What might work best for me...

McSpin wrote:

Massao wrote:

Well, its not the sensor size that will affect the DOF, but rather the difference in focal length of lenses in this case. ISuppose you want to capture a 24mm FF-equivalent frame of view. A smaller sensor (1” or smaller), will have to use a tiny focal length in order to give you the 24mm FF-equivalent image. But, since you are not actually using a lens with 24mm focal length--- probably something like 6-8mm lens on a small sensor camera to get the same frame of view as a 24mm lens on a FF camera, your DOF is increased. So, the short answer to your question is YES, a small sensor camera will help you in this scenario, but not because of sensor size, rather the difference in focal lengths of lenses.

Yes, that I knew. I was just referring to cameras that give the same field of view. The ones with a small sensor will always give a greater depth of field with the same field of view. I also realize that a small sensor with a high pixel density will add some noise,. The object is to get a low-noise, large depth of field with acceptable resolution. I may have to get my hands on a 1" sensor camera to find out for sure.

Yes, but it doesn't seem like you have any other choice. You can't use flash or other lighting, and you don't want shallow DOF of longer focal-length lenses used on DSLRs Sensor tech has improved a lot. You will be surprised with 1" sensor results