Leica M's Macro Capability (w/ macro adaptor)

[rpavich]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

 

I've been thinking about this thread....One of the things that wasn't discussed was Depth of Field?

 

Your in a dark restaurant shooting a piece of sushi with available light....during a fancy meal. 

 

You got two problems one is close focus. That can be fixed as this group has shown lots of ways....all good choices. But the bigger problem is Depth of Field. With available light and no tripod, all of the Close Up choices share one thing. When you fill the frame and shoot wide open most of your sushi will be out of focus, you got a half inch. This could be the desired technique but 1/2" is very shallow, and soft focus is not always the best way to show off food/the design of.........unless thats what you want for every shot. 

 

Granted it's not my job and I don't know what juui852 has in mind for these photos.....And generally speaking I'm not a fan of cropping as a technique. However if it were me and I don't see  juui852 wanting posters of these shots, I would not fill the frame and gain depth of field. The M 's file size  is 19.92"X13.307"  leave some room and crop a little you'll gain more depth of field and a much higher hit rate.....and the up side is it will be easer to shoot.....making the meal more fun

 

Yea I know I over think things 

 

 

I agree. I've shot a lot of food and the super shallow DOF isn't what's generally needed. Usually the rule of thumb is "70% of the depth should be infocus. You can have the last bit of food on the plate drift out of focus but the front must be in focus or it looks weird. It also looks weird if everything you shoot is razor thin DOF.

 

As I previously said..the rangefinder isn't ideal for this. I have used other cameras that were smaller and more suited to this job (and larger ones that weren't also  )

 

If it were me, I'd use something like a Fuji X100S or something. It can get very Macro...super close, and it's pretty small and hand holdable, and the 23mm focal length is pretty darn perfect for this type of thing.

 

I love my M6 but it's not the do all camera by any means.

[ECohen]

"Usually the rule of thumb is "70% of the depth should be in focus."

 

I never heard it put in a number before..... I like that.

Out of focus food is a current trend and 70%  sound right.