DoF vs. P settings

[SunderlandPhotography]

After changing my email address before Christmas, I'm finally able to post messages. Woohoo.


What is the difference between Depth of Focus setting and the the P setting on my Canon 450D

Should I be using the DoF setting for my landscapes? Or doesn't it make any difference?

[wave01]

hi if i was doing a landscape in general i would use iso 100 AV mode large F number and a tripod

[markgozz]

I don't know much about Canon cameras but are you saying there is a button or dial point for DOF ( Depth of Field ) because I've never heard of this before .

Depth of field is the amount of the image that is in sharp focus and is effected by a combination of the aperture size the focal length of your lens and the distance to the subject , in general the larger the aperture ( small f/ number ) the narrower the depth of field will be .
As wave01 said most of the time landscape photos benefit from having as much of the image in focus as pos unless you want an artistic bent to the image , so I would use aperture priority ( AV ) and set the aperture to something between f/16 and f/22 and then focus about 1/3 the way into your scene .
It might be a good idea to have a look at some of the how to videos on this site or youtube on how to use the different dial settings , another really good place to look is your cameras manual .

Mark

[donoreo]

He is asking about the A-DEP setting. It is an auto DOF setting that uses the focus points to determine what you want in focus and sets an appropriate aperture. It also sets the shutter speed, so you do not have much control. I used it once by mistake.

[markgozz]

Thanks donoreo that's a new one on me, like you say it doesn't give you any artistic input so what's the point ? .

If I were you SunderlandPhotography I would only use it to see what the effect is but if you want to use your camera to it's fullest I would use AV .

Mark

[SunderlandPhotography]

donoreo

Yes that's what I meant. Sorry for the confusion.

I'll have to take some shots and see what the differences are between them.

[nick_gray]

Originally Posted by SunderlandPhotography

donoreo

Yes that's what I meant. Sorry for the confusion.

I'll have to take some shots and see what the differences are between them.

The A-DEP mode is designed to help produce photos where everything in the frame is in sharp focus. The camera analyzes everything in the frame and sets an aperture to get the maximum depth of field, then sets the shutter speed to properly expose your shot. However, the shutter speed it selects may be too slow to handhold. If the camera can't get an acceptable exposure it will change the aperture and disregard the DoF calculation!!. Also as soon as you turn on Live View or Flash (to get some fill-in light) the camera stops calculating the depth of field. All in all, I don't think there are many instances where this mode is going to be useful to you.

So as others have suggested, use AV or full manual mode and for landscape shots, focus about a third of the way into the shot and you should achieve the same or better results than the A-DEP mode.

Regards

Nick

[SunderlandPhotography]

Ok. Thank you Nick. I've actually been looking at Av mode on the internet and it seems to be the best setting to use instead of A-Dep.