Telephoto instead of macro. C & C please and thank-you.

[JBW]

[chauncey]

I did a personal test series a while back using a flower as the subject, results...when shooting the whole flower the lens choice, telephoto/macro, had no difference in IQ. Assuming both quality lenses. The telephoto was not able to examine the innards of that posy due to minimum focusing distances.

[bnnrcn]

Flowers are not sharp Brian,did you use your tripod or not?

[Shadowman]

Comparison shot needed.

[NorthernFocus]

The blooms are out of focus and the leaves are sharp. If done intentionally it's not to my taste.

[chauncey]

FYI...no thought give to artistic value, merely to bokeh.





I ran them trough the entire f/stop gamut and could not discern the difference in bokeh using my 1Ds3.
Image #1 is a 180mm macro, #2 is using a 300mm f/2.8...both images @ f/3.5.

I first used the 300mm to establish it's minimum focusing distance then...balanced FOV with the 180mm.

[Shadowman]

[QUOTE=chauncey;383024]FYI...no thought give to artistic value, merely to bokeh.





I ran them trough the entire f/stop gamut and could not discern the difference in bokeh using my 1Ds3.
Image #1 is a 180mm macro, #2 is using a 300mm f/2.8...both images @ f/3.5.

I first used the 300mm to establish it's minimum focusing distance then...balanced FOV with the 180mm.[/QUOTE

Nice comparison.

[Geoff F]

It seems to me, Brian, that your camera has focused on the leaves which are a fraction behind the flowers when it comes to perfect focus. Possibly a little bit of over saturation on the red channel as well.

I have said it before, but I use a 'proper macro lens' for really close up shots of insects etc where a shallow depth of focus is acceptable. And a fairly close focusing more general purpose lens for flowers and fungi etc. This gives a deeper focus depth, but without the ability to get really close.

So I would say that your lens choice was correct with this shot; but it is a very difficult scene to get perfect, particularly with harsh lighting.

Ideally I would have taken the flowers inside and shot under controlled lighting or used some partial shading to reduce the glare and gone for a long exposure. Assuming wind movement wasn't a problem.

[Stagecoach]

Brian,

Your'e question is a bit confusing as to exactly what you are comparing if based on this image.

If you are considering the affect on DoF an image taken with a 50mm lens will have exactly the same DoF as one taken with a 300mm lens if you frame the subject exactly the same and use the same aperture. Chauncey's example demonstrates this clearly.

The longer the focal length of the lens you use the more susceptible your image is to showing any camera movement.

As for this image, details are clipped in areas due to the harsh lighting and this is especially relevant for the leaves which distract from the flower.

I'm not sure if this was taken using the tripod but if so as you only have Auto Focus available with the camera 'fixed' how are you determining exactly what the camera will focus on?

Grahame

[chauncey]

One should consider that with my examples, they were two of Canon's top tier lenses and one should not expect the same results using more reasonably prices glass.
Some lenses are simply renowned for their quality bokeh.

[Shadowman]

Brian,

I noticed that on one of your threads you stated you have a stone desktop for your laptop. Do you shoot tethered to the laptop?

[JBW]

Flowers are not sharp Brian,did you use your tripod or not?

absolutely yes with a 2 second delay so no shake from the click