Dazed and confused

[david brown]

Hi guys.

 

I have read many times that in landscape f22 is what you use if you want

foreground and background in focus.

Now being me I tend to get a bit fixated with somethings and focus too much on

them and then become tunnel visioned.

 

Now I took a shot a while ago on the foreshore here in Perth at dawn with a

path leading off into the distance nice dawn colour and not much else, not what

I'd call a great shot but ok.

My problem is though that it was set at f22, on a tripod, and pretty much non

of it is razor sharp!

 

Does the f22 theory break down in some circumstanses?

[tony_leinster]

While it is true that you will get the best depth of field at f22 you may not necessarily get the best optical performance from your lens. Some lenses tend to peak, optically, at about f11 or f16 then tail off again. Also at f22 you may find that your shutter speed is so slow that the slightest movement can blur your shot, even on a tripod mirror shake, touching the shutter release or a breeze can cause this. Did you use mirror lockup or a cable/wireless release? And it is worth finding a test report on your lens to find its characteristics, ie. where it is sharpest etc. Hope this helps, good luck, Tony.

[peter_daalder]

<a href="http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/technical/diffraction.html"> This page </a> might also be of benefit.

[lex_jenkins]

The paradigm for using a small aperture for landscape photography was established decades ago by large format photographers who stopped down to f/45 or f/64. This is not even possible with most smaller format camera lenses and will produce diffraction beyond f/16 with some lenses, defeating the advantages of increased DOF.

 

Smaller format cameras have never been ideally suited to the more traditional approach to landscape photography but can be adapted to this usage. Lots of photographers have done so successfully. But for best results you need to know the technical capabilities of the lens you plan to use. Some are better than others at smaller apertures.

[david brown]

Thanks Tony, no I did not use mirror lock, there was a breeze so maybe it was most of the problem,

 

Thanks for the link Pete, I do use a film camera though but I am sure it will relate to it as well.

 

Hi Lex, I was using a Tokina wide angle zoom so f22 should not create a problem. It is the same lens I used in Canada with no real problem the majority of the time.

Its just frustrating when you try to use the tech details to get clear shots and they look muddy!

[Hector Javkin]

Using a wide angle lens makes the problem of shooting at f/22 worse. If this is on 35mm film, that becomes a tiny aperture (At 22mm, f/22 gives you a 1 mm. aperture.) To get an intuitive understanding of the effect, take a look at the extreme case: pinhole photography, in which everything is in focus, but nothing is sharp.

[david brown]

Hi Hector,

If that is the case how do I get sharp landscape images with my wide angle? What f settings should I be using?

[gordonjb]

I would suggest that you set up with a tripod, use a cable release and mirror lock up. Bracket f. stops on several consecutive shots as a test and see what looks sharpest. Also try this in good light to keep the S/S as high as possible. The best approach IMO is to experiment with the lens and evaluate the results. If you run tests shots from F. 8 to f. 22 and sharpness falls off after, for example, F.11 you have your answer.

[fourthst]

It used to be so easy. Every lens had a depth of field scale. Check this <a

href="http://www.dofmaster.com/doftable.html"> site</a>.

 

 

Focus manually on the closest object you want in focus, note distance. Focus on most

distant object, note distance. Once you have found the near and far distance at any given

aperture set your focus manually in the middle of the two. Such as 5ft near 15ft far, focus

at 10ft. That will give you, more or less, the optimum DOF at a given aperture. You may

find focusing at 1/3 between near and far is optimum. Test.

[matt_needham]

Lot's of things can affect sharpness, but with the popularity of APS-C DSLRs I'd suggest reading up on aperture diffraction. Also study up on calculating DOF. I shoot landscapes with APS-C and 35mm DSLRs, and find that I can get plenty of DOF well before I get to f/22.

 

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/diffraction-photography.htm

[gordonjb]

DOF travels one third forwards and two thirds back from the point of focus so you should focus one third in, rather than the mid point.

[frank uhlig]

Never use a lens opening wider than about 5mm, nor one smaller than about 3mm. These are ball park figures. You do not say which lens focal length you used on that unsharp pic. If with a wide angle lens diffraction at f/22 was surely the cause of your unhappy picture. If you used a long lens, however, the cause of the unsharpness surely was your poor supporting tripod.

 

Now, we cannot guess your lens focal length, can we, and you will have to decide what went wrong.

 

Lenses usually give their best sharpness when stopped down about 1-3 stops from fully open. Another ball park figure of experience. f/22 is never much good for anything, also from experience.

[david brown]

Thanks for your help guys, just for your info it was taken with a Tokina 19 - 35 wide angle lens, what settings and shutter speed I do not remember. My guess is it was diffraction so now i need to go back and do some refresher reading to complement your advise, Thanks again.

[hanna_cowpe]

Could it not be that due to a longish exposure that the movement was in the subject, from the breeze, rather than in the mirror or lens?

[david brown]

Fair point Hanna, but the path wall was out of focus as well!