Does this mode or setting exist?

This is my first post, hello to everyone.

I am wondering if there is a mode or setting in which the D600 will analyse the scene and determine the focal lengths of all the faces in a scene, and then select the MINIMUM aperture that will allow all faces to be in focus?

The situation is where I want to use the fastest shutter possible while still having all faces in focus.

Many thanks.

Yes and No. Although there is no such mode with any cameras that I know of, there is one option: Trial and error. Digital imaging has this major advantage of being able to see your results and make corrections for the final shot.

Welcome to Nikonites.

A tried-and-true method is to know and understand DOF for the lens utilized. Select an aperture to accomplish the DOF required. Set ISO to obtain a minimum shutter speed.

All this new technology is fine and dandy, but should never be a substitute for proper technique.

In the past, @BackdoorHippie mentioned a cellphone app that helps calculate DOF (depth of field). To use it, I believe you'd have to know the distance to your subject. The depth of your subject(s) would be different if you had one row of people vs. 2-3 rows of people. The app will let you know how much acceptable DOF there is for any aperture used. If you want the background to be blurred, you will want to stand closer to the people while keeping a lot of distance between the people and the background.

Manual mode with a bit of experience. That will cover it. To help, especially if you're a good judge of relative distance, would be one of the smartphone apps that allows you to see the "in-focus" range using different apertures, etc. I use F-Stop for the iPhone, but there's a large number of similar apps to choose from.

Good luck, and welcome to the forums!

hark said:

In the past, @BackdoorHippie mentioned a cellphone app that helps calculate DOF (depth of field). To use it, I believe you'd have to know the distance to your subject. The depth of your subject(s) would be different if you had one row of people vs. 2-3 rows of people. The app will let you know how much acceptable DOF there is for any aperture used. If you want the background to be blurred, you will want to stand closer to the people while keeping a lot of distance between the people and the background.

Click to expand...

LOL, I was typing up something similar, but at work and got interrupted, so you beat me to the "app" bit.

There is no mode, per se, that does face detection, computes various focal distances and then chooses the appropriate aperture to capture them all - at least not that I know of. The D600 has face detection that it will utilize in the autofocus calculations in Live View, but no mode that will allow you to specify max aperture for a set of subjects.

As was mentioned, best you can do is to calculate distance to a middle subject and use a DoF calculator to adjust appropriately.

The D600 has "depth of field" preview. Use that and manual focus.

It appears that all Nikon cameras have a "face detection" capability when using AF-A, however, whether or not it chooses the minimum aperture is hard to say

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AF-area modes

For AF-area modes, there are four choices: single point AF, dynamic-area AF, 3D-tracking and auto-area AF. Single point AF gives you the pinpoint accuracy you may need for a portrait or even a sports image where exact focus point placement is crucial.
Dynamic-area AF adds 9-point, 21-point and 51-point placement. With each option, the selected number of AF points works together to keep detecting moving subjects.
The 3D-tracking mode keeps following moving subjects, moving the AF point for you so you can concentrate on composition.
Auto-area AF automatically chooses the AF point based on the most appropriate human face using face detection.
With Group-area AF, the camera focuses using a group of five focus points (the center one is not shown when the Group-area AF focus points are illuminated) selected by the user. This reduces the risk of the camera focusing on the background instead of on the main subject. Choose this mode for subjects that are difficult to photograph using a single focus point. If faces are detected in AF-S focus mode, the camera will give priority to portrait subjects; or when no faces are present, focuses on the closest subject to the camera.

Dave_W said:

It appears that all Nikon cameras have a "face detection" capability when using AF-A, however, whether or not it chooses the minimum aperture is hard to say

--------------

AF-area modes

For AF-area modes, there are four choices: single point AF, dynamic-area AF, 3D-tracking and auto-area AF. Single point AF gives you the pinpoint accuracy you may need for a portrait or even a sports image where exact focus point placement is crucial.
Dynamic-area AF adds 9-point, 21-point and 51-point placement. With each option, the selected number of AF points works together to keep detecting moving subjects.
The 3D-tracking mode keeps following moving subjects, moving the AF point for you so you can concentrate on composition.
Auto-area AF automatically chooses the AF point based on the most appropriate human face using face detection.
With Group-area AF, the camera focuses using a group of five focus points (the center one is not shown when the Group-area AF focus points are illuminated) selected by the user. This reduces the risk of the camera focusing on the background instead of on the main subject. Choose this mode for subjects that are difficult to photograph using a single focus point. If faces are detected in AF-S focus mode, the camera will give priority to portrait subjects; or when no faces are present, focuses on the closest subject to the camera.

Click to expand...

Auto-area AF in AF-A will detect the faces, but the rest will depend on what mode the camera is in. Obviously you're on your own with your choice in Aperture Priority. In Shutter Priority, it will choose aperture based on exposure, and even with Auto-ISO enabled it will still choose based on the lowest possible ISO value to obtain a proper exposure - nothing I've read mentions taking into account DoF as reported by the focusing engine. However, if you're shooting in Program or Auto mode, I suppose it's possible that the camera will take the difference in the range of focus points into consideration when choosing aperture, but I can find nothing in any documentation that states that it will.

bpchia said:

I am wondering if there is a mode or setting in which the D600 will analyse the scene and determine the focal lengths of all the faces in a scene, and then select the MINIMUM aperture that will allow all faces to be in focus?

The situation is where I want to use the fastest shutter possible while still having all faces in focus.

Click to expand...

The answer, in short, is no. There is no camera mode or function that will do that for you. Learning to calculate and control depth of field in your shots is one of those things you'll need to learn to master yourself.

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Thanks for all the replies, looks like I chose the right forum! I thought as much in terms of needing to learn over time when people are at different focal lengths what the maximum aperture is needed to keep all in focus...I noticed that I was incorrect in saying the MINIMUM aperture because I was thinking of the aperture F number rather than how wide open the aperture is...

I am curious about the apps people have talked about and how this would help you choose aperture in the situation I described, over and above just testing different apertures and looking at the photo in camera then zooming in to check each face is in focus (although I find sometimes the resolution of the in camera monitor makes it difficult to tell if something really is in focus).

I just purchased the WU-1b wireless adaptor but have yet to test it with my iPhone. If you use an iPad with the WU-1b does this provide a better "live view" that would allow you to make aperture changes in real time and see if this brings faces at different focal lengths into focus?

Finally, when using the DOF preview button, the viewfinder gets darker and if you are not close up (eg 3-4 people in frame) it can be hard to manually focus...the situation I am having at the moment is I've just had my first child and he is often lower or in a differernt plane to the family and friends holding him, but often in low light so I want to use as large an aperture as possible.

While I'm here, I'm finding that my D600/Tamrom combination finds it difficult to autofocus up close, particularly in low light, and I have to switch to manual focus. Is this normal or could either component have a problem?

Thanks again, great forum!

bpchia said:

While I'm here, I'm finding that my D600/Tamrom combination finds it difficult to autofocus up close, particularly in low light, and I have to switch to manual focus. Is this normal or could either component have a problem?

Thanks again, great forum!

Click to expand...

I have found my D610 doesn't focus as well close up in low light with lenses that worked fine on my D600. In fact, I even tried two D610's which both had the same problem. Just make sure you focus on something that has more contrast. If you zero in on something that is mostly one shade of color, the camera will have a harder time focusing.

I'd say learn the concept and get as good at applying it as you want to be. If you can tell a difference between properly shot hyper-focused picture and improperly shot one, you might as well learn the technique.

Here is one app for Windows Phone called Photo Caddie, but I'm thinking it is also available on the Fruit & Robot phones. It has more features than the DOF calc. Seems decent, but I have not punched all the buttons yet.

Basically you select a camera, add the various inputs and then flick to the next screen which show the calculated data. The calc here I was checking to see what the near limit would be if I focused at 5 feet.