I fully understand DOF, what I cant understand is I only get the front of the image doing this on 70-200, I have several lenses that are as open as the 70-200 and never get the same effect.
The background on the Zebra photo was the effect I was after and opened the lens fully.
Im in the process of uprgrading bodies, Im currently looking at the 7d and the 5d mkii as I mainly shoot weddings im heading towards the the 5d.
Many thanks for your input.
Paul
SHOT at least 50-70ft AWAY FROM RHINOS
Hi Paul,
Originally Posted by peterborough_photography
Several lenses with as wide an aperture...but do they have as long a focal length as 200mm (or longer)?
As I'm sure you understand, there are three main factors that affect DoF:
- aperture - wider aperture with same focal length and subject distance means shallower DoF
- subject distance - closer subject with same aperture and focal length means shallower DoF
- focal length - longer focal length with same aperture and subject distance means shallower DoF
Factor #1 is pretty well understood by everyone - wide aperture means shallow DoF.
Factor #2 is partly why the fence behind your zebra is much more OOF than the fence behind your rhinos - you're a lot closer to the zebra than to the rhinos (subject-to-background distance is obviously a factor as well). Macro shooters have a clear understanding of this factor, which is why they struggle with DoF so much - shooting at working distances of a few inches means very shallow DoF, in the millimeter range even at narrow apertures.
Factor #3 means that longer lenses have shallower DoF - for example, that's why bird photographers shooting at 400mm often need to stop down (f/6.3 or f/8) to get even a relatively small bird completely in focus. Here's an example with my 7D at 400mm, f/6.3:
The oriole is in focus, but the branch in the lower right that also extends up through the frame is very blurred. That blurred branch was only a few inches in front of the branch on which the bird is perched.
If you've not had a lot of experience shooting at longer focal lengths, you might not have experienced the effect you're seeing in terms of foreground blur.
The other possibility, of course, is that you've got a defective lens, but I doubt that for two reasons. One, you stated you've tried three copies with the same result, and it really stretches the bounds of probability that you got three defective copies. Two, the platform that the lions are resting on, which is low in the frame like the grass in the rhino foreground, is in focus (but unlike the grass, the vertical part of the platform would be within/near the DoF for the shot).
Hi Paul,
Beautiful Wedding Photos on your Website!
What time of day were these shot?
You mentioned that you were happy with your other lenses. I'm assuming that you meant you were happy with these lenses on the same 50D Body?
Is 70-200mm the longest lens in your kit?
As you are aware, the 200mm on the 1.6x crop (320mm) is going to give you a narrower angle of view, whichtranslates into agreater amount of image compression, as well asa shallower DOF, especiallyat the wider aperture.
It sounds like you like your first two photos better, because you have one subject and one background, so you are achieving your desired background blur, however in the rhino photos; you stated that you didn't like the OOF grass, so, you will have to treat the foreground grass as an additional subject in the photo, so as Neuro stated above you will need to stop down a bit.
You mentioned that you don't like to process your RAW personal photos out of the camera. I think that is a mistake, because RAW photos require some processsing, a simple jpeg conversion doesn't provide the neccessary adjustments. So, I would recommend that you make some minor adjustments in DPP or shoot in jpeg and RAW, or last choice shoot in jpeg only.
I'm assuming you are using a UV filter on your lens, but if you're shooting in overhead sunlight, then you should really try a Circular Polarizing filter in order to avoid that washed out flat look and desaturation of the colors.
Rich
Here is a picture that has foreground blur, that is not a lens defect but something longer focal lengths have. But also shorter focal lengths too if the DOF is thin such as a 50mm prime shot low to the ground.
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John.
Great Shot John and Nice Color Saturation too!
Of course this is beautiful green grass vs. dead grass in the OP's photos.
I personally like the foreground and background blur.
Rich
John's image above reminded me of a similar shot (albeit less saturated!) I took with myEF 70-200mm f/2.8<span style="color: red;"]LIS II USM a couple of months ago. The point of the shot for me was the power of f/2.8 + excellent IS and a long focal length - this is an uncropped (but reduced in size) shot taken qith 1/30 s exposure, f/2.8, about 30 minutes after sunset - it was dark enough to see stars, yet I was able to get a decent exposure. But here you can clearly see both foreground and background blur - the DoF is sufficiently thin that even though the rabbit's eye is in focus, the whiskers pointing toward the camera are getting blurred out just like the foreground, due to the thin DoF.
[img]/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.35.15/IMG_5F00_3079.jpg[/img]
So, I think the point we're making is that what you're seeing is perfectly normal for this focal length and a relatively wide aperture. If it doesn't appeal to you, that's just fine, too - as you stated in your post title, Paul -youmay not be happy with the lens, even though it's performing as expected.
At last, yes Im not sure Im happy with the results from the longer focal range lens.
I normally use primes, this is my first big zoom.
So the normally quality isnt rocking my boat. The lens can produce sharp, it may take some time to get the feel for the 200mm and the DOF around the length eg The Rhino photo.
Thanks for the response. I must add I do use photoshop with raw images for clients not really for myself, thats due to time etc.
Man I like the duck shot... nice work
Have you tested the camera + lense combo using Lens Align-Pro or any similar AF microadjustment tools? I use a Canon 50D and 70-200mm IS MKI lense. After doing some testing and calibrating I discovered my camera lense combo had severe front focus issues +17 at the 200mm end. If you think you're getting different results than say a 200mm prime you've used then what you might have is a rear focus problem with your 50D and 70-200mm is mkII combo.
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