Soft Scenic Pictures Because Of A Shallow DOF?

[Peter Natscher]

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HI Leica Forum,

 

I received my first Leica M7 along with a 35mm Summilux as my one-and-only lens to shoot with for a while. I am very excited about taking my pictures with this manual rangefinder camera. For now, I'm relieved to have put way my past Nikon DSLR camera for a while as I re-learn my photography with a manual camera. I've been shooting with various Nikon automated film and digital cameras for tens years. I will use this M7 body and 35mm lens to enjoy the simplicity of a manual camera and lens.

 

After getting back my first roll of developed color negative film with prints, I noticed that the 4x6 prints taken of out-of-door scenes looked generally soft. They were shot hand-held and with a tripod with EKTAR 100 color negative film. I then scanned a few of the color negatives with my EPSON 4870 flatbed scanner (the best scanner I have for now) and viewed them in PS to check the sharpness of the negatives. I still saw that they were generally soft in most areas of the scenes. I really couldn't find a very sharp area in the photo. I was generally shooting at f/2 - f/5.6. Was this DOF to shallow for my scenic shots and causing most of the picture to be a bit soft? Maybe I need to add DOF by shooting at f/8 and higher for out-of-door scenes?

 

Another issue might be me mis-focusing the M7. I'm new to this M7 rangefinder after using ground glass focusing with my DSLR's for 10 years. I do carefully focus the images (bring together the two images) inside the focusing patch in the viewfinder.

 

Thanks, Peter Natscher

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[NZDavid]

Subjects shot at infinity at f/2 and f/8 or f/11 will be equally sharp. Often they will be sharper at f/2 because you are using a faster shutter speed. But there is only ever one area that is absolutely sharp -- your point of focus. For the rest of the image there are only acceptable areas of unsharpness, which can be greater or lesser depending on DOF. You need to choose which area needs to be critically sharp. Use the DOF scale if you want to adjust how much background and foreground is in focus. The 35mm lens has heaps of DOF.

 

But I also wonder if printing and scanning is affecting your results. 4x6 lab prints may be poor and improper scanning technique or defective gear can seriously affect sharpness. As an experiment, you may like to try a roll of slide film and look at the slides under a high-powered loupe.

[john_s]

........ I still saw that they were generally soft in most areas of the scenes. I really couldn't find a very sharp area in the photo. I was generally shooting at f/2 - f/5.6. Was this DOF to shallow for my scenic shots and causing most of the picture to be a bit soft? Maybe I need to add DOF by shooting at f/8 and higher for out-of-door scenes?

............

Thanks, Peter Natscher

 

If DoF is too small (aperture too wide) you will usually see part of the picture quite sharp, but nearer and further parts of the scene increasingly unsharp as their distance is further from the distance of accurate focus. One possibility is camera movement: using a tripod for your next roll will remove that variable. You could take a picture of a picket fence at an oblique angle, marking the picket on which you have focused accurately. The resulting picture should show maximum sharpness where you focused, and increasing unsharpness at further/nearer distances.

 

The DoF markings on the lens barrel only indicate a mediocre limit of sharpness.

 

A rudimentary check of rangefinder accuracy can be done by checking that the rangefinder images superimpose at infinity (look at a spire/mast at a great distance) when the lens is at its infinity focus point.

 

What version of 35mm Summilux do you have? The pre ASPH has a reputation for being less than brutally sharp at wide apertures, and the ASPH for being sharper.

[Peter Natscher]

Thanks for your helpful replies. I will shoot a roll of chrome carefully taking note where I make exact focus. I will then inspect the slides carefully with my 5.5X photo lupe on my light box.

 

Peter

[underground]

Peter, What i will do for Scenic shots is shoot between F:5.6-22.0 and focus on

one third of the scene. sometimes I will choose the near third for focus and sometime

the far third for focus. this is just one of many technics that works best for the results

I demand. Have fun.

 

PS. The M7 is a fantastic camera. Have fun!

[redbaron]

Can you post some shots? There's a big difference between out-of-focus and motion blur.

[Peter Natscher]

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I just got back from shooting two rolls of C-41 film, EKTAR 100 and FujiColor Reala, with my M7 and 35 Lux. They were of coastal scenes high above the blue Pacific in and around Big Sur California. I'm lucky to be living nearby in Monterey. The skies are hazy this weekend from the neighboring forest fires, but but the red ice plant hugging the steep cliffs and azure and white surf still show through nicely. I concentrated on shooting using various DoF and shutter settings with each scene to see what the effects will be when I get my prints back, tomorrow. I'm curious to see what area of focus will be in each shot using these many settings. The many shooting locations covered 30 miles along the infamous Highway 1 that hangs onto 1,000 ft. cliffs overlooking the ocean. Being a summer weekend, there were multitudes of tourists surrounding me at each of the highway's turnoff vistas grabbing shots of the same scenes. I had to laugh watching all of them squint at their washed out LCDs on their PS cameras trying to frame a shot. My M7 sees clearly all directions in the bright sun and is a total joy to use while framing a shot.

 

Peter Natscher