Not to mention you are doing these shots handheld which requires more skill
and luck. Great job!

Rita

Smaller sensor cameras produce a greater DOF at the same Focal Length
(FL) and same aperture as do larger sensor cameras. That my friend is
a proven fact.

The struggle with a balance between ISO speed, aperture and focal
length to shoot a bug at the front and have the rear relatively sharp
also ...is helped with smaller sensor cameras. They need shorter
lenses for the same viewing size which in itself helps create more DOF
as well as the DOF these little sensors pick up in the maths of the
issue.

The first shot I took with my 5D used all the previously acquired
shoot information from 1.6 crop sensors and somewhat shocked me that
what was acceptable with a 20D (nose, eye focused, ear soft) did not
apply to 5D shots at those settings. To get the same Depth of field, I
had to use a smaller aperture but the need for a longer lens for the
same image size led to needing a considerably faster ISO and it's own
problems I'd forgotten all about, having abandoned film years before.

You seem convinced the wheel is square so you can discover it all for
yourself if you do get a FF camera.

Doug

Are you saying f/25 with a FF sensor has no diffraction issues?
There is also the issue of vignetting at such small aperture too. F/16
is quite OK with an Olympus E300. Any softness can easily be overcome
during post processing. I've got many F/22 images from the E300's
without noticeable diffraction issues. I certainly wouldn't recommend
using such small apertures on a regular basis. The real limitation for
these cameras is not diffraction but getting a shallow enough DOF.
Often I resort to using Photoshop's blur tool when I simply can't get
the background OOF.

I think Scott, that using ISO 3200 with a 20D is out of the question
and with a 5D, marginal. It would significantly impact the detail
available anywhere but in the centre of the frame and only if it is
extremely well lit (unlikely in such a shot).  Of course this seems to
have changed with the new 1D series of cameras which I'd expect Bret
to be considering.

The so called "noise" issue reported about 4/3 cameras in general is
not as significant as you might think. How much noise is actually in
an image from one of these cameras is very dependent (as it is in all
DSLRs) on the dynamic range of the scene and how well it's metered.

Having said that, I will point out that the dynamic range of cameras
with Kodak and Panasonic sensors is a lot smaller than a Canon DSLR.
Unless you recognize this, you'll get a lot of noise in the shadows of
high ISO images. It all boils down to knowing your equipment and how
to use it or when not to.

Doug

On Aug 30, 7:04 am, helensilverb...@hotmail.com wrote:

With friends like me, who needs enemas?