Just curious... some DSLR's have a DOF preview button. My question is... in this age of digital photography, why should one choose to use the DOF preview over simply taking a photo, reviewing it on the LCD, then making adjustments accordingly?
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DOF preview button - What's the point?
- Thread starter cutsman
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Westside guy
macrumors 604
Well, for one thing, the LCDs on most dSLRs don't really have the resolution required to effectively review the depth of field.
compuwar
macrumors 601
You shouldn't- in general, getting the shot matters first, and frankly with digital, shooting multiple apertures isn't all that big a deal either. DoF preview isn't all that useful a function anyway- by the time you really need it, you're in to diffraction territory on digital anyway, and the viewfinder'd likely to be too dark to deal with if you weren't.
dllavaneras
macrumors 68000
I do mostly macro-photography, and ever since I got my ring flash, the DOF preview button has gone almost unused. As compuwar pointed out, the viewfinder goes quite dark, and the flash fires a burst of light to help you see. An awesome idea, very useful, but I've missed a few good shots because the sudden bursts of light scare the critters away 🙁 So now I basically take as many shots as I can and select the one that came out best. By now I pretty much know the DOF I'm working with at 1:1 with any given aperture.
First of all, the LCD doesn't have the resolution to display critical details as in focus or not. Secondly, chimping sucks.
I keep the DOF preview on one function button and the other function as "no flash".
It's useful for a quick reminder of the DOF and it definitely makes sense when you're used to using it. If you want to know if something close to you is in or out of focus, just tap it and see. I'm not going to take 4 photos at different apertures and chimp it. I'd rather just spin the aperture and keep looking at the DOF. I don't use it with flash.
Then again, not all photographers need all features on a camera.
I keep the DOF preview on one function button and the other function as "no flash".
It's useful for a quick reminder of the DOF and it definitely makes sense when you're used to using it. If you want to know if something close to you is in or out of focus, just tap it and see. I'm not going to take 4 photos at different apertures and chimp it. I'd rather just spin the aperture and keep looking at the DOF. I don't use it with flash.
Then again, not all photographers need all features on a camera.