Why does everyone like DOF preview buttons?

[Jeff Kubach]

I use it some but not much.

Jeff

 

[Rol_Lei Nut]

Also useful for evaluting any effect of flare or reflections under critical lighting situations...

 

[DWThomas]

I admit I don't use it very much. Of course, most of my manual lenses have a depth of field scale where I can guestimate the range I want if need be. That's one annoyance of AF lenses, most that I've seen or own have the focus scale compressed into such a short space it's no wonder they don't have DOF markings. If one is doing product type shots, DOF preview can be useful -- with continuous lighting -- but may run into the dimmed image problem with low power modeling lights.

 

[nyoung]

About the only time I use it is when I'm shooting large groups - sports team pictures etc. - in crappy light. I use it to check that the faces on the back row and the front row are in focus. Its hard to sell pictures to out-of-focus subjects.

 

[FilmOnly]

I could not agree more with the original post...and with Steve Smith's comment in #20. I have used SLRs for years, and have yet to pry any functionality out of a DOF preview button. I can hardly even discern what is going on (or what I am supposed to discern) when I press the button. Thus, I have never understood the "lacks a DOF button" complaint. With some cameras, DOF preview also offers a joint functionality with exposure settings, but this is also rather useless for me as I use a hand-held light meter 99% (or more) of the time. I have yet to see an in-camera light meter reading agree with a hand-held reading.

 

[ic-racer]

For me it is "DOF preview" in name only. The 'look' of an image at f8 or f11 is totally different than at f1.4. Stopping down is the only way to see what your picture is actually going to look like; why make it a mystery?

 

[Photo Engineer]

It is very useful in macrophotography, especially with bellows where the DOF cannot easily be estimated.

If you want a photo of a bee's knee, you need to know it is in focus.

PE

 

[Q.G.]

So are you saying you can't possibly do this without a preview?

Not at all.
But you would be guessing at it.

 

[removed-user-1]

I use DOF preview all the time, especially for closeup work (I do a lot of botanical photography these days). Yes, I can guess that f/5.6 is going to produce a nice blurry background on my Mamiya RB67's 127mm lens. I still want to see it (and shooting a Polaroid is rather expensive).

The first "serious" camera that I personally owned and used regularly was a Nikon FG (ok, not that serious). This camera had no DOF preview. At the time I shot almost nothing but slide film, so I would get back shots that didn't have enough DOF - or too much - and be very frustrated, especially when processing was not cheap for a college student. I prefer to see my composition on the focus screen, and DOF is part of the composition.

This still leaves another missing feature: "panning/motion blur preview." I think that's missing from most all cameras!!! Oh well - a certain amount of unpredictability is nice.

 

[MartinCrabtree]

Because they help to see if my mind (which I rarely trust these days) has seen it right.

 

[lxdude]

The darkened viewfinder is not a problem most of the time for me. I give my eyes a moment to adjust and I'm fine, even at f/32. If it's too dim to see at the aperture set I open up a stop and that gives me a good idea whether I need to stop down further. Also a flashlight on the subject helps.

With fast lenses especially, depth of field affects the final look of any single image more than lens sharpness, contrast or aberrations. As mentioned above, the ability to accurately see flare and ghosting is very useful, as those are very evident in the final photograph. Even with d#%&!l shooting, it's better to avoid than remove it.

 

[5stringdeath]

At f/32 you really need a DOF preview????

 

[eddym]

The darkened viewfinder is not a problem most of the time for me. I give my eyes a moment to adjust and I'm fine, even at f/32. If it's too dim to see at the aperture set I open up a stop and that gives me a good idea whether I need to stop down further. Also a flashlight on the subject helps.

You could always use a view camera focusing cloth... assuming you're also using a tripod, of course. Underneath the cloth, your eyes adjust quickly to the dim light.

 

[2F/2F]

Not everyone likes them or uses them, and they are certainly not necessary. However, I use them when working on a tripod; not to check how much depth of field I have, but to see just how out of focus areas are rendered. As for using them to check composition for exact depth of field, I find them pretty useless. Sometimes, I will use them hand held just to get a quick idea of what my out of focus areas will look like, so I can select the aperture that I think will look best. However, most of the time when I am shooting hand held, I give first priority to the shutter speed. Most of the time, when working on a tripod, I set the lens to manual aperture, if this is an option. I open wide to select my plane of critical focus, then stop down until the out of focus areas look decent to me. I then alter exposure with the shutter. I do this with my M645, but not my RZ, as the RZ does not feature a manual aperture option TMK. It simply has a momentary (automatic return) D of F lever.

 

[removed account4]

i just use mine on large format lenses .. only to focus,
it is easier than using B or T ...
other than that i find my preview buttons are "unused"

 

[lxdude]

At f/32 you really need a DOF preview????

With macro, yes.

 

[lxdude]

I use them when working on a tripod; not to check how much depth of field I have, but to see just how out of focus areas are rendered.

To me, that's usually as important as knowing depth of field.

As for using them to check composition for exact depth of field, I find them pretty useless.

I find it approximates the final appearance, but exact depth of field is ambiguous anyway, as actual depth of field is a matter of what's perceivably out of focus. It will vary with print or projected size, and viewing distance.

Sometimes, I will use them hand held just to get a quick idea of what my out of focus areas will look like, so I can select the aperture that I think will look best. I open wide to select my plane of critical focus, then stop down until the out of focus areas look decent to me.

That's something I will often use it for, too.

 

[5stringdeath]

With macro, yes.

I see

 

[Chan Tran]

I use the DOF button once in a while and when I use very small stop like f/22 or f/32. When I use small stop the DOF becomes very important and I want to make sure I have it. The characteristic of each type of focusing screen will make you see differently so I do have to get used to certain screen to use the DOF button effectively.
I sometimes use the DOF button to stop the lens down in order to test the meter and/or the aperture. Althoug I don't use the feature often enough I do value cameras with this feature more.

 

[Galah]

Even on cameras that I've owned that have them, I never use them. Personally I find them pretty useless. Yet I see lots of discussions on different bodies here where people say "only thing wrong with it is it lacks a DOF preview."
So I'm just wondering how people put them to practical use.

Until recently, I too couldn't see the "benefit" of the stop-down lever: after all, everything simply went so dim as to be "useless", didn't it?:confused:

OK, then (fairly recently) I started using Super Takumar lenses and a Spotmatic-F.

This required the use of stop-down metering.

While engaged in stop-down metering, I noticed that, in stop-down mode, I could actually see the contribution of the shadow/highlight areas to my "composition" far more easily than I could in the open aperture mode. Also, I could see more easily how background elements in the scene would either add/contribute to or distract from my composition more easily than I could with the aperture wide open. This was particularly the case when "shooting contra jour".

Amazingly, to me, as I became more used to the dimmer light in the stop-down mode, I actually could see the impact of a wider or narrower aperture on the various elements of the scene, and was enabled to manipulate these effects in order to improve the end result, before pressing the shutter button.

I am fast becoming a fan of the stop-down lever, and wouldn't want a camera/lens combination without it.

(Of course, I am speaking of analogue equipment)

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

DOF preview is arguably one of the reasons to use an SLR as opposed to some other kind of camera. The view camera gives the possibility of seeing the DOF on the groundglass, but the SLR also lets you focus on the groundglass up to the instant before triggering the shutter. A rangefinder allows you to focus up to the instant of exposure, but gives you no DOF preview. Then there are rangefinder press and technical cameras which might give you DOF preview on the groundglass or focusing with the rangefinder, but not both at once, though you can check DOF on the glass, insert a filmholder, and check focus with the rangefinder from there.

If you don't ever use DOF preview, maybe it would make more sense to shoot a rangefinder camera, at least when you don't require very close focusing or long lenses. Rangefinder lenses are generally sharper, because there is no mirror to design around, and the cameras are smaller, quieter and easier to handhold at lower speeds.

 

[timk]

It's not a feature I'd exclude if I was designing a film camera, I think review comments complaining about no DOF preview are probably valid on a film SLR (and I would say probably a very minor issue on a DSLR since you can check on the screen).

I use it infrequently with 35mm, typically for handhold shots I won't use it, any time I have my camera out on a tripod for landscape or posed shots I will use it from time to time.

In my opinion, It's a lot more important to be able to judge DOF with medium and large format, because they will have very narrow DOF at wider apertures.

And, not all of us use the DOF scale or care to memorize how many meters or cm of focus you will get with x lens at y aperture. Some people prefer to "see it" in the viewfinder rather than read meters/feet off a scale (after all, one of the reasons of buying an SLR is to see through the lens).

 

[Sirius Glass]

At f/32 you really need a DOF preview????

Yes. Especially if you want everything in focus from a few inches to infinity. There is not much fun in getting film processed to find out that the close field object which dominates the photograph is fuzzy.

With 400 speed film, I do not use the DOF preview very often during the day. If I use the hyper focus range on the lens, I will do a quick check with the preview. Low light levels, yes.

With slower film 100 to 160 or slower, then the DOF preview gets used a lot.

Remember, it does not cost anything to use the DOF preview. If you do not use it, you may never have the opportunity to reshoot that lost shot.

Steve

 

[macrorie]

If you do a lot of macro photography, you learn the value of the DOF preview.

 

[FilmOnly]

I find it interesting that one can discern anything when stopped down. I have used Spotmatic equipment for years, and when stopped down, I have not been able to notice "shadow/highlight" areas. I see only a black malaise. For outdoor shots, I use the DOF scale of the lens and hyperfocal distance almost exclusively. I find that it works with near-scientific accuracy (i.e. I almost always get what I expect). Perhaps I know my apertures very well?...