a manual focusing question

[seattletyp]

So I wonder how I can get this effect with my DSC-H1? I need to stay focused on the object closest to the lens, with everything behind it out of focus?

[Imasphere]

In order to do this, you need to obtain a very narrow depth of field. This is achieved by completely opening the iris of your camera. You could go in full manual mode, adjust the aperture to the lowest f-stop value and adjust ISO values and shutter speed yourself, or for a simpler solution, you could go in aperture priority mode and adjust the aperture to the lowest f-stop value. I don't know about the H1 but for the H2, the lowest value is f2.8 at the widest end of the lens and f3.7 at 12x telephoto. This brings me to the zooming value of your lens. The more you zoom in, the more you narrow your depth of field, but usually the aperture does not open as much. (Like I said on the DSC-H2 the maximum aperture is f3.7 at full 12x zoom.) The best solution for you is probably to set your camera at full 12x telephoto, open the aperture to its maximum and move your camera to obtain the desired composition (at 12x zoom) focus manually according to the distance between the camera lens and the desired object. You may have to adjust your lighting according to the exposure you want and you might have to zoom out or change aperture values a little but don't play around with them too much.

I hope my explanations are clear enough, don't hesitate to post again if you find them hard to follow.

[seattletyp]

Thats a big help actually.. thx. The H1 appears to hold the same values. Side note.. there's no way to manually adjust focus on these is there?

[SMcEvoy]

seattletyp - Try using the aperture mode (A) on it and setting it to the largest opening (smallest number), e.g. f/2.8 Then use the Macro focusing capabilities which let you get pretty close to your subject. (I think I read as close as 2cm on that camera.)

Hope that helps. Now you can also do this zooming in if you're a fair way back from your subject and you use your optical zoom with a low aperture number too.

[Imasphere]

Great advice Suzan, I hadn't thought of the macro...

To manually adjust focus, press the focus button several times until you reach the manual mode. Use the menu ring ( beside the lcd screen) to adjust focus. Good luck.

[seattletyp]

That works very well.. thanks Suzan.

Originally posted by smcevoy
seattletyp - Try using the aperture mode (A) on it and setting it to the largest opening (smallest number), e.g. f/2.8 Then use the Macro focusing capabilities which let you get pretty close to your subject. (I think I read as close as 2cm on that camera.)

Hope that helps. Now you can also do this zooming in if you're a fair way back from your subject and you use your optical zoom with a low aperture number too.