Rather than be obsessed with camera settings etc., what really matters is seeing the photograph and capturing it. Understanding the basic rules of composition (and when to break them) may help to this effect. Technique will come with experience. Masterpieces have been produced by some who have no photographic experience with a very basic camera that doesn't have any settings to worry about. Conversely, many boring images have been produced by others who have the most expensive cameras, whose main interest is pixel peeping but have never developed the seeing eye.

John K

Take it it does film AND full frame digital?

John K

Thanks, yes. I drove up and collected them so the whole transaction was completed in under 24 hours.

John K

PM sent.

John K

I'd never have thought to put that in for a search. Well done and thanks again.

John K

Thanks. As the creature had spent the night in the fridge with the fruit he was quite static (until he warmed up.) Normally the problem is chasing them around and never quite managing it as the ... depth of field... is quite tiny! The beetle was approx 1cm (3/8") in length.
All I did to take the photo was to put the K-5 on a tripod with the 100mm f2.8 macro and a Charlotte style Pringle tube, set the timer for 2 seconds delay, focus at the closest distance the lens allowed (used manual focus) and fire away. Exposure setting (1/180" @ f13.)
Final image cropped (not by a lot) and levels tweaked in Elements to bring out the head details as it was all rather black.
Using the Pringle tube method directs the light so that it looks fairly natural and allows the onboard flash exposure system to function.

John K

Well thanks. A quick look on Wikipedia for Lagria hirta certainly shows his cousin. At least it doesn't suggest they are pests, which is good because I have put him back where he came from!
I tried to look it up in my extensive field guide book of Insects of Britain, and that species isn't even mentioned. So well done for knowing or finding that out.
Also a good bit of practice for my macro photography too; that Pringles tube came in handy.

Kind regards,

John K

Source of this research, please, and is it peer reviewed? What one reads in a forum isn't always accurate!
Remember that two different 50mm lenses will not be equally sharp, the softer one may give the appearance of having a greater depth of field; but I say again, there is only a single plane where focus occurs.
What you are saying is that one lens placed on a 35mm film camera then on a D-SLR (both producing an APS-C sized image) is giving different depth of fields. I have no research to prove or disprove that but it sounds impossible. The only thing that may affect the DSLR image is post processing to increase the apparent sharpness. It makes no sense to me that the DOF of the lens onto different film stocks or various branded digital sensors is actually going to change. Is the suggestion that the depth of field of a lens at a certain setting on a K-5 (CMOS) is different to that on a K100D (CCD)?

John K

After picking some blackcurrants and raspberries from the garden yesterday I found this little creature at the bottom of the box. Having spent the night in the fridge I was allowed 15 minutes or so to take a photo before he woke up. The not particularly attractive background is the plastic box!



Anyone have any idea as to what species?

John K

A lens can only focus at one specific plane, anything before or after that is therefore not in focus. How acceptable that nearly in focus zone is depends on the intended use of the image (eg web or 12x15" print) and the viewing distance. At a web size the whole image may look acceptably sharp whereas the large print viewed close up will show some of it as out of focus. But view the 12x15 print from across the room and it too may well now look acceptably sharp. No simple mathematical formula can account for these perceived differences given not all lenses perform the same, some have a flat field of focus, others have a curved field. There are too many variables. As JR says, take a test shot and work from there.

John K