Favored Focal Lengths

The Conversation, originally uploaded by jjvornov.

This is an image captured with the Nikon 105mm Micro VR. It’s a beautifully sharp lens. This was handheld at 1/60th sec at f/5.

As I’ve looked through some of these images, I’ve begun to realize why I like the wide lens of the Sigma DP1 and why the 24mm f/2.8 spends so much time on the Nikon DSLR.

This image shows it well. The knothole in the tree on the right is nice and sharp. But the near side of the knot on the left is out of focus enough to bother me. The depth of field of the 105mm is just too shallow for my favored look. When I use the 24mm and move in close to frame at an aperture of f/5 the depth of the two trees would be fully in focus.

It may be that I’m better off without the 24-120mm lens because of typical subject matter and desire for deeper focus. At the very least I need to work toward bracketing apertures to better judge how much I need to stop down to successfully capture this kind of image.

Author: James Vornov

I'm an MD, PhD Neurologist who left a successful academic career on the Faculty of The Johns Hopkins Medical School to develop new treatments in Biotech and Pharma. I became fascinated with how people actually make decisions based on the science of decision theory and emerging understanding of how the brain works to make decisions. My passion now is this deep explanation of what has been the realm of philosophy, psychology and self help but is now understood as brain function. By understanding our brains, I believe we can become happier, more successful people. View all posts by James Vornov