Online Depth Of Field Calcultor

[Chris Dodkin]

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

Very handy - you select your camera, lens, and f stop - then focal distance

It gives you the DOF and the amount of that in front and behind the focal point.

No more guessing!

 

[Pete Askew]

Nice. Thanks Chris. Duly bookmarked!

 

[Darren Bradnock]

I bought pCam for my iphone, lots of things i may never use.

http://www.davideubank.com/Good_Focus/pCAM_Film+Digital_Calculator.html

 

[Hamish Gill]

Yes, I have a app called "simple DoF" that I find pretty useful once in a while ...
In fact, I am going back to shoot this furniture again today so will b using it as reference for blurring that skirting board

 

[Paul Lange]

I have some charts in my camera bag and an app of my daughters ipod called field tools thats pretty good. You can save cameras and lenses and just call them up when you need them. The only thing I run into problems is when you want to blur stuff out. Acceptable sharpness, the points at the near and far focus are not abrupt transitions and you usually have to go far father out to get the background and the foreground blurred enough.

Is there a simple rule of thumb for quickly working out where the points of wanted blurredness are?

 

[Pete Askew]

As you know, that's generally much harder to judge because it tends to be very subjective: a high contrast out of focus element is much more conspicuous than a low contast one. Do you have a DoV preview button on your camera Paul? That's probably the most reliable way or by shooting with just enough DoV to render what you want in focus. I've never seen an out of focus scale though.

 

[Paul Lange]

I'm generally very happy with my D3000 apart from the fact it doesn't has a DOF preview and the rear screen is not ideal to review shots either. I've been looking for a reason to get a new camera maybe that's it!

 

[Pete Askew]

How about at D700? Knowing Paul, this will be just like new!!

http://www.commercialcameras.co.uk/used.html

 

[Paul Lange]

It's an idea but the outlay to get the best from it would be very high as all my lenses are DX. A lot of what I read regarding the reason for going full frame seems to be snobbery most of the time. Am I right in thinking the actual benefits are it is easier to get narrower DOF and better noise performance due to lower pixel density?

 

[Pete Askew]

For me yes. Going full frame was the reason I started to actually take pictures using DSLS's. Having said that, and if you have a legacy collection of DX lenses (the full frame sensor will just crop to suit) then maybe a D2X(s) would be a good choice. It handles very well and is probably pretty affordable these days. It was the first DSLR I bought that I actually enjoyed using and I bought it just before the D3 was announced. Bad timing of me as the full frame turned out to be just what I'd been looking for and the D3 / D700 is a superb camera. Similarly, the M9 is, for me, far better than the M8 (although I know that many really like the VF in the 8.2). MF backs were always excellent as far as I was concerned but it wasn't until I went FF on smaller formats that I felt that I was getting the images I wanted. Noise on the FF Nikon's is superbly controlled (and very film like when present) and the depth of field is much more satisfactory when shooting with 'fast' lenses. If you get the chance, I'd recommend trying a FF body.

 

[Hamish Gill]

D2x... That's crazy talk Pete ... No offence like
Why buy a massive heavy pro camera when a newer "enthusiast" model at probably half the weight would do a better job?
If your seriously considering upgrading Paul and you don't want to go FX the d7000 is the best option
Full comparability with older Nikon lenses in ai/ais (like the pro models) image quality, especially in lower light would win out over a d2x - I'm very certain, although haven't compared - but as the d2x was announced in 2004 (off the top of my head) I doubt it could hold it's own these days ... The d7000 is a very good camera b all accounts!
As for full frame... Very worth while step, but not one to be taken lightly! My view is currently - I you thinking about it, just wait a little while! A fairly immanent new range of FX bodies from Nikon will effect the s/h an new price of the old ones ... I can't see it being all that long before the d700 goes sub £1k on the s/h market ...