Deep depth of field to get maximum detail on human faces

[Eildosa]

Well I did point out that many need help getting to grips with DOF. Even the noddy page link that was posted. From an image quality point of view you will probably find that it's best to stick to shorter focal length settings. That is not an uncommon aspect of many zoom lenses especially as the price goes down.

Cameras. Looking at sample images in reviews from the Panasonic and the Canon you mention the in built noise reduction and sharpening in the Panasonic is noticeably better than the Canon. I'd also guess with good reason that the 100 ISO on both is actually higher and made to happen with software that plays with the numbers. This is even beginning to happen on some DSLR's. In short all sorts of things happen to the information from the sensor in a compact before it gets into the jpg image. That has allowed compacts to get were they are these days. Things were a lot better in this respect when they had around 6mp and 1/2 in sensors but that size of sensor rules out very long focal length zoom lenses.

There are lots of people including me on here that would love a problem free compact or even better a bridge camera with a long zoom but we are aware that even at the bridge camera level they are only really suitable for producing relatively small images in mostly ideal conditions. You have the ideal conditions but ......... need to cope with the rest.

John
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When you shoot in raw, do your camera apply some post processing on the raw file?
The canon a2500 can be tweaked to output raw file.

I think I'm going to buy a canon 600D with a stock lens and a "L" serie lense to see what kind of difference you get.
From what I read on photogrammetry forum the 600D is a must and the "L" serie lenses generate a LOT less noise.
But since I'll only have 1 DSLR I'll only be able to test it on the silicon mask.

[ajohnw]

When you shoot in raw, do your camera apply some post processing on the raw file?
The canon a2500 can be tweaked to output raw file.

I think I'm going to buy a canon 600D with a stock lens and a "L" serie lense to see what kind of difference you get.
From what I read on photogrammetry forum the 600D is a must and the "L" serie lenses generate a LOT less noise.
But since I'll only have 1 DSLR I'll only be able to test it on the silicon mask.

L series lenses have nothing to do with noise only image quality. Of the cheaper canon lenses the 18-55mm is an interesting one. It has unusually even performance for a lens of this type but falls a little bit short of matching the resolution of modern higher pixel count sensors. Actually many lenses fall short on that count at some setting. This is the older version the newer STM one fixes that. It's an unusually good kit lens. The main reason for switching to an L lens really in this case would be for a faster aperture which you don't need. In my opinion I wouldn't be bothered if either lens came with the camera. The also do an F2.8 17-55mm. That would be the option for a faster lens.

The lenses I mention are all E-FS types for crop sensor cameras. The L series are full frame lenses. These can in some cases be used on crop cameras with some benefit. It's a complicated subject.

The raw files from compacts and bridge cameras just don't have the dynamic range that dslr's have and can need a lot of post processing to get them to look good. If you talked to some one who hacks the software they would probably tell you that there are so many ifs and buts in the cameras software it's highly likely to be a better option to leave it to the camera.

If you use raw from any camera the next thing that crops up is post processing. That needs software and I would say that people who get the hang of that in 6 months are doing well. Much depends on the subject and how much it stresses the dynamic range of the camera. Your subject is pretty easy in that respect but one can still find that post processing steps similar to the ones the camera uses are needed. I suspect you would be better off sticking with jpg's for a while at least otherwise you are likely to spend more time working on your PP than what you actually want to do. The main thing with jpg's is a correct exposure and avoiding over exposure as far as the jpg is concerned.

Cameras of any type can loosely be priced on the basis of how many thumb wheels and buttons they have.. Taking a dslr a 2 thumb wheel type will usually allow you to set the mode the camera is in correctly and the other thumb wheel will apply exposure compensation. There will then be buttons to briefly change the other things that often need altering. ISO setting is probably the main one. A well thought out single thumb wheel will have buttons to briefly change it's function to ISO and another to change it to exposure compensation. On a really well thought out camera there will also be some facility for locking focus and exposure. All cameras lock both when the shutter button is half pressed so in real terms a more advanced camera needs one that can be set to lock either. Even more advanced cameras will have buttons or switches to change other things such as auto focus mode rather than doing this in the menu system. All of these things are aimed at changing settings quickly without using the menu systme in mixed shooting conditions. The manufacturers are well aware of this and add and charge accordingly even deliberately leaving some out that they could include by including programmable buttons. The only way of finding out what can easily be done is by reading the manuals which can be downloaded. You might like to compare the 100D,700D and 60D.

Mirrorless might be another option. These can be compact like and will easily out perform compacts etc as they use a much larger sensor. For compact like personally I would mention Pen's but be warned the menu system used to set the camera up as wanted is rather extensive. Then comes EM-10, E-M5, E-M1. I feel the E-M5's are a bit of a bargain at the moment with the 12-50mm lens. Pens will suffer on the buttons etc aspect I have mentioned. The E-M5 in real terms is pretty complete. The menu is needed for af mode. Not sure what is missing of he E-M10. Noise etc can really be turned off on these cameras even the Pen's I have used. Olympus like their complex menu's and have them for enthusiasts. Then there is the Panasonic range.

On the other hand there will be a compact out there some where that allows manual control. Providing you can put up with the in your case I feel slight problems it might be best to find it and get on with it. Maybe this one which actually uses a bigger sensor than most, that's why it lacks super zoom. It can be bought for just over £200 in the UK

http://www.photographyblog.com/revie...us_xz2_review/

If you use raw from any camera you will end up doing the same sort of thing to them as the camera does so you shouldn't worry too much about that. This review site is useful as it often posts unretouched images from the camera. Right click on them and select properties. On some site you will often see some PP software mentioned. I just downloaded some of the raw files from it. I'm impressed. Plenty of noise at 6400 ISO but fact any camera will have some at this speed. As far as jpg's go there is no harm in messing with noise reduction, sharpness and contrast etc settings in the camera. Other manufacturers probably offer something similar as well. However Olympus of late is really trying and does tend to think about enthusiasts. I'd guess that there will be other cameras in their range with manual control but probably with longer zoom ranges and because of that smaller sensors. Note the comment about the competition in the conclusions. This will also indicate similar cameras. Sensor size is always given in the specs this one is 1/1.7 which is bigger than 1/2 etc. It appears to be a Sony sensor as it's back lit.

You will probably find as with any camera that there is often a gain in reducing the final size of images. The usual step after that is some slight sharpening.

John
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