Why did my old compact camera keep both my hand and a distant landmark in focus, but my newer cameras can't?
Asked 1/6/2014
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I like taking forced-perspective travel photos where my hand appears to hold a distant monument, like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. My old Canon SD630 used to keep both my hand and the monument looking sharp. With my Canon S100 and especially my Canon T4i, I usually get either my hand or the background in focus, but not both. Why does this happen, and what settings or techniques can help me get more of the scene in focus?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
12y ago
2 Answers
18
All lenses can really only focus at one distance from the camera. Everything in front of or behind that point is increasingly blurry. In practice, there is a range of distances where the blur is imperceptible, or close enough. We call this the depth of field.
It sounds like you are looking for a very large depth of field. Your older camera had a very high apparent DoF because it has a tiny sensor and because blur is less apparent at lower resolutions. Your SLR in particular has a much larger sensor, and the S100 a slightly larger sensor, and both have much higher resolution. This makes depth of field much more of an issue.
You can get a higher depth of field by stopping down — that is, using a smaller aperture, one with a higher value. It looks like the SD630 had a smallest aperture of f/4.9 (when zoomed in), which is roughly like setting your DSLR's lens all the way down to f/22. Try that, and maybe try scaling the image down to 6 megapixels to mask more of the blur, and see if that approaches more of what you're looking for.
More detail on topics raised here at:
- What exactly determines depth of field?
- What is a "small" aperture?
- What is aperture, and how does it affect my photographs?
And
Originally by user1943. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1943
12y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Your newer cameras aren’t focusing on “multiple points” at once; this is mainly a depth-of-field issue. A lens truly focuses at one distance, and only a range around that distance appears acceptably sharp.
Your old SD630 had a very small sensor and a very short actual focal length, which naturally gives much deeper depth of field. The S100 has a somewhat larger sensor, and the T4i’s much larger sensor and longer focal lengths make depth of field much shallower, so blur is more obvious.
To get both your hand and the landmark sharper:
- use a smaller aperture (higher f-number, e.g. stop down as much as practical)
- use a wider-angle focal length rather than zooming in
- move your hand farther from the camera so it’s closer in distance to the background focus point
- focus at a distance between the hand and the monument rather than on the very nearest object
The DSLR will generally make this effect harder than a small point-and-shoot. Higher resolution also makes blur easier to notice. So the difference you’re seeing is normal and mostly caused by sensor size, focal length, and aperture affecting depth of field.
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