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500 f/4 vs 500 f/5.6
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<blockquote data-quote="BackdoorArts" data-source="post: 750633" data-attributes="member: 9240"><p>I live at f8. When you shoot small, moving things that are 20 feet away at 500mm at f4 you have about 1.5" depth of field. At 5.6 you have about 2" and at f8 and you add another inch. That can make all the difference in your keepers, particularly with bigger birds. For something stationary where you're on a tripod then nailing eye focus is fairly easy, so go ahead and shoot wide open. But when you've got something hopping from branch to branch with a camera in your hands you want the shot first and foremost. I can always enhance OOF areas in post but I can't unmiss the shot. (Note: this is with my D500, and with a D850 you add a bit of depth of field at that distance, but you've also lost 50% of your focal length and need to crop.)</p><p></p><p>There's a video someone shared with me (can't find it) from a European wildlife photographer where he's shooting with a 600mm f4 (Canon) and he talks about how shooting wide open gives him great backgrounds, but poor subjects because not everything interesting is in focus. f8 fixes that. I'm far more concerned with shutter speed adjustments, changing between 1/640 and 1/2500 depending on what I'm trying to get.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="BackdoorArts, post: 750633, member: 9240"] I live at f8. When you shoot small, moving things that are 20 feet away at 500mm at f4 you have about 1.5" depth of field. At 5.6 you have about 2" and at f8 and you add another inch. That can make all the difference in your keepers, particularly with bigger birds. For something stationary where you're on a tripod then nailing eye focus is fairly easy, so go ahead and shoot wide open. But when you've got something hopping from branch to branch with a camera in your hands you want the shot first and foremost. I can always enhance OOF areas in post but I can't unmiss the shot. (Note: this is with my D500, and with a D850 you add a bit of depth of field at that distance, but you've also lost 50% of your focal length and need to crop.) There's a video someone shared with me (can't find it) from a European wildlife photographer where he's shooting with a 600mm f4 (Canon) and he talks about how shooting wide open gives him great backgrounds, but poor subjects because not everything interesting is in focus. f8 fixes that. I'm far more concerned with shutter speed adjustments, changing between 1/640 and 1/2500 depending on what I'm trying to get. [/QUOTE]
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500 f/4 vs 500 f/5.6
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