#10. Shallow Depth of Field. If you thought shooting 1.4 on a DSLR was shallow,
wait until you try shooting f/2.8 on a medium format rig.
Noticed how the depth of field in this portrait of my dog, Willy, draws your eye inward.
There’s a ton of math needed to determine depth of field in relation to sensor size, distance to subject, focal length,
yada yada yada I won’t go into in great detail, but it is a much shallower depth of field from my experience than what I’ve been used to using for the last decade.
This is not correct.
Comparing a 1.4 Nikon or Canon DSLR lens with
the same angle of view as a 2.8 lens on a crop sensor (44x33mm), the 1.4 Canon or Nikon lens will have shallower depth of field.
You may be comparing lenses that do not have the same angle of view. For example the angle of view of a 50mm Nikon on a full frame sensor is not the same as an 80mm Mamiya/Phase One on the IQ140
that you use.
Their are no Hasselbld, Phase One or Mamiya lenses that will produce the same shallow depth of field and angle of view
combination of the following on a Nikon or Canon full frame.
24mm 1.4
35mm 1.4
50mm 1.4 or 1.2
85mm 1.4 or 1.2
200mm 2.0
The shallowest depth of field lens from Phase is the 150mm 2.8 D IF. Very nice lens.
Lets lok at the closest comparison that would be relevant.
85mm on Nikon/Canon vs Schneider 110mm 2.8 on a 33x44 sensor.
They have almost the same angle of view.
At two meters the Canon 85mm has the shallowest depth of field. 0.040m
Nikon 85mm 1.4 depth of field: 0.045m
The Schneider 110mm 2.8 with a 33x44 sensor depth of field 0.088m
Even on an IQ 180 the 110mm will still not have the shallower depth of field. 0.080m
Then there is the issue of shallow depth of field usability.
The af systems in the latest Canon and Nikon cameras as well as live view make accurate ultra shallow depth of field focusing
far more usable and accurate especially for off center compositions.
The king of shallow depth of field will be the new Leica with the Noctilux now that the Leica will have live view.
Another thing to be considered is using the method known as the Brenizer method.
He uses this for ultra shallow depth of field shooting that also gives him huge file sizes.
Here are some of his examples:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/110492963926129353210/albums/5642588167921700753?sqi&sqsiHere is one:
As you can see he uses it quite a bit at weddings.
You need a fast camera to use this technique. The result is quite beautiful.