Really dumb ?

Howdy, I have just entered the digital camera world with an Olympus 5060. I do mostly

portraiture with my medium format gear and will be doing the same with the Olympus. I

know with a long telephoto on my Hassy, I get my preferred shallow depth of field, if I

purchase the 1.7 telephoto lens, will I get the same effect? The lens as is gives almost

adequate minimal DOF so I am assuming this is the case. I really don't have to re-learn

DOF do I? Enlighten me please. Bob

Going wide open at the telephoto settings will reduce DoF with the Oly 5060, and adding

the telephoto extender will provide even shallower DoF. However, you will likely find that

the distance to obtain the appropriate head/shoulders/torso portait framing at that focal

length will be different between the Hassy and the Oly: your portraits will have a different

look anyway due to perspective differences.

No matter how you cut it, the Olympus 5060 is a small sensor camera with a 7.2x5.3mm

sensor format where the Hasselblad is a 6x6 cm format camera. The relationship of DoF

and Field of View is going to be different no matter what you do, and this will affect

perspectives and aesthetics in your photographs.

I'd suggest experimenting with portraits that don't rely upon shallow DoF for subject

isolation, get a feel for some other visual tools that will net you fine portraits while

exploiting the deep DoF characteristics of the small sensor format. You might find this fun

and energizing to your photography.

Godfrey

Thanks, I am assuming this is a DOF issue similar to 35mm vs 6X6, I went to MF for better

B&W skin tones and small DOF. I haven't used 35mm for over 10 years, guess I have to use

MF for the minimum DOF and digital for other shots. But then am learning photoshop so

maybe there is something there too.

<i> ..."I am assuming this is a DOF issue similar to 35mm vs 6X6"...</i>

<br><br>

It is similar but even more extreme: the 5060 sensor format's 'normal' focal length is

about 8mm, equivalent to an 80mm on the Hassy. One of the biggest influences on Depth

of Field is the physical size of the aperture. The maximum physical aperture at f/2.8 with

an 8mm lens is 2.9mm, where with an 80mm lens it's 29mm ... you can immediately see

that with a physical aperture size difference of 10x, you will get hugely different DoF to

FoV relationships. The Hassy with that 80mm normal lens would get the same DoF as the

5060 at around f/27 or so.

<br><br>

If you want to explore the differences in DoF with various focal lengths, I find the

DOFMaster web calculator very handy: see <a href="http://www.dofmaster.com/

dofjs.html" target=new><b>http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html</b></a>. They

provide settings for 35mm, 6x6cm and a host of digital camera sensor formats including

the C5060.

<br><br>

Godfrey

There are also some Photoshop tricks you can pull to fake the blurred background look. Take these images, for instance:

http://homepage.mac.com/jerin357asp/PhotoAlbum30.html

This guy walks around Times Square with a Leica and a 21mm or some such superwide. In other words, DOF in spades. He uses gausian blur and some other tricks to blur out stuff and force the center of attention. Not the same photographic discipline, but it shows what's possible.

<a href="http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/dof/index.html">article on digital sensor size and depth of focus</a>....

This piece,among some here in PN, helped me to begin to get what I was seeing on the monitor. And this guy uses a C 5060,coincidentally.