Which f stop best for depth of field?

[FrankFitz]

I am fairly new To Fuji cameras although I have a lot of experience with Medium format and 35mm. With Medium format/35mm I would often use F8 or F11 to maximise my depth of field for an image. I also use a tripod to minimise camera shake.

Can anyone suggest the best F Stop to maximise depth of field on Fuji X100 cameras?

Thanks

 

Frank

 

 

[jerryy]

It would be easy enough to say 'set it at f14 and best wishes'. That would be doing you a dis-service.

APS-C sensors are different than medium format or 35mm film, some like to think of them as similar to shooting slide film -- exposure seems to matter more than dof, but that also is a much too big of a generalization to go by. Just like the Sunny 16 rule and the hyper-focal distance rule guidelines your teachers taught you way back when were starting points to build from, one decent way to get going to to remember every image setting is different. That may seem too vague, but just start from scratch, so to speak; pick out several familiar scenes you favor, put the camera on a tripod and shoot differing f-stops. Digital film is very, very, very cheap. After a while, your intuition will take over and you will be getting the dof you want.

One thing you might not want to consider yet, different lens can go deeper than others -- deeper as in in higher numbered f-stops before diffraction occurs, you have to read reviews to know which ones will and will not, so to speak. Focus stacking is easy enough using digital files in an external editor, your camera will need to get the frames manually though.

Edited June 23, 2023 by jerryy

[DaveC]

I use f7.1 or f8 for max dof on my X100v. 

The APSC sensor gives greater dof than full frame (35mm equivalent).

If you want to see what is in or out of focus then shoot manual focus with focus assist set to red highlights, you will see clearly what is in focus. The X100v even displays a scale in the EVF indicating the focus distances.

Enjoy your X100.

 

[dbell]

I try not to shoot more stopped-down than f/8, but I'm sure f/11 would be perfectly acceptable for most people/uses. I would expect to see the effects of diffraction at f/16 (and I'm sure there's a good reason why they didn't include a stop at f/22). Throughout most of the aperture range, subject distance is going to have a much bigger effect on depth-of-field than aperture setting. If you want maximum depth-of-field AND performance, use hyperfocal-distance focusing with an aperture in the middle of the lens's range. Given that's it's a 23mm lens, hyperfocal distance will be usefully-close to the camera. 

Edited July 6, 2023 by dbell