Question about Apeture choice

[bibowj]

Hi I just developed my first roll from the new Hassy 500cm that Ive written about recently, and even though I accidentally locked the camera so I had to rewind mid roll, Im still quite impressed by the negatives....even scanned. Theyre not leaps and bound better than my completed digital b/w's but my best ones of those are after HOURS of post work done on them. ..plus these were just a couple of grab shots..

I shot at 2.8 on my 80 and 4 on my 150 so I could compare the bokeh to my (one of the reasons I went back to film), one thing I noticed was that the sliver of IN focus is quite obvious, and quite thin. I think this might create a problem being that I shoot mainly portraits. So my question is, on theses lens' whats the best aperture to use in order to guarantee good focus on the subject, while still throwing the background completely out. I imagine its somewhere around 5.6 but I still have to ask, cause 5.6 is TOO in focus on my DSLR...
Thanks everyone!

 

[Ian Grant]

f5.6 on a 120 camera is more like f2.8 on most DSLR's with a standard lens, so don't worry. Ideally do some tests at various apertures & learn how the Hasselblad behaves.

Ian

 

[Dan Henderson]

I found that 2 to 3 stops down from wide open gives me the sharpest negatives. F/11 on my 150 is my preferred aperture; f/8 and f/16 are good. Wide open was not as sharp, nor was stopped fully down. But that is for the pictures that I make, for the results that I like. As Ian said, you should do some tests with your equipment to learn what looks best to you.

 

[Slixtiesix]

Dept of field is much smaller in medium format than it is in KB or with most DSLRs. The lenses you have will give optimum performance from 5,6 to 11 (though at the other f-stops they are not bad, this is just their optimum). Diffraction starts to degrade image quality in medium format mostly above an f-stopf of 22 or 32. From personal experience I know that many DSLR shooters don´t go behind 11 or so because they are in fear of diffraction, so I wanted to add this.
Recently I did some portrait shots with my 80/2,8 at f5,6 and they came out quite well. In fact I was amazed how shallow DOF was even at this aperture. I do not do portraiture on a regularly base but I think f5,6 is a good point to start with. I agree with the above mentioned. If it is not too much effort, just do a test role of film with the different apertures.
Good luck, Benjamin

 

[Sirius Glass]

Use 400 ISO film at box speed and the DOF is wonderful. And hand holding is not a problem with this speed and any lens.

f 8 or f 11 works very well.

Steve