New PowerShot & EOS Cameras to Offer DOF Control?

[zim]

Re: New PowerShot & EOS Cameras to Offer DOF Control?

Sounds to me like a mode in which the camera determines the subject near and far distance and sets aperture to ensure all subjects are in focus.

take for example a shot of a group of people. face detection could be used to determine the distance to the subject closest to the camera and the suject farthest from the camera, then select the aperture that mathmatically satisfies the DOF with that lens.

Sounds like a cool feature for consumer level cameras or even for shooting video if it was dynamic enough to adapt to the changing environment in real time.

My original EOS650 had that.

My old 500D still has it ;D

 

[Lightmaster]

Re: New PowerShot & EOS Cameras to Offer DOF Control?

sounds like a stupid art filter.

to at least calculate good looking DOF in post you need a depth map.
and it takes some time on a average desktop pc (like a i7 2600K) to calculate the DOF from a depth map.

i have to do it every day, for videos and stills.
i render out images and a special z-buffer image for the depth information.
from that depth map (a grayscale image that show distance information in shades of grey) i can then calculate and move the focus point in PS, after effects or nuke to my liking.

even the good rosenman DOF plugin or the lenscare DOF plugin for photoshop need a lot of time/processing power and still the results are often not 100% perfect (antialiasing issues because of differences in depth map and image informations).

fast processing in camera for JPG`s .... i don´t see how a rebel camera can do it so that the quality would satisfy me.

But that is the whole point here it is not just shooting something at like f/36 and then apply art filters after. It's capturing the depth field itself when you shoot.

i thought the general perception is that it could be anything? ;D

but yes.... if it´s done right (and that is what i doubt) then it´s not just a stupid art filter.

 

[anthonyd]

Re: New PowerShot & EOS Cameras to Offer DOF Control?

Canon will be coming out with the new 'Canon (dont) Think' camera soon I heard. You just imagine a photo and it appears on your camera, it's pretty rad.

No need to do ANYTHING! Now THAT'S PHOTOGRAPHY!

I get the sarcasm in your post, don't get me wrong, but I couldn't resist pointing out that imagining an awesome picture is quite often more than 50% of the hard work.

 

[Canihaspicture]

Re: New PowerShot & EOS Cameras to Offer DOF Control?

If this rumor is true then I don't expect it to be some filter garbage... Canon DSLRs already use microlenses. Slap a high pixel density sensor in there and you're practically done with a lightfield camera, the rest is processing.

Even just a minor fix for the oh crap it focused on the nose instead of the eye problem.

 

[sanj]

Re: New PowerShot & EOS Cameras to Offer DOF Control?

Absolutely. Canon people may be slow but they are not idiots. If they bringing something on, they must have reasons.

I feel that Canon has enough misses to make a credible challenge to your idiot claim.

Idiot claim? Nice...

 

[Markus D]

Re: New PowerShot & EOS Cameras to Offer DOF Control?

Many of Canon EOS film bodies had a "Depth" mode, so this is kind of a "Back to the Future" event!

Yes, my 50e (ElanIIe) had this already (camera Date introduced = September 1995):

DEP is for depth of field auto exposure mode. It allows the camera to decide the
appropriate aperture and focus position to provide enough depth of field to keep two
selected distances sharply in focus. The easiest way to use it is to turn the Command
Dial to DEP, and use the center auto focus sensor, point the camera at the first subject
and press the shutter button half way to autofocus. Let the button up and then point the
same AF sensor on the top of the second subject and press the shutter half way again
to allow the lens to autofocus on the second subject. Then reframe your camera and
take the picture. The camera will select a focus distance between the subject distances,
then select an aperture small enough to keep both subjects in focus and then select a
shutter speed that will provide proper exposure. If you select the same subject distance
twice, the camera will select the widest aperture available to keep depth of field very
shallow. The lens must be set to AF for DEP mode to work and if you are using a zoom
lens, you must not change its zoom setting during the entire procedure. You can also
manually or eye control select the side AF sensors, but I think it just adds confusion.
A blinking aperture indicated that sufficient depth of field (DOF) can not be achieved.
You must focus on subjects that are closer to the same distance apart or use a wider angle
lens.

(ref: http://www.google.nl/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCkQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgraphics.stanford.edu%2F~niloy%2FmiscDocs%2FelanIIe.pdf&ei=2sBnU7iiDcn-PPi8gOAL&usg=AFQjCNFcpLQfmpOPCiZ99ceN_esrVc9bDw)

Maybe Canon will now also bring back the eye controlled autofocus feature!!! 8)

Maybe they could bring back film also!! Yes, the EOS3 had Depth of Field as an option. Wish I had it on my 40D. Or on the next 7d(XX).