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Can you set the camera to shoot multiple pictures at different apertures?

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GBJ

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Is it possible to set the D810 up so that it would allow the user to fire 3 quick shots at different apertures?

A person could then choose the depth of field that looks best, once the 3 photos are seen on a monitor.

This might be good for macro photos and portrait photos, or any?

Does anybody have experience with this, and are there pros and cons?



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I could be wrong but AFAIK it's not possible. I'm sure it would be possible to program it, but I don't know what it would take to do that and I imagine it's a feature very few would care about... It sounds simple enough but I don't know enough about programming electronics to really know.
 
I think you can bracket ISO. So if you use Shutter speed priority, The camera will change Aperture between shots to maintain exposure.
 
Last edited:
GBJ said:
Is it possible to set the D810 up so that it would allow the user to fire 3 quick shots at different apertures?
Click to expand...
Yes.



D810 User´s Manual, page 339 (English edition)
D810 User´s Manual, page 339 (English edition)

GBJ said:
A person could then choose the depth of field that looks best, once the 3 photos are seen on a monitor.

This might be good for macro photos and portrait photos, or any?
Click to expand...
Yes.
GBJ said:
Does anybody have experience with this, and are there pros and cons?
Click to expand...
Probably, yes. IMO for macro usually you work with so small DoF that you will be looking for the maximum DoF possible without diffraction. I do not make portraits.

Regards,

--
O.Cristo - An Amateur Photographer
Opinions of men are almost as various as their faces - so many men so many minds. B. Franklin
 
I think shutter priority works in bracketing mode. I have never used it that way as I always bracket in aperture mode but I do not see why it could not work that way.
 
Yes you can use bracketing to adjust the aperture for a change in depth of field but I believe you will also be changing the exposure of each shot, meaning that each subsequent shot will increase or decrease the exposure based upon the settings in bkt.

I don't believe that this is what the op wants to do.
 
It still brackets exposure and does it by changing both shutter and aperture in the same direction. So three shots 1EV apart gave me:

1/50 F/5

1/60 F/5.6

1/100 F/7.1

Interesting experiment, though.
 
Osvaldo Cristo said:
GBJ said:
Is it possible to set the D810 up so that it would allow the user to fire 3 quick shots at different apertures?
Click to expand...
Yes.

D810 User´s Manual, page 339 (English edition)
D810 User´s Manual, page 339 (English edition)
Osvaldo Cristo said:
A person could then choose the depth of field that looks best, once the 3 photos are seen on a monitor.

This might be good for macro photos and portrait photos, or any?
Click to expand...
Yes.
Osvaldo Cristo said:
Does anybody have experience with this, and are there pros and cons?
Click to expand...
Probably, yes. IMO for macro usually you work with so small DoF that you will be looking for the maximum DoF possible without diffraction. I do not make portraits.

Regards,

--
O.Cristo - An Amateur Photographer
Opinions of men are almost as various as their faces - so many men so many minds. B. Franklin
Click to expand...
Thanks for this Cristo!!! Much appreciated.
 
talmy said:
It still brackets exposure and does it by changing both shutter and aperture in the same direction. So three shots 1EV apart gave me:

1/50 F/5

1/60 F/5.6

1/100 F/7.1

Interesting experiment, though.
Click to expand...
 
You can also use any of a number of smartphone DSLR control programs to do this. They become smart IR controls, including letting you implement a wide-array of bracketing settings for the 3-shot spread you're targeting.
 
GBJ said:
Thanks for testing this out. So by the looks of the shutter speed and size hole in the lens, from your test shots, it seems to indicate that each photo gets progressively darker?

So it seems there's no in-camera automatic aperture depth of field control, without sacrificing exposure.
Click to expand...
Apparently so. It's rare that I've wanted to do this, but it seems like the best semi-automatic technique would to use "P" exposure mode and then alternate shutter release and clicking the wheel to get another aperture/shutter combination.
 
Why not just put the camera in Aperture Priority mode and then increase the aperture with each shot? This way your exposure is not changing, but your shutter speed is adjusting to reflect the correct exposure for the aperture you desire.

You can do this with a Smartphone remote or just turn the aperture control one notch each time you hit the shutter.
 
Gasser said:
Why not just put the camera in Aperture Priority mode and then increase the aperture with each shot? This way your exposure is not changing, but your shutter speed is adjusting to reflect the correct exposure for the aperture you desire.

You can do this with a Smartphone remote or just turn the aperture control one notch each time you hit the shutter.
Click to expand...
 
GBJ said:
Gasser said:
Why not just put the camera in Aperture Priority mode and then increase the aperture with each shot? This way your exposure is not changing, but your shutter speed is adjusting to reflect the correct exposure for the aperture you desire.

You can do this with a Smartphone remote or just turn the aperture control one notch each time you hit the shutter.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Hi there,

I shoot a lot of close-up images. First and foremost, depth of field can be checked via stopping down before the shot is taken. Most advanced cameras have a stop down option. So, I use that feature when I want to decide between various depth of field settings. Although after about fifty years behind the lens I can decide on my setting without too much checking.

Now, if you are really serious about close-up and macro photography then a good carbon fibre tripod is your best friend. Then you can take photographs with different aperture settings in A priority and pick your most desirable shot in PP.

If you are even more serious about close-ups then you even may consider getting into stacked frames photography. Either with a macro rail manually or via a StackShot rail and Zerene or Helicon Focus. Stacking frames can give you the best quality for achieving either an extended depth of field or the best section of plain of sharpness.

Hand holding for close-ups works well with today's high ISO capable cameras but taking photos of identically framed subjects while you change aperture only work from a tripod. Even if there would be a camera setting that would allow changing aperture settings while retaining exposure values in a bracketing mode would not be totally satisfactory. When you shoot close-up and macro then minute changes in body posture can cause discrepancies in framing.

I whole heartedly suggest to shoot close-upimages from a tripod. I have several tripods. My choice for close-up images with a 100mm macro and up to 300mm with auxiliary attachments is a No. 2 size tripod. It does not have to be a Gitzo just any good carbon fibre tripod that has similar ratings as a Gitzo No. 2. I use a relatively inexpensive Benro 2580 with a good ball head. On occasions I use a macro rail on this tripod, an old Nikon rail that I modified to accept Arca-Swiss plates for quick setup.

What you need for convenient tripod work is a tripod that is easy to operate, supports your gear without vibrations, can be set up for low low to the ground use. Once you develop a habit for using a tripod when shooting close-ups you never will look back. Your keeper rate will shoot high up and you will wonder why you didn't shoot from a tripod before. It is easy, it is only a small adjustment in mindset.

Best to your close-up ventures, AIK :-)
 
GBJ said:
It sounds good, but the problem would be that the composition would change radically for each photo, unless you are on a tripod.
Click to expand...
Not necessarily. If you can compose the photo you want once, you can probably get it very close or practically the same again. If you can't get the composition you want the second time, maybe you didn't get it the first time.

Also, it can take literally a second to take each photo. If you can hold the camera steady enough for the first photo you can probably hold it for the other photos while changing aperture, just keeping it to your eye, or wherever it is (if using LV, etc.). I sometimes hold the camera steady to my eye to wait for the right moment just for one photo for longer than it would take to take two photos with different apertures.
 
Antal I Kozma said:
Hi there,

I shoot a lot of close-up images. First and foremost, depth of field can be checked via stopping down before the shot is taken. Most advanced cameras have a stop down option. So, I use that feature when I want to decide between various depth of field settings. Although after about fifty years behind the lens I can decide on my setting without too much checking.

Now, if you are really serious about close-up and macro photography then a good carbon fibre tripod is your best friend. Then you can take photographs with different aperture settings in A priority and pick your most desirable shot in PP.

If you are even more serious about close-ups then you even may consider getting into stacked frames photography. Either with a macro rail manually or via a StackShot rail and Zerene or Helicon Focus. Stacking frames can give you the best quality for achieving either an extended depth of field or the best section of plain of sharpness.

Hand holding for close-ups works well with today's high ISO capable cameras but taking photos of identically framed subjects while you change aperture only work from a tripod. Even if there would be a camera setting that would allow changing aperture settings while retaining exposure values in a bracketing mode would not be totally satisfactory. When you shoot close-up and macro then minute changes in body posture can cause discrepancies in framing.

I whole heartedly suggest to shoot close-upimages from a tripod. I have several tripods. My choice for close-up images with a 100mm macro and up to 300mm with auxiliary attachments is a No. 2 size tripod. It does not have to be a Gitzo just any good carbon fibre tripod that has similar ratings as a Gitzo No. 2. I use a relatively inexpensive Benro 2580 with a good ball head. On occasions I use a macro rail on this tripod, an old Nikon rail that I modified to accept Arca-Swiss plates for quick setup.

What you need for convenient tripod work is a tripod that is easy to operate, supports your gear without vibrations, can be set up for low low to the ground use. Once you develop a habit for using a tripod when shooting close-ups you never will look back. Your keeper rate will shoot high up and you will wonder why you didn't shoot from a tripod before. It is easy, it is only a small adjustment in mindset.

Best to your close-up ventures, AIK :-)
Click to expand...
Hi Antal, thanks for your useful information and help. How does the ''stopping down'' feature work, technically speaking, in cameras? I was always wondering about that Depth of field preview feature.

Thanks.
 
GBJ said:
How does the ''stopping down'' feature work, technically speaking, in cameras? I was always wondering about that Depth of field preview feature.
Click to expand...
It is stopping the aperture down to what you have selected.

While you are looking in the viewfinder, the aperture is wide open for getting a bright viewfinder. When pressing the preview button, the aperture is stopping down to the aperture you have selected. Then you get a darker viewfinder, but it also shows how the depth of field will be at that aperture.

If you are looking into the front of the lens, you will see this stopping down very clear, at least if you have choosed a small aperture.
 
Gasser said:
Why not just put the camera in Aperture Priority mode and then increase the aperture with each shot? This way your exposure is not changing, but your shutter speed is adjusting to reflect the correct exposure for the aperture you desire.
Click to expand...
Guess I was just trying to come up with a good use case for "P" mode.
 
I don't know of the setting that does exactly that.

You can shoot Shutter priority with 3 or 5 stops bracketing, in RAW. Yes, the camera would adjust the exposure so 2 are brighter and 2 are darker. But in RAW, you should have 3-4 f-stop latitude in exposure so bringing the over/under exposed image to the right exposure is easy and natural.
 
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