What's new
DPR Forum

Welcome to the Friendly Aisles!
DPRF is a spin-off of dpreview. We are a photography forum with people from all over the world freely sharing their knowledge and love of photography. Everybody is welcome, from beginners to the experienced professional. From smartphone to Medium Format.

DPRF is a community for everybody, every brand and every sensor format. Digital and film.
Enjoy this modern, easy to use software. Look also at our Reviews & Gallery!

Contax ND

Well it's not off topic if you consider that making a few bucks helps pay for this very expensive Contax gear.

Yes, I sell creative control as part of the package, of which I have one choice. It's all or nothing. My career as a graphic designer/art director/creative director has helped a lot. When doing weddings I sell a photojournalism notion of a flow of images that tell a story book record of their wedding.
I keep each album to 40 8X10s, and during the day pay attention to who is who, and stay sensitive to the personal dynamics. And when in doubt, I shoot the Bride. There are never to many photo's of the Bride.

So far it's worked. In the past 3 years of shooting and assembling using this method, I have not had a single request to change an album (knock on wood). If I had to do it the traditional way I would stop shooting weddings. it's to much work and aggravation for the money. I make more in one day shooting commercial jobs, and at the end of the day I just hand the Art Director the files.
 
>I just set the zoom to 24mm and f8 with a focus distance of 5-6 ft. >That way everything is in focus.

My own feeling is that when you rely on a wide-angle lens to get everything "in focus" you are not getting the detail you think you are when you have to enlarge the image to what you would get with any other lens and an image enlarged to the same size.

Not to be disagreeable but I think this "depth of field" issue for wide angles lenses is another urban myth.

Comments?
 
Don,

It's a physical law of the universe and how light works through glass curvatures - wide angle lenses have far more depth of field than telephoto lenses. You just need to be aware how far it goes for the particular lens and aperture. Nothing urban mythic about it.

DJ
 
Thanks Marc. Congrats on having the balls to carve out your own approach to weddings. You've inspired me to find the way I want to work, rather than accept the way other people want me to

Cheers
 
Hey Don. I'm not talking about shooting the whole wedding in wide angle, I was using the dancing scenes at weddings as an ex&le of the N1 having difficulty focusing quickly enough, and a way around that problem is to set the lens up so pretty much everything is in focus. Even with fixed lens' this is a good technique. As for sharpness, it's either sharp or it's not, and in twenty years of shooting weddings I've never had anyone request anything larger than an 8x10 dance shot!
 
> It's a physical law of the universe and how light works through glass > curvatures - wide angle lenses have far more depth of field than > telephoto lenses. You just need to be aware how far it goes for the > particular lens and aperture. Nothing urban mythic about it.

Er, ah...well...not really. It depends... If you take two lenses, say a 35 and an 85. You put the 35 on the camera, and frame the picture and shoot...then put on the 85 and move way back to frame the picture the same as the 35 gave you, the DOF would be the same... That is keeping the "magnification" the same. Now, if you keep the DISTANCE the same, you get an entirely different framing, and yes, the DOF of the WA lense is higher...but that's comparing apples and oranges, really, as you're comparing two entirely different pictures.

Easy enough to test for your self. Pick your favorite DOF calculator (hopefully one that is accurate). 50mm lense at 5 meters is a 100mm lense at 10 meters. (CoC was chosen to be 0.025m for 35mm)

DoF for 50 at 2.8 5 meters is 1.4M total DoF for 100 at 2.8 10 meters is 1.4M total

So, mathematically, there is no DOF advantage to WA lenses if you keep the magnification the same.

Austin
 
Austin,

What you say is absolutely true - the laws of physics. I was speaking from a perceptual perspective, the law works in your favor because of the magnifications involved - wide angle application (i.e. lower magnification) vs. telephoto (higher magnification). What you cite is the very reason why a givel focal length is WA in one format, say 6x8, and telephoto in another, say 35mm. It's all angle vs. coverage.

No arguments from me on that front.

DJ
 
Albert, what mode are you shooting in? With
TTL in large rooms you should set the camera to M, the lens to max. aperture and the shutterspeed to the lowest setting you feel comfortable hand holding. That way you capture the maximum ambient light , and the TTL will balance out the foreground subjects ( ocassionally needing flash compensation for subjects like a Bride's dress).

Basically, the background is usually to far away to be lit by the flash. So, you have to set the camera's exposure to capture the ambient light. In fact, the 24-85 is often just to slow even at f/3.5 to capture the ambient background light at a reception or banquet.

This is exactly why there is a need for some fast primes. A 35/1.4 is perfect for such challenges. If you have a 50/1.4 try that next time.
 
For those interested in what Contax ND can do if you do it right, I just uploaded a s&le image in the Test Gallery.
 
>Posted by Irakly Shanidze on Wednesday, April 09, 2003 - 4:05 am: > >For those interested in what Contax ND can do if you do it right, I >just uploaded a s&le image in the Test Gallery.

Sorry to admit it but I don't know how to get to the Test Gallery.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top