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To stack or not to stack

Started Sep 26, 2019 | Polls thread
John K Veteran Member • Posts: 9,870
Re: Larger DOF with larger sensors (not a typo)

gardenersassistant wrote:

gardenersassistant wrote:

There was no extra DOF from the smaller sensor.

Following on from that ...

Beyond a certain magnification (which varies depending on the kit used) it is possible to get greater DOF using a single capture with an interchangeable lens camera than from a fixed lens camera with a much smaller sensor. The greater the magnification, the greater is the difference in achievable DOF.

I think that what you are saying here is counter intuitive. Depth of field is strictly a combination of magnification and aperture. The magnification does not change simply because you are using a smaller sensor.

Using a smaller sensor means that you can fill the frame with the subject at a lower magnification than using a larger sensor. Using a lower magnification means more depth of field.

Macro photography is defined as projecting a 1:1 scale image (life size) to a 10:1 (10x) scale image of the subject onto the image plane. Notice how the size of the image plane does not factor into that definition...

It's important to keep the definition of what is and what is not a macro image a standard across the different sensors, otherwise it becomes impossible to discuss the difficulties in lighting the subject and the limited depth of field at 1x and higher mag.

No matter how much you want the sky to be green, it will always be blue...

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Also known as Dalantech
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