Saturday, September 20, 2008

Wide aperture and depth of field in LX3


Ladybug, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Due to the f/2.0-f/2.8 maximum aperture the Panasonic LX3 has much more control over the depth of field than my old Ixus 400. (The slightly larger sensor - 1/1.6 vs. 1/1.8 - I guess doesn't have as much effect.)

In any case, taking closeup photos produces nicer-looking results than with Ixus 400. I like the fact I can make the background blurred, but not too blurred as the prevent recognizing the environment.

In this photo, taken yesterday, the aperture was at f/2.2 and the focal length 6.3 mm (equivalent to 30 mm), handheld with 1/40 s exposure at ISO 160. The image stabilization has worked great in LX3, even at 1/8 seconds it produces usually sharp results.

6 comments:

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Nice, I'd never seen such background blur with a compact.

Juha Haataja said...

This indeed was a bit of a surprise, but I guess f/2.0 (and not the tiniest of sensors) does have some effect. Also, with the wide angle you need to get very close to the subject.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Though actually with a longer focal length the background should be even softer.

Juha Haataja said...

You are of course right. Although the closest focusing distance at 24 mm is just 1 cm, and 20-30 cm at the tele. I have to check how good a blur can be achieved at 60 mm.

Anonymous said...

Are you using macro mode or without? It's normal for any camera to exhibit bokeh (Narrow DOF) in macro mode..

Juha Haataja said...

If you go close enough, macro or not, then you will get bokeh almost regardless of the sensor size.