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Accuracy of LF 4x5 Film Holders?


mark_tucker2

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Bill, I have at least three texts that diagram the "one third in front, two thirds behind" Depth of Field concept. The most common of these volumes is "The Amateur Photographer's Handbook" 8th edition, by Aaaron Sussman. Pages 86 & 87 are where you'll find it. More importantly, I've observed this first hand in doing many hundreds of ground glass alignment tests. Such a test procedure is described in my 1997 (Nov/Dec issue) View Camera magazine article along with instructions for building a home made version.
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You wrote:

 

****It really *did* seem like it happened overnight. (I went to two large camera stores yesterday to buy a spanner wrench, and both of them looked at me like I had three eyes, when I asked for that tool). At that point, it *did* hit me; "Holy shit, everything *IS* different; nobody even knows what a spanner wrench is, let alone do they stock it any more." I sort of slinked out of the store, feeling old and hunchbacked, while all the Christmas shoppers stood three deep in line for the latest greatest digital snapper, wiping the drool from their mouths.****

 

Well brace yourself. You will probably be 'discovered' any day now. The glitterati will think you are a genius. When the public sees some of your stuff it will look like the freshest thing ever after being soaked in over saturated color and buried under instant photographia everything. It's innovators like yourself that will never let film die.

 

Hey, as per my post above, how and with what did you shoot 'dog' in lynchberg?

 

Regards,

Scott

River Run Ranch

Texas

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I investigated Robs comments about DOF being 1/3, 2/3 in front of and behind the psf. After further review of the standard DOF formula, I made an interesting disovery that I never realized before.

 

Both myself and Rob were right about this! It's amazing how tricky and deceving these formulas can be unless you run them.... the bottom line is, at closer distances, the split is almost exactly 50/50, (DOF in front of psf / DOF behind psf) yet at further focus distances the split move is dramatically altered, such as 10/90 ! Here is two examples.....

 

Depth of field (non macro)

 

150 focal length mm, f11, 0.0333 cc mm, 10 ft - focus distance

 

114.3 " DOF Near, 126.3 " DOF far

 

11.9 inches total DOF

 

48% In front of focus distance (psf)

 

52% Behind focus distance (psf)

 

So focussing at 10 ft (definetly not macro) the DOF split is almost

exactly 50/50

 

 

Now lets focus at 150 ft.

 

150mm fl, f11, 0.0333 mm cc, 150 ft focus distance

 

86.0 ft DOF N, 586.7 DOF F

 

500.7 DOF ft total

 

13% In front of focus distance (psf)

 

87% Behind focus distance (psf)

 

Focussing at 150 ft, the DOF split is close to 10/90! (even way more than 1/3, 2/3) So bottom line, based on the variables in the DOF formula, I have found the DOF in front of the "point of exact focus" can vary from .1% to 50%, while the DOF behind the "point of exact focus" can vary from 50% to 99.9%!

 

So there is no fixed % of DOF in front of or behind the point of exact focus (psf).

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