Sigma 24mm lens

zilla

Senior Member
I have become really interested in landscapes.. My images seem to me to be lacking a bit in the DOF area.. I am thinking I need a proper lens. I have been looking at the Sigma 24mm f/1.4 Art lens. Anyone have any experience with this lens??
 

zilla

Senior Member
This is one from last week. It seems I can't get that all in focus look. Right now the snow is making it hard, but I am trying. This is after lightroom.
earnest2re.jpg
 
Last edited:

zilla

Senior Member
What I'd like is more forground in focus.. As wellas the background. Here is one I took yesterday. I focused on the forground.
table_mountain_931585.jpg
 

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
What you want to calculate for is called Hyperfocal Distance... That's the distance in focus in front of your lens to infinity when the lens is set to infinity...

Online Depth of Field Calculator

Here's a calculator... Plug in all your camera/lens specifics, and it'll tell you what aperture to use to get where you want to be... by swapping the lens data for the Sigma, you can determine whether the Sigma will give you more range for the cost, or whether your current lens (by closing the aperture) will give you what you want...
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
Are you shooting NEF or jpeg? If jpeg, have you increased the default sharpening in your menu?

Be sure to focus about 1/3 of the way into your scene. If you don't have a DoF app on your cell phone, please consider getting one. I like Simple DoF which displays a chart based on the body, focal length of the lens, aperture, and distance. It shows what's in focus based on those settings. I think it cost $2 or so. For me it was definitely worth it.

Is your lens focus calibrated to your body? That could be causing some of the problem if it isn't.

Personally I don't think the snow photo is the best subject to use. Snow is soft so it isn't as good a gauge of sharpness as are leaves or something else. Can you take a scenic photo without snow? Something more textured would be helpful. :encouragement:
 

Woodyg3

Senior Member
Contributor
While the Sigma lens is certainly known to be a very sharp lens, it won't offer any additional depth of field at the same aperture as any other lens.

The first picture looks like it was sharpened quite a bit in post processing, and to my eye it looks oversharpened. A matter of opinion, of course.

One thing that is a great way to get almost unlimited depth of field is to take 3-5 pictures on a tripod varying the focus from near to far, then focus stack them in Photoshop or another post processing program. This works well with landscapes.

Out of curiosity, what lens are you using now?

I like the composition in your second shot a lot, BTW. :)
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
What I'd like is more forground in focus.. As wellas the background. Here is one I took yesterday. I focused on the forground.
You might want to consider a technique called Focus Stacking.

I've never done it, and I don't know that Lightroom will perform the necessary steps, but here's a tutorial that explains what it is, and how to do it, using Photoshop.

How to Focus Stack Images -- Courtesy of Photography Life.
 

zilla

Senior Member
Nikon 50mm f/1.4. Going to try the stacking thing soon. Do you do the stacking in Lightroom? Or Photo shop?



To anser another users question I shoot in RAW.
 
Last edited:

zilla

Senior Member
Hark, I just DL'd a DOF app.. I will try the 1/3 focus. How does one calibrate a lens to a body?? It will be a while til the snow is gone... We are buried this year everywhere..
 
Last edited:

zilla

Senior Member
Woody, Nikon 50mm f/1.4. Going to try the stacking thing soon. Do you do the stacking in Lightroom? Or Photo shop?

Also the second pic I deliberately focused close.. I did have a few issues with some kinda focus lock, but found a tutorial on the web, so now I believe I have my settings correct.




To answer another users question I shoot in RAW.
 
Last edited:

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
Hark, I just DL'd a DOF app.. I will try the 1/3 focus. How does one calibrate a lens to a body?? It will be a while til the snow is gone... We are buried this year everywhere..

Auto focus fine tuning. Here you go! :)

 

zilla

Senior Member
I'm 71 years old. I have done film photography most of my life. Self taught. This digital stuff is new to me. So many more options in a digital camera. So much to learn. After watching Hark's video I bought the guys E-book on Nikon focus systems..
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
I'm 71 years old. I have done film photography most of my life. Self taught. This digital stuff is new to me. So many more options in a digital camera. So much to learn. After watching Hark's video I bought the guys E-book on Nikon focus systems..

I remember when I switched from an N90s to a D90. I wound up sitting down with the user manual to decipher how it worked. ;) Since you are already familiar with the exposure triangle, you are already ahead of the game. If you are ever interested, the same guy has a video on Back Button Focus. If you ever decide to shoot moving subjects (sports, birds, etc), his setting explanation for BBF is excellent. I never tried AF-C until I switched to BBF for birds.

And even if you aren't interested in BBF, the video is still worth watching just for the understanding of additional camera features and the option to program different buttons. Glad the video you watched was helpful.
 
Top