
Helen