Going to DSLR from 35mm Film SLR

bradleysmith

bradleysmith

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Bradley Smith
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Hi,

I'm considering moving to a DSLR from film. My concerns though are the ability to get creative with depth of field on cropped sensor DSLRs. I love close up portraits and appreciate being able to blur almost everything but the eyes. Will I lose this ability if I move to a cropped sensor DSLR? If so, are there easy to use (I'm rubbish with photoshop) techniques to achieve the effect digitally?

Thanks!
 
A decent f1.8/1.4 should sort that out.
 
I guess that's my question really. To get the shallow DOF I get from a 50mm f/1.8 on a 35mm system would I need to get an f/1.4 to get the equivalent on a cropped DSLR?
 
What's your budget Bradley? Considered getting a second hand full frame body like a 5D mark I? That might negate your DOF concerns, but if you have to go crop then an f/1.4 is probably what you need.
 
I'm considering 2nd hand yes but even second hand a mk1 5D is out of my price range sadly! I'm on a really tight budget (up to £400 for body + a 50mm), hence currently using film - 50mm f/1.8 FDs are £20 :-)

I was tempted by the 4/3rds cameras purely for the availability of adapters for older (and hence cheaper!) manual lenses but the even smaller sensor on these cameras will make the DOF even greater won't it?
 
bradleysmith said:
Hi,

I'm considering moving to a DSLR from film. My concerns though are the ability to get creative with depth of field on cropped sensor DSLRs. I love close up portraits and appreciate being able to blur almost everything but the eyes. Will I lose this ability if I move to a cropped sensor DSLR? If so, are there easy to use (I'm rubbish with photoshop) techniques to achieve the effect digitally?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I too was a bit concerned about this but I discovered that being able to hit the "view 100%" button with the digital images revealed a lot of errors that I had not really seen when shooting film as I never enlarged the images that much.

I have taken quite a few pictures where I have been surprised by the lack of DOF not the other way round.

Taken on a 40D and a 50 f1.8



I have also learnt not to rely too much on the AF, sepecially in low lilght/contrast with wide angle lenses. Live view and manual focus is your friend here for really critical focus.

HTH

David
 
bradleysmith said:
I'm considering 2nd hand yes but even second hand a mk1 5D is out of my price range sadly! I'm on a really tight budget (up to £400 for body + a 50mm), hence currently using film - 50mm f/1.8 FDs are £20 :-)

I was tempted by the 4/3rds cameras purely for the availability of adapters for older (and hence cheaper!) manual lenses but the even smaller sensor on these cameras will make the DOF even greater won't it?
Click to expand...

yes - avoid 4/3rds if you want shallow DoF. You can very roughly work out the equivallent DoF by multipling the f number by crop factor as well. So a f/1.8 lens on crop will give the same DoF (roughly) as f/2.8 on 35mm all other thing being equal
 
What you get is assume based on what you already have so that your lenses will be compatible but at around £400 you are talking Canon 30D,Nikon D200 territory both of which are fine cameras.
A word of advice though based on personal experience dont ditch the film kit it saves having to buy expensive ultra wide lenses for digital crop sensors and with printing and scanning still very reasonably priced at places like Photo express in Hull you can have a lot of film fun for a small outlay
 
Willid1 said:
I have also learnt not to rely too much on the AF, sepecially in low lilght/contrast with wide angle lenses. Live view and manual focus is your friend here for really critical focus.
Click to expand...

I never get why people say this. Considering the relativly dark view finder of a crop DSLR, the lack of a split prism focus screen and how great modern AF systems are why do people still suggest they can MF faster and more accuratley than the AF systems can manage it on a properly set-up system.

Hugh
 
Thanks for the advice chaps. Since posting I've googled for sample shallow DOF images on 4/3rds cameras to see what's possible. Seems like I may have been worrying about nothing really. Obviously I cannot have as shallow a DOF as a full frame but it looks like with a fast lens and adapter combo I get the effects I want. My concerns stemmed from using my Ricoh GX100 whereby it seemed like pretty much everything was in focus all the time!

The huge choice of lenses that can be attached to the 4/3rds system (without the need for any image-degrading glass in the adapter) has kinda swayed me that way. As someone else suggested it also means I can keep my T90 and my current lenses and use them on both bodies. The question now is 4/3 or micro 4/3 and with or without proper optical Viewfinder... hmmm
 
manualfocus-g said:
Don't forget the Sony NEX and Samsung NX10 either, which have less of a crop factor but still take FD lenses :)
Click to expand...

Well I never knew that! Just popped into the Sony Centre to have a play. A very impressive bit of technology. Feels a bit too small though and the lack of buttons feels quite jarring. Hard to know if I'd adapt ok. The sweep panorama feature is incredible. Amazing price of £319 from play.com at the moment too.
 
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