Still pretty happy with my little PowerShot, but it does have its limitations. Depth of field used to be easy with film: put a lot of light on it and lower the f-stop. Looked through the manual but nothing about depth of field. Does anyone have any tips to share?
That's because you have a point and shoot It may be counterintuitive, but your camera is actually better for model shots straight out of camera than my $3000 5D. Depth of field is dependent on 3 things: Focus distance, F stop, and sensor/film size. The closer you focus, the shallower the depth of field will be. F stop is the one we control best, and it sounds like you've got that one down! Nothing's changed there since film days, it's all in the lens. For those who haven't, the smaller the F stop (ie, F/8 is smaller than F/2.8) the deeper the depth of field will be. This also lets less light in since the aperture (light hole in the lens) is smaller, so you need more light...or a tripod. Sensor size is the big thing about compact cameras. Back in the days when all the cool kids shot 4x5" and 8x10" film, the lenses went down to F/64 and by god if you shot landscapes, you didn't shoot anything less than F/32! The smaller the sensor, the more depth of field you get at the same aperture. Unfortunately, this also exacerbates diffraction, which is why most point and shoots only go to f/8.
If you truly want to get depth of field you will need to get a "pin-hole" lens. Photographer (friend) who shot my RR for magazine never knew of them until I told him about it. Bought lens for his camera and used it on my layout. OMG... Awesome. Single picture had a 15 minute exposure. We set up tri-pod and left the room so nothing would disturb camera during exposure time. Check into it. Not cheap but worth every dime. My friend is a Professor of Photography at Hofstra University in NY and Suffolk Community College. Brad
Does your particular model have an 'AV' or aperture priority mode? If it does, you can use that to select a smaller aperture, increasing depth of field.
Did I forget to mention I am using a digital camera? I checked the manual and in Program mode it displays shutter speed and F-stop, but no way to control them. I did some experimenting but this was about as good as I could get: There was an article in Model Railroader many years ago about using a pin-hole with a film camera. Not sure you could set that up with a digital camera.
Digital cameras come in many, many shapes and sizes, so don't think that having one means anything in particular What model is it, we could try finding something for you.
It's a Canon PowerShot SD780 IS. Has a lot of nifty features, many I don't use. (Some I don't understand yet.) As long as you hold it steady and frame the subject well it produces pretty good pictures.
It's been about 3 years since I last touched an SD780, but in the 'scene' modes you'll find one called Program (or just P) and perhaps you can force it using that.
It has been a while since I last used a Canon point and shoot but one thing you might be able to try is the macro setting. It should allow you to focus closer and in turn give you the depth of field you are looking for. Something else you can try is finding software that mimicks the depth of field you want. Photoshop CS6 has a filter that makes it relatively easy. Here is a shot with my Canon 5D taken with a 200mm lens w/extender to focus closer. Might be more blur than you are looking for in your example. Good luck.
There is a free program out there called Combine ZP which will enable you to take several photos (each with different focus points) to combine them into one sharp photo. With a P&S camera; I imagine you'd have to focus on one spot, hold the shutter button down to move the center of the photo over to where you took the first photo, and so forth down the length of the train. The camera I use is a Canon S95 with optional manual focus, shutter, and aperture settings. John
Here you can find some examples of focus stacking with Combine ZP. Camera was a Canon G15 in AV mode and f 1/8.
Shawn, Sorry to say it, but for in-focus closeups, you need a new camera that will allow you to (1) Use it "manually"...which means you control the ISO, the speed, the focus and the F stop (2) Your new camera should have a remote release (either wired or wireless) and (3) a tripod mount. The Canon PowerShot SD780 IS (of the ELPH Series) doesn't have a "Manual Mode", which means the camera selects your f-stop, your focus point and a lot more. However, it DOES have a "Macro" mode, which is on page 56 of your manual. I WILL allow you to jack up your ISO to a higher speed, which is good. But, I doubt you will be able to use "photo stacking" with this camera since you cannot select what it's focusing on, and even if were mounted to a tripod (which the manual says you should do for a few "special" circumstances) fooling around with a menu, and pushing the shutter button with your big finger for multiple exposures of the same subject would probably mess your composure up anyway. If I were you...I would buy a new camera...but, I'm not you, so, you need to get a tripod your little P&S camera will fit to, jack your ISO up, put your camera in Macro mode, turn the lights way up, compose, shoot and see if your depth of field improves. If your camera selects the f-stop to make smaller, instead of making your exposure shorter...it should, since it's in Macro mode and you want depth of field...then your depth of field will improve somewhat. Effective auto focus on your camera in Macro mode is between 1.2 inches and 1.6 feet, so you can get really close. Frankly, I don't have high hopes, but maybe your ideas of what is "acceptable" depth of field isn't as extreme as mine. Here's a sample I took years ago using a 35mm Nikon N8008 with a 60mm f2.8 Micro-Nikkor set at f/32 with halogen lamps and a blue "daylight" photoflood to paint my skyboard. I don't remember the exposure time, but it was several long seconds...so the camera was mounted on my big Bogen tripod and equipped with a remote release. Film was Fujichrome Velvia Daylight. Point of focus was the nose of the Kato F3. I've still got the tripod and the lens, but the camera has long since been sold to a photography student at the local university. Here's a shot taken with my old Nikon D300 DSLR a few years ago using my 18-200mm zoom using Helicon Focus and about 15 to 20 separate exposures. I couldn't have done this shot without HF, with anything other than a pinhole lens, but because of diffraction problems with ultra tiny lens openings, the sharpness wouldn't have been nearly as good as this. Yeah, even though your smaller sensor generates greater depth of field than more advanced DSLR's with bigger sensors, its other drawbacks don't allow you to enjoy doing something as simple as fiddling with focus, f-stop, and shutter speed, or to attach a remote release, so it doesn't allow you to enjoy the benefits of stacking photos for near-infinite depth of field or doing a myriad of other pretty basic photography techniques. Cheers! Bob Gilmore
Thanks for the replies. Thought about dusting off my old SLR, but film is getting hard to find and getting it developed is even harder. (I already have six binders full of 35mm negatives.) A Digital SLR is a big investment I would like, but this little guy is just too handy. And I'm not ready for focus stacking -- don't really need the software or effort right now. Good discussion.
