Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/11/01

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Subject: [Leica] M8 & Depth of Field
From: leewaileong19 at yahoo.com (Lee Wai Leong)
Date: Wed Nov 1 06:06:15 2006

"I'm not shure about that. Yes, the DOF marks on the lenses are no 
longer correct when used with a M8 - but the other way round."

For the same lens, the same focus distance-- assume that the subject 
at distance X is in focus. The DOF markings extend from X-a to X+b.

Hence, at X-a, the CoC is 0.03. Similarly, at X+b, the CoC is 0.03.

Since the formula states d/1500, the CoC on a digital sensor 
smaller than 24x36 mm is less than 0.03. Say 0.02.

Obviously, if X-a and X+b have a 0.03 CoC, then to get a CoC 0.02 the 
DOF markings for the digital sensor must be inside X-a and X+b. Hence 
the digital sensor creates a smaller DOF.

"I don't make any calculations - am not really interested in the 
mathematical aspects of photography - but a few months ago I did just a few 
empiric tests with 
the same 50mm/1.2 lens wide open on a M6 and a R-D1 (with it's crop factor 
of 1,5). It seems to be the opposite - on the R-D1 shots there was visibly 
more DOF. Same lens/smaller format = MORE DOF."

I think it's likely you shot the same subject from different distance, 
due to the crop factor.

But it is true that smaller lenses and smaller formats have larger 
DOF's. That's why digicams have almost everything in focus. That's due to 
their effective focal length, which is something like 7 mm.


Lee Wai Leong 

"And if you play golf, you're my friend..."
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Replies: Reply from jbcollier at shaw.ca (John Collier) ([Leica] M8 & Depth of Field)