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Re: [OM] Steve's site

Subject: Re: [OM] Steve's site
From: dreammoose <dreammoose@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 17:53:35 -0800
   so do you mean that I wouldn't be able to get as clear a shot with a
   cheaper lens, even though it covers the same range?
   Are you also saying that with a cheaper lens I will be restricted to
   the size I can enlarge image, due to true quality of image?

Yes and yes:

Think cars - a KIA doesn't perform the same as a Mercedes; or pans- thin aluminum doesn't perform the same as thick copper, etc.,etc. Well, photography can be at least as complicated as cars, more so in the sense that so many bits can be interchanged. Yes, with better lens (more $), fine grain film (slower), tripod for many shots ($, time, weight), and so on, larger and/or sharper prints may be made. However, as Warren and I pointed out, any brand name lens should provide perfectly fine results for standard 4x6 or 5x7 prints.

Another other thing that may not be clear to you yet is that the aperture at which the lens is used can have a considerable effect on image quality. This 300mm lens might make pretty soft looking pictures at f5.6 when blown up to 8x10 and nice sharp ones at f/11. Also, it will be difficult to hold a 300mm steady without a tripod - unless you shoot wide open, in bright light, with fast film - but then the film grain and lens softness will compromise sharpness/detail.

That stuff on TV where they enlarge the detail on a security tape that's been recorded 200 times from a $50 camera with 3 years of dust on the lens until they can get a nice clear picture of the shadowed suspect's face makes for wonderful fiction, but is really magic, the creation of something that isn't there. Computer enhancement can improve the look of an image, but can't create imformation that isn't there. There are limitations to the amount of detail a given lens can resolve and limits to the amount of detail any given film can record. Once the shot is taken and film developed, that's it, the limit of what can be done with the image is set.

Would I be able to tell while I was taking the photo (focusing for shot)
that it would not be clear or does it happen in the development stage of the
game?


You can't tell how sharp the picture will be in the viewfinder for a couple of reasons. First, the magnification in the viewfinder just isn't sufficient and the ground glass where the image is formed si too coarse to see such detail. Second, when you are viewing and focusing, the lens is wide open to give you enough light to see to focus. When the shutter release is pressed, the diaphram blades are stopped down to the selected aperture (see above about aperture and sharpness). On lenses for Olympus OM cameras there is a little button on the lens down near the self timer that stops the lens down to view depth of field, but it doesn't help with evaluating the sharpness of the lens.

   This is all VERY important, I never realised there were so many
   variables in photography and end result quality. I thought that the
   quality of image
   would be about the same with all of the equipment in a range
   (telephoto/etc..) and that the 'bells & whistles involved with each lens
   would increased with price.

   OH NO, what other 'must know' facts I am lacking? It looks like
   there is a lot more to learn than I ever imagined.

Photography is a dance with light where the limitations of physics, current technology and our pocketbooks set the tune. Maybe that's why it's so endlessly facinating for many of us. I suppose that' why most photographers are seldom bored, but often short of cash.

Don't despair, you can take really nice pictures with modest equipment. You don't have to know all that much of the endless possible knowledge about photography to take good pictures. Time spent taking pictures is a better teacher than time taken reading about taking pictures.

Moose



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