Help me get a VERY narrow depth of field

[x3ro]

please :)

I have an FZ5, and I'm trying to get a narrow depth of field. Using aperture priority mode, and even with an aperture of F2.8, and doing close up macros on flowers and such, i still get a lot of in focus things other than the subject I'm trying to photograph.. How can I cut down on this? Using 1 spot focus helps I'm sure, but would zooming in and using telemacro feature help narrow down the depth of field so I can get a more focused flower with more unfocused background images??

Thanks

:confused:

[Norm in Fujino]

please :)How can I cut down on this? Using 1 spot focus helps I'm sure, but would zooming in and using telemacro feature help narrow down the depth of field so I can get a more focused flower with more unfocused background images??

I don't know anything about the telemacro feature, but have you tried it? What was it like? On a fixed lens camera with small sensor like the FZ5, fairly deep depth of field is usually a given. One solution is to try a screw-on close-up lens (diopter). That won't give you best possible optical results, but short of changing to a dSLR with macro lens, nothing probably will. Panasonic apparently doesn't make conversion lenses for the FZ5, but third-party suppliers do (according to the review on DPReview).

[akysiev]

Zooming in will help, as will moving closer to the subject.

[Rex914]

1) Separate the subject as much as possible from the background.
2) Go to full telephoto.

Those two should do the trick, but remember that due to the physical properties of virtually all point and shoot lenses (the gigantic "crop factor"), it's fairly hard to get a very narrow depth of field. Your lens may say 36-432 mm, but in reality, it's a 6-72 mm lens. :)

[Coltess]

Check out the September 2005 issue of Popular Photography. There is an article on page 40/41 that shows you how to fake depth-of-field in photoshop.
If you can't get PopPhoto where you live, wait a while and the article will probably appear on their website: http://www.popphoto.com/
The article is called "Background Check" and comes from the Digital Toolbox by Debbie Grossman.

[akysiev]

I might be wrong but from a rough estimate I threw together, I think that at f/3.3 at 72mm, if you get a subject to less than 5 meters away, you should be able to get a DoF of less than a quarter of a meter. This, of course, drops the closer you get to the subject (which is the only way in this calculation since I already used the FZ5's longest focal length and widest aperture). But due to the crop factor, at 5 meters, your field of view is a degree and a third. Talk about super close-ups :rolleyes:

I think I got the FoV formula right... Hope so.

[astro]

There is no telemacro with the FZ5. You will need diopter lens!
I got the Leitz Weltzar Elpro VIb on ebay for $5.50. Great lens! Then I found myself trying to get the depth of field longer! :eek:
Here's a shot I took with it along with my FZ15... http://www.astroguy.org/beelarge.jpg

[x3ro]

There is no telemacro with the FZ5. You will need diopter lens!
I got the Leitz Weltzar Elpro VIb on ebay for $5.50. Great lens! Then I found myself trying to get the depth of field longer! :eek:
Here's a shot I took with it along with my FZ15... http://www.astroguy.org/beelarge.jpg

um.. the FZ5 does indeed have telemacro :)