Photo Dummy: How do I use aperture settings?

[kryten22uk]

I've got a Finepix F650. Its a standard digital camera, and I'm not a photographer. I was thumbing through the brochure and it shows it has a manual Aperture setting, where I can change the aperture from F2.8 to F8. It has a picture of a line of pencils and shows how the photo can make the middle pencil infocus but those on closer and farther, out of focus.

I cant for the life of me get this to work. I wanted to try to do some shots of water beads on my car. Or basically just try to get any photo where the background is out of focus. Am I just asking too much out of a standard compact camera?

[Gemm]

Compact cameras usually have too much DoF (depth of filed), so you might not see much difference. You'll see the most difference when you are using the long end of zoom and when you are closest to the subject. (and obviously when you are using f2.8)

Edited by Gemm on Sunday 9th September 21:27

[V8LM]

There's is not much difference between f2.8 and f8 in terms of depth-of-field. Have a play with http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html to see (roughly) what the DoF is for different cameras/lenses/apertures.

[flat-planedCrank]

I'm not a Finepix F650 user, but from a quick search:

-Set the top Dial to A, that forces it into 'aperture priority'.
-On the rear direction control, press down.
-Pressing left / right on the direction control should set the aperture now. From f2.8 to f7.6

remember, the lower the aperture the narrower the area thats in-focus.

So for your example of taking photos of water on your car, set a low aperture.

[kryten22uk]

flat-planedCrank said:

I'm not a Finepix F650 user, but from a quick search:

-Set the top Dial to A, that forces it into 'aperture priority'.
-On the rear direction control, press down.
-Pressing left / right on the direction control should set the aperture now. From f2.8 to f7.6

remember, the lower the aperture the narrower the area thats in-focus.

So for your example of taking photos of water on your car, set a low aperture.

Yeah, i've been doing all that, and everything is always in focus.

I dont really understand any of the DOF stuff on that weblink. When I put in my settings and tell it F2.8 with a subject 10cm away, it says that the depth of field is only 0.02cm which should mean that just about everything is out of focus. What tosh. itd the opposite.

[flat-planedCrank]

kryten22uk said:

flat-planedCrank said:

I'm not a Finepix F650 user, but from a quick search:

-Set the top Dial to A, that forces it into 'aperture priority'.
-On the rear direction control, press down.
-Pressing left / right on the direction control should set the aperture now. From f2.8 to f7.6

remember, the lower the aperture the narrower the area thats in-focus.

So for your example of taking photos of water on your car, set a low aperture.

Yeah, i've been doing all that, and everything is always in focus.

I dont really understand any of the DOF stuff on that weblink. When I put in my settings and tell it F2.8 with a subject 10cm away, it says that the depth of field is only 0.02cm which should mean that just about everything is out of focus. What tosh. itd the opposite.

What sort of angle are you photographing at ? Shooting 'along' the bodywork of your car ?

If you are forcing an aperture of f2.8 then it should really have a narrow depth-of-field. You could try taking a shot of some lined paper at about 45degrees, might help identify if the aperture is really being set correctly, or if the autofocus is doing something weird perhaps ?

[kryten22uk]

I've tried two different tests:

First taking a photo of my keyboard, aiming at the middle to see if near and far keys are out of focus. Doing this from about 15cm.

Second taking a photo of my hand, whilst sat on sofa infront of the tv. My hand is in focus and I can still easily read the digits on the DVD player under tv.

[flat-planedCrank]

kryten22uk said:

I've tried two different tests:

First taking a photo of my keyboard, aiming at the middle to see if near and far keys are out of focus. Doing this from about 15cm.

Second taking a photo of my hand, whilst sat on sofa infront of the tv. My hand is in focus and I can still easily read the digits on the DVD player under tv.

It does sound like something isn't working properly

I think i read it has a macro mode ? Could try that, might be another way to force it to use a wide aperture.

[kryten22uk]

flat-planedCrank said:

kryten22uk said:

I've tried two different tests:

First taking a photo of my keyboard, aiming at the middle to see if near and far keys are out of focus. Doing this from about 15cm.

Second taking a photo of my hand, whilst sat on sofa infront of the tv. My hand is in focus and I can still easily read the digits on the DVD player under tv.

It does sound like something isn't working properly

I think i read it has a macro mode ? Could try that, might be another way to force it to use a wide aperture.

Ok, so if I put it to Super Macro setting, and put the camer at the edge of the keyboard at keyboard level, then I can get the desired effect. Doesnt work otherwise.

I'll have a try of a few different things and take it back to Jessops and see if they have another to test or if they will replace it.

Thanks for all help.

[flat-planedCrank]

kryten22uk said:

I'll have a try of a few different things and take it back to Jessops and see if they have another to test or if they will replace it.

Thanks for all help.

Best of luck getting it sorted

[kryten22uk]

Well I never did get round to sorting my camera but I did manage to take the following on the SuperMacro setting:

[flat-planedCrank]

Nice shots

I'm a fan of the abstract effects you generate in dof The bokeh in your shots is cool, some bright edges but no real aperture shape present.

[GravelBen]

I have a Fuji S5500, if I want to take close-up shots with narrow DOF macro mode seems to be the best way to do it. I find I get the best results by zooming right out and getting the camera very close (often <10cm). Still very much an amateur though so others may have more useful advice.


Some of my attempts: (thought most of out-of-focus areas still have a bit much detail visible, any suggestions how to improve on that?)








(actually I can't remember if the kitten was on macro or if it was just a lucky shot. Or both)

Edited by GravelBen on Monday 8th October 05:48

[flat-planedCrank]

GravelBen said:

Some of my attempts: (thought most of out-of-focus areas still have a bit much detail visible, any suggestions how to improve on that?)

The wider the aperture setting (small 'f' numbers. e.g. f2.8), the shallower the DOF, and the more blurred the foreground / background will become. Check if you can still set the aperture manually when your in macro mode

The flower images on this page are a good example of using narrow / wide aperture settings:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aperture

[GravelBen]

Hmm played round a bit, macro works in aperture priority mode but even at f/2.8 the detail doesn't dissolve as quickly as I'd like, maybe its just characteristics of the lens?









ETA: Toy cars on opposite corners of A4 sheet in bottom 2 for scale so still not that far away from each other, but even the stuff behind it has detail still Just not sharp.

Edited by GravelBen on Monday 8th October 09:43

[GravelBen]

Another thought for the OP - does your camera have different autofocus settings? Just think if AF was set to 'area' instead of 'centre' (or equivalents, thats what they're called on mine) it could perhaps override the aperture setting to get a wider DOF.


Oh and apologies for the thread hijack. Those water shots are very nice though, looks like you have it pretty sorted anyway.

Edited by GravelBen on Monday 8th October 10:56

[japhilip]

The effects you're getting is about as good at you'll get on this type of camera. It's because your lens is relatively wide angle and the sensor chip is very small.

Try zooming right in, and setting a wide aperture, it may help.

For better results, you'd really need an SLR (which cost a bit more), and a lens length of 70mm or greater.

[GravelBen]

japhilip said:

The effects you're getting is about as good at you'll get on this type of camera. It's because your lens is relatively wide angle and the sensor chip is very small.

Try zooming right in, and setting a wide aperture, it may help.

For better results, you'd really need an SLR (which cost a bit more), and a lens length of 70mm or greater.

Tried zooming in, it didn't help as I have to move the camera so far back to get the foreground object in focus. Also when zoomed in (up to 10x) I only get f/3.1 instead of the f/2.8 when zoomed out.

dSLR is the next upgrade, once I can afford it. This'll do until then.

[japhilip]

GravelBen said:

Tried zooming in, it didn't help as I have to move the camera so far back to get the foreground object in focus. Also when zoomed in (up to 10x) I only get f/3.1 instead of the f/2.8 when zoomed out.

dSLR is the next upgrade, once I can afford it. This'll do until then.

Me too, had film SLR's for years, but getting by reasonably well with a little digital P&S at the moment.

The max aperture will change on a dSLR lens too, unless you get an expensive fixed maximum aperture lens (doesn't change while zooming), but I'm sure you already know that. It won't affect your pictures really though, for good differential focus just keep the aperture open