GSW690II, Hyperfocal distance

[girishmenon]

<p>I want to photograph some landscapes using the GSW690II (it's got a 90mm lens). I have never used this camera before. Would hyperfocal distances on a MF camera such as this one be the same as in the case of a 35mm film camera?<br>

Also, will there be noticeable chromatic aberration at f/16 if I make a 30 inches by something print?<br>

Thanks in advance. </p>

[q.g._de_bakker]

Hyperfocal distance is the theoretical distance to place true focus in an attempt to make DOF stretch all the way back to infinity.<br>how would you know in advance that the most important bit of your scene will be exactly where some formulae would suggest you place focus?<br><br>And what is DOF that would stretch all the way from somewhere near you were things get so blurred to be deemed not in focus at all, all the way back to where things too are just about in focus though it takes as close to nothing as it could ever be to tip them into well and truly unsharp territory?<br>If your print ends up a little smaller, you would have wasted DOF. If a little bigger, DOF will not stretch as far as you thought. Same if you view it from not the intended distance, set by calculations. Or if someone has slightly better eyesight.<br><br>DOF itself depends on magnification. And since MF film capturing the same scene as 35 mm film requires a larger in-camera magnification, what you weill notice is that there is less DOF. Untill you blow up the 35 mm film to the same size. Then you will probably notice more resolution and tonality in the MF film. Which in turn will make differences in apparent and true sharpness more obvious, so though you would have thought DOF would be equalized, MF again has less DOF.<br><br>Etcetera, etcetera. If you'd ask me, we would be better of dealing with things as they are, like the plane of best focus. And not put our trust in things that are as ephemeral and intangible as something that is quite ephemeral and intangible.<br>Focus on what has to be in focus. Use the visual difference between focus and blur to create a visually strong image.<br><br><br>Chromatic aberration is down to the specific lens you would use. Some are worse than others. I don't know this particular one.

[akocurek]

<p>I know I've seen depth-of-field tables on the internet. Just Google that term.<br>

By the way, the Fuji GSW690ll has a 65mm lens; the GW has a 90mm.<br>

You could just try the depth-of-field scale on the lens and adjust from there.</p><div></div>

[john_stockdale2]

<p>Depth of field marks show a range of subject distance that are "acceptably" sharp. Only one distance is in perfect focus. All others are to a greater or lesser degree out of focus. If they're not much out of focus they can be considered "acceptably sharp," but what is acceptable depends a lot on the subject and print size, as described above.</p>

<p>You need to test. But as a rule of thumb that works reasonably well for me, I use the DoF marks for an aperture two stops more open than what I'm using for exposure. It looks as though it is going to give you a pretty miserable DoF, but at least it will be reasonably well focused.</p>

[allan_jamieson2]

<p>This one is pretty simple really, I've still got one of these cameras and have taken many very sharp images with it using hyperfocal focusing. 35mm figures have nothing to do with this, different format and different focal length to get to the same result as a 35mm camera, just pick the camera up and have a look at the markings on the lens barrel, typical apertures used are going to be from f11 stopping down. Just select one stop less than the aperture you've set and focus the lens to that position, i.e. you've set f16, focus it at the engraved markings on the lens barrel for f11 and you will have good focus throughout the image. Going two stops back to f8 would lose you quite a lot of depth of field.</p>

<p>Only thing to bear in mind is that there isn't as much depth of field close in as with a 35mm equivalent lens, such as a 28mm lens on a full frame digital camera. I found with my Fuji that it worked best for images where there wasn't anything critically important to the image too close to the camera, you can always adjust the focus and compensate for that but you will then be losing something towards infinity end of the image. It worked great for pictures taken from mountains for instance but my Pentax 67II smoked it for close focusing ability with its 55mm lens which gave so much more depth of field for what is approximately the same field of view horizontally. One thing which you do get with the 6 x 9cm format is a semi panoramic feel to the images, it just doesn't have the same amount of foreground or sky for instance as the Pentax would with the 55mm lens, which is of course a wider lens but on a slightly smaller format or what you would get with 28mm on full frame either. F16 on this camera is a pretty safe bet, I used f11 and f16 a lot and never noticed any major quality loss in the images, hardly ever used it at f8 or f5.6 to be honest.</p>

<p>Used with care and respect this is a very fine camera, don't be frightened to experiment a bit to get the best results for how you want to use it.</p>

[steve_rasmussen]

<p>Also, will there be noticeable chromatic aberration at f/16 if I make a 30 inches by something print?<br>

<br>

It is highly unlikely that there will be any chromatic aberration (longitudinal) by f/16. The reason is that there is a major difference in the correction of this aberration by lens zone. Marginal zones are generally the worst corrected, while the paraxial zone (central) is the best. When stopped down, the poorly corrected marginal zone is truncated by the diaphragm, leaving the better corrected paraxial zone to form the image. In poorly corrected lenses, lateral chromatic can cause problems, even when stopped down but I'm betting this is not a problem with Fuji. </p>

[jens_g.r._benthien]

<p>The 6x9 Fujis have a tiny drawback: The distance scale on the focus ring is not too exact. </p>

<p>Anyway, for landscape photography you should work with apertures between f=8.0 and f=16 ('best working aperture'). Then focus the most distant object you want to be rendered sharp, then the closest. Then set the focus ring right in the middle of these two values and check, if your aperture will cover the range.</p>

<p>The EBC Fujinon lenses of the GW 690 III and the GSW 690 III are virtually free of CA. However, the GSW 690 III with the 5.6/65mm lens shows some light fall off to the edges. To avoid this to a certain extent, you can stop down to f=11 without degrading the image. Or you can invest into a center filter from Schneider (pretty expensive!).</p>

<p>I've had some images printed on a large format printer at 3x2 meters or ~ 9x6 feet. The prints are stunning.</p>

[girishmenon]

<p>Thanks for all your responses. It's time to make a few photos : )</p>