Re: 5 Digital Camera Questions

On Fri, 11 Jun 2004, Tom Ferguson wrote:

That cat disappears as soon as I get out there... but one of these days
I'll get it (it's keeping the whole neighborhood awake howling after the
she-cat next door which HATES him) Meanwhile,

> F/5.6 on a consumer digital has a LOT of DOF. I'm not sure if all of
> the consumer dig cameras have exactly the same sized sensor (I think
> they do), so I'll use my Sony F707 as an example. The sensor (film
> area) in these little jewels is TINY (about 7x5mm, about 1/4 inch).
> That makes the lenses needed very wide. Often the manufacturers label
> them in "35mm equivalents", but in truth your G5 lens is a 7-29mm zoom.

OK, I start to see the light -- but am puzzled by that "7-to 29mm zoom"
-- if you mean the zoom would be equal to a 29mm lens in analog? I
compared it to the framing of the 105 mm lens on the Nikon. The G5 claims
the equivalent of 140 mm zoom, and it seemed about that -- certainly much
more than the Nikon "telephoto" 105 mm.

> All of that makes for a huge DOF.

Maybe that's what the "portrait" setting is for. I'll try it as soon as
I'm ready for another adventure.

> With my F707 (and I think it is identical in this regards to your G5) I
> have 3.9 stops DOF difference (call it 4 stops). That means your F/5.6
> on your G5 has the same DOF (for the same pic taken from the same spot
> with a 35mm film camera) as F/22. Try it, it is true. Or see here:
>
> http://home.pipeline.com/~tomf2468/temp3.html#temp3.4

thanks, I will...

> >> get 200 shots if using EVF and no flash (and my batteries are getting
> >> old). Limited experience guesstimate, after 500 charge and discharge
> >> cycles, it wouldn't be surprising to lose 1/2 of my battery capacity.

Now that you mention EVF -- that's another mystery meat in the manual,
which I don't recall elsewhere or previously. Or I'm assuming that's the
"EV" it shows in a diagram & never mentions again: My inner dictionary
interprets it as Exposure Value,the manual suggests plus or minus 2, but
it's not in the index, or any other page that I can find.

> Third party batteries can be every bit as good as the originals, or
> terrible. But the fact that both your original and third party battery
> are acting the same make me worry about your camera. One limit to our
> alt photo group is there may not be another G5 user here. Try asking at
> the DPreview Canon group:
>
> > <SNIP>
>
> Remember that shooting Jpgs is like shooting slide film. Your exposure
> needs to be ^$%# close to perfect. For "street shooting" you may want
> to play with shooting RAW. Much more like shooting neg film (room for
> error). It does take a lot more memory space, and requires computer
> time to convert.

I need to get more comfortable with the cooked before I try the raw -- but
will in due course. I note though that for my purposes the color covers a
multitude of sins... You'd probably destroy the lot of it, but it may work
in the planned medium and size. (I didn't see REAL trouble until the sun
came out.)

> Your camera can be set to 50, which DPreview says is closer to ISO 80.
> That would give you the possibility of using F/4 at 1/1250 in full sun.
> I think your camera will reach that speed at all lens settings. That

The manual says 1/1250 and 1/2000 depending on the setting. (Also, by the
way, no "aperture" smaller than f.8)

> would give you the same DOF as a F/16 on a 35mm film camera. That will
> give you a "slightly" more blurred background and far less chance of
> blown-out images. About the best you can do with a G5, without using
> density filters!

But there is a "neutral density" setting which it says decreases
"brightness approximately 1/8... for example if the appropriate aperture
value is 5.6, it becomes 2 when the ND filter is on." That might still
not give the fuzz I want... but if it's not too tricky to dial up in a
hurry, I'll try it.

Anyway, strangely perhaps, I like digital... I'd like it a lot better if
it were presented better... but I don't think I could go back to not
seeing the print immediately -- and even the clunky G5 weighs half of the
Nikon...

Meanwhile and again thanks for all your help (I wish there were a potion
to take to know it right away instead of by the stumble method... that
could be the IQ model !)....

Oh drat, there goes the cat again -- 4:04 AM...

good night,

Judy

> Tom Ferguson
> http://www.ferguson-photo-design.com
>
Received on Sat Jun 12 02:08:51 2004