parishard

I am going to photograph some sailing ship modesl in a local maritime museum. I have the Nikon D80, D90, D300 and D7200 camera bodies to choose from. The biggest problem with photographing these model is always how to get maximum DOF over a length of about 5 feet front to back. Imagine a volume 1 foot wide by 5 feet long (front end of the model to rear end of the model) by 4 foot high. The big problem is shooting from the 1 foot end and getting as much of the volume of the 'box' in as sharp focus as possible. Getting everything (the entire volume) in focus with camera alone is not possible. You can't get uniform sharp focus in PP either. Hence the use of focus stacking. All I want to know is what would be a good lense(s) to use with one or all of these Nikon bodies assuming lighting, etc was adequate. I have been a daily reader for six months (this is a fantastic website) and I know there experts out there for whom this is 'old-hat'. I am going to have to buy a 'new' (older prime lens with manual focus) lens but I don't know which one to get. Any other advice I could benefit from would also be gladly accepted. Help me out, please.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

Try this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3Dz34MMjQ0&t=142s

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

Interesting. Have you ever considered using a tilt-shift lens for this? They are expensive, but you can rent one here:

https://www.borrowlenses.com/product/nikon_85mm_PC-E

Here is an article - "Why Tilt and Shift?"

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/movements.htm

Here is a review from the same author of the Nikon 85mm f/2.8 PC-E:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/85mm-pc-e.htm

And another article and review:

http://ryanbrenizer.com/2011/04/nikon-tilt-shift-review-part-1-on-camera-movements-and-trends-in-photography/

Mike

parishard

From what I have seen about tilt shift lenses is that they would be very cumbersome to use thus causing the focus point to move and thus probably getting a blurred image. Not to mention they are expensive. I think the solution is simpler that shift-tilt.

tdekany Loc: Oregon

You don’t say what lenses you have, but just use your sharpest one and stack them in Photoshop or Helicon focus

parishard

I don't have any that are easy to use in the manual mode. I want an older D lens with good manual operation.

repleo Loc: Boston

I'd suggest starting with a Depth of Field calculator. There are numerous Apps for your phone or try this on-line version. http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/dof-calculator.htm
This should give you a good idea of focus depth for any of your lenses under any given aperture or distance to subject. Cambridge in Color is a great site for digging in a bit deeper for a lot of technical aspects of photography.

LoneRangeFinder Loc: Left field

What size are the models? As I understand it, they are one foot wide by five feet long by four feet high. Correct? How close will you be able to get to the models? This is important because it will determine the focal length of the lens needed.

freddusel Loc: Nashville

I would suggest a 100 mm f 2.0 Carl Zeiss Makro Planar ZF mount. I use this lens extensively especially at f 4.0 where it is of maximum sharpness. Because of the volume of the subject, tilt will gain you nothing. With this lens, I focus on the nearest aspect of the subject that I want to render sharp and then proceed to incrementally focus by a factor of 2mm to the farthest objects I want to have in sharp focus. For an object as large as the ship models that you describe I suspect you generate a stack of 150-200 images. Zerene focus stacking software will have no difficulty with stacks of this size. If you want a more pronounced proportionality of the features of the models use a shorter lens but the procedure is the same. Stop the lens down no further than its sweet spot, my other primes all optimize at f 5.6. Good luck and have a blast. Also, when producing a stack, you cannot reverse the direction of focus anywhere in the stack. Zerene goes nuts when stacks with out-of-order images are submitted. Best, Fred

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

LoneRangeFinder Loc: Left field

This about covers it. In tight quarters, however, the 100mm on a cropsensor may not be wide enough— a 35mm might be better for the coverage. I would agree with Zerene as a best choice for this project, and 150-200 sounds about right.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Funny, you must have posted that before, and it was at the half-way point. Good video.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Focus stacking sounds like a good solution.

cthahn

Start reading about depth of field and focus stacking. You have to understand that every focal length lens, lens opening, and distance from the camera to the subject is different. You have to practice this by taking pictures and then analyzing them. If you think some one can tell you how to do this in in a few words, you are sadly mistaken.

parishard

Fred - Thanx for the info. The 100mm would tend to flatten the final image (as I understand it): I would like the ship image to look as long and in scale as possible and not look like a pancake: you really want the gun line to look as real as possible, that is an impressive thought provoking site. What about the old Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF? I am going to have to buy a 'new' lens for this project. I don't even own an easily manually adjustable lens.
Ken Rockwell this likes 50mm a lot: also it is cheap. How do you think it would work? Granted, that 100% of the 'box' volume won't be in focus, but, you can include as much as possible. There in no problem with distance from the model, you can move anywhere you want. Thanks for the product name (I can't get to it from this screen). I hadn't thought it would take 150 to 200 images, but, what the heck, whatever it takes it takes.