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[OM] Re: Figuring out depth of field with 4/3 adaptor

Subject: [OM] Re: Figuring out depth of field with 4/3 adaptor
From: R.Jackson <jackson.robert.r@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 20:46:56 -0500
See, that's the thing, really. A 4/3 sensor is about half as wide and 
half as tall as a frame of 35mm film, which works out to about 1/4 the 
size, right? I'm not math-boy, so when I say, "right?" I'm not saying 
it rhetorically, BTW. Heh...anyway, I'm assuming that's the kind of 
thing where your effective DOF should be about double what it reads on 
the scale (again, I'm kind of mathematically retarded, but I THINK 
that's the way it should work). If there was a way to attach a Zuiko to 
an 8080 then you'd be looking at a sensor that's about half as tall and 
half as wide as a 4/3 sensor and at that point and smaller it seems to 
me that it would start to get trickier and trickier to use selective 
focus. I know that on my little 1/2.7" Fuji it's almost impossible to 
throw the background out of <cough> "apparent" focus. Which is fine for 
point-and-shoot-ers. If you're a soccer mom taking photos at Chucky 
Cheese's then you probably want both your screaming brat and the guy in 
the rat suit in focus. I read something in an article a couple of years 
ago that said that less than 3% of the people who buy cameras will ever 
use them for any kind of artistic purpose. Most people buy cameras to 
take snapshots. I was in my dentist's office a few months ago and he 
was showing me his new D70. I was checking it out and noticed that it 
was set on the lowest resolution, so I mentioned it and he said, "At 
that setting I can fit a lot more pictures on it." Yeah, but at that 
setting you might as well own a D1. Anyway, yeah...the whole digital 
DOF thing gets tricky in practice, huh?

That said, I'm still shooting on location and I'm starting to wonder if 
I'm too clumsy to shoot film anymore. I fell in a cow pie this 
afternoon while I was shooting footage of test wells in a muddy clay 
field. Then shortly after I'd come back to the hotel and showered I was 
in the federal archive shooting hand-held footage and backed off the 
top of a staircase and tumbled down about ten steps (holding the camera 
high above my head). Then I went to reload and didn't realize the power 
was on and the motor engaged and sent a fresh reel of film spooling off 
across the room ($30 down the toilet, thankfully it was 16mm or it 
would have been more like $100). I'm starting to wonder if the EPA 
shouldn't go ahead and classify me as a hazard while they're out here 
at Maxey Flat. ;-)

On Mar 28, 2005, at 6:10 PM, Moose wrote:

> And yet, that is the question being asked. "If I put an OM lens on my
> E-1 AND make prints the same size as I did on 35mm, what f-stops will
> give equivalent DOF to what I'm used to on 35mm. If I know f5.6 would 
> be
> good for this shot on an OM, what f-stop do I use on the E-1 to get the
> same apparent DOF on the print?"


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