George, While it seems counterintuitive, f:11 is a smaller f-stop than f:1.0.
f:11 will give you more depth of field than f:1.0 That is because f-stops are actually FRACTIONS. f:11 is shorthand for 1/11th. 1/11th means the diameter of the aperture is 1/11th of the focal length of the lens. The diameter of the aperture of a 100mm lens set at f:11 for example, would be about 9 mm. You will probably be shooting at a slow shutter speed, so a tripod or some sort of solid, stabilizing device is absolutely necessary. But for maximum DOF effect, use the smallest f:stop, f:16 or f:22 is even better. Bear in mind that DOF is not equally divided from front to back. If you focus on the center of your scene, about 1/3 of the DOF will be ahead of the point of focus, and about 2/3 of the DOF will be behind the point of focus. And to confuse things even further, the focal length of the lens does affect depth of field. If you have a 24mm~105mm zoom lens, you will see a greater depth of field effect with the lens set to the 24mm length than at the 105mm length, GIVEN the same aperture. But, the REALLY great and easy way to gain a monumental depth of field effect is to use one of the several photo manipulation programs that help you achieve that with ease. TuFuse, Helicon Focus, Combine ZM are the easiest to use. Advanced editions of Photoshop will give the same results but it is more of a hassle IMHO. You start out with ³stacks² of photos: Focus on the closest part of your subject (camera has to be on a tripod) and make a shot. Then make a series of photos at the same exposure, same focal length, but focusing on a spot further and further away from the closest point to the camera each time. A camera that has manual focus is necessary. Make a file folder, load the images into the program and at the outcome everything from here to there will be in focus. I have made as few as two exposures at near and far points in the scene, and as many as 16 exposures all along the scene. These are separate, individual images, not multiple exposures on one frame. Think of a deck of cards with each card representing an image. It is not as complicated as I make it here. If I can do it, anyone can :) There are lots of good tutorials online that will tell you more than you will ever want to know about DOF. Good luck :) Roy Inman www.unionstationphotos.com From: gsc3 <[email protected]> Reply-To: S-Scale <[email protected]> Date: Wed, 02 Jan 2013 01:58:37 +0000 To: S-Scale <[email protected]> Subject: {S-Scale List} Camera Knowledge Cameras have never been my thing. I've done some looking but 2 basic questions. For non-professional close ups on the layout with greater depth of field, is the better f-stop low like 1 or high like 11? Am I asking the right question? Also, what is the depth of field affect of optical zoom? Appreciate the advice. George Courtney
