Is this possible with a P&S?

[blackrose89]

I know when people go to the zoo they can blur out of the fences and focus on the animal. Can this be done with a P&S, or is it something done on manual. I have a Nikon coolpix L120.

 

[tirediron]

Shouldn't be a problem. That is normally a by-product of the fact that the fence is much closer than the subject. Just keep aiming 'til you get the subject in focus. Remember though that many P&S cameras have very small sensors, which imparts a greater DoF. That means that you may not be able to blur the fence as much as you would like.

 

[Joel_W]

I looked at the P120 before I opted for the P500. From what I remember, the P120 doesn't offer manual focusing, nor aperture preferred option to control DOF. So it's going to be hard to fool the auto focus. One thought as a walk around is to put the cameras lens right up against the chain link fence. The actual size of the front glass should be smaller then the the openings in the chain link fence. The other option would be to guesstimate the distance to your subject, then have someone stand that far from you and pre-focus, hold the shutter half way down, compose your picture, and then take the picture.

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

I looked at the P120 before I opted for the P500. From what I remember, the P120 doesn't offer manual focusing, nor aperture preferred option to control DOF. So it's going to be hard to fool the auto focus. One thought as a walk around is to put the cameras lens right up against the chain link fence. The actual size of the front glass should be smaller then the the openings in the chain link fence. The other option would be to guesstimate the distance to your subject, then have someone stand that far from you and pre-focus, hold the shutter half way down, compose your picture, and then take the picture.

Still though, a novel idea, but being the sensor is so small this doesn't really help as much as you'd think. In theory this is nice, but in practice not so much.

As long as you are close enough to the fence you should be able to achieve the result you are looking for OP.

 

[DiskoJoe]

Well it is possible but not as easy to control as you would probably like. Its much easier to do this with a slr and a fixed aperture lens.

 

[SCraig]

The easiest way with a P&S is to just poke the lens through the mesh of the fence.

Edit ... As Joel_W first pointed out.

 

[Big Mike]

I has nothing to do (necessarily) with manual (either focus or exposure) and everything to do with Depth of field. If you can use a DOF that is shallow enough and far away enough from the fence, then the fence can be blurred into oblivion.

And yes, the trouble with that, is that the smaller sensor/shorter focal length of those cameras, makes it harder to get a shallow DOF, but it can be done if the circumstances work out.

 

[Joel_W]

I believe that the L120 has a zoom lens. It just doesn't allow you to control anything else.

 

[blackrose89]

Yes it does have a zoom, the zoom on it is very good for a P&S.

 

[Overread]

Even DSLRs can have problems with bars at the zoo. The first and universal approach to removing them is to have the lens as close to the wire as is possible, once done aiming between the links and using a wider aperture so that the depth of field does not catch the wire and it blurrs out of vision of the camera.

Sometimes it works and sometimes it fails; when it fails if its only a small failing the only degradation will be a line(s) crossing the photo which is lacking in contrast and you can often boost up the contrast in those areas locally in editing (combined with some saturation adjustments) and restore the area to hide the effect.

Also note that its very hard to impossible with some animals - big cats for example nearly always have a 2 barrier setup with one being the wire on the cage and the second being a barrier fence to prevent people walking right up to the wire (most likely cause kitty claws can fit through wire). This makes it very hard to defocus the wire in those situations. Always look around - is there a skywalk or a raised area where you can shoot over into the pen - or maybe there is a glass screen (same rules apply get the the lens up close to reduce reflection problems)

 

[MTVision]

Even DSLRs can have problems with bars at the zoo. The first and universal approach to removing them is to have the lens as close to the wire as is possible, once done aiming between the links and using a wider aperture so that the depth of field does not catch the wire and it blurrs out of vision of the camera.

Sometimes it works and sometimes it fails; when it fails if its only a small failing the only degradation will be a line(s) crossing the photo which is lacking in contrast and you can often boost up the contrast in those areas locally in editing (combined with some saturation adjustments) and restore the area to hide the effect.

Also note that its very hard to impossible with some animals - big cats for example nearly always have a 2 barrier setup with one being the wire on the cage and the second being a barrier fence to prevent people walking right up to the wire (most likely cause kitty claws can fit through wire). This makes it very hard to defocus the wire in those situations. Always look around - is there a skywalk or a raised area where you can shoot over into the pen - or maybe there is a glass screen (same rules apply get the the lens up close to reduce reflection problems)

Hard but not impossible

 

[blackrose89]

Even DSLRs can have problems with bars at the zoo. The first and universal approach to removing them is to have the lens as close to the wire as is possible, once done aiming between the links and using a wider aperture so that the depth of field does not catch the wire and it blurrs out of vision of the camera.Sometimes it works and sometimes it fails; when it fails if its only a small failing the only degradation will be a line(s) crossing the photo which is lacking in contrast and you can often boost up the contrast in those areas locally in editing (combined with some saturation adjustments) and restore the area to hide the effect.Also note that its very hard to impossible with some animals - big cats for example nearly always have a 2 barrier setup with one being the wire on the cage and the second being a barrier fence to prevent people walking right up to the wire (most likely cause kitty claws can fit through wire). This makes it very hard to defocus the wire in those situations. Always look around - is there a skywalk or a raised area where you can shoot over into the pen - or maybe there is a glass screen (same rules apply get the the lens up close to reduce reflection problems)

Hard but not impossible

A P&S?

 

[Geaux]

I used to used the macro function on my P&S to get DOF. I guess its sort of 'cheating'