Shallow depth of field on camera

cocopops21

Hi guys,

Does anyone know what the best camera for shallow depth of field is in the £250-300 range?

I mostly want to be able to take portrait pictures while blurring the background. I had a canon 350d many years ago but used it with the kit lens and found it hard to achieve that blurry background. Any tips appreciated!

Many thanks

spacey2012

I think you will find it is a technique rather than the instrument.
The Canon 350 with its stock lens would have been capable of what you want to do, but if the skill is lacking to manually operate the camera, nothing will work.
A long focal length with low f-stop number will produce the result you seek, but only if you can manually control the settings.
Buy another SLR as they have larger sensors than compacts and can achieve better results.
If budget is a constrain look for a second hand canon 5d mk1 £200-£275 they are a full frame SLR and with a 50mm f1.8 lens £50-60, you will take brilliant low depth of field pictures.

kwmlondon

Any SLR will be able to do this, get a cheap body only SLR like a Canon EOS1100 or a Nikon D3200 and then a prime lens i.e. one that doesn't have zoom. However, your best bet is to make sure you take a couple of photography classes. In London you can go to City Lit and get a day course for about £80 which will be better money spent than any kit you can buy.

closed

turn your camera to manual mode, adjust the fstop and iso to low settings, and use the zoom if possible

InsideInsurance

The amount of blur you get is a factor of the Fstop (aperture size), the distance to the object and the focal length of the lens

To get more blur you want to be closer to your target with the longest lens possible and the largest aperture possible (ie smallest fstop number).

One of the problems you have with point and shoot cameras is generally your lack of control to be able to open up the aperture and just allow it to adjust the shutter speed to compensate.

You can look at http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html to compare the options available to get a shallower depth of field. You'll just need to afterwards translate the model names into UK versions.

floopnoodle

I have a Canon S110 which has a max aperture of 2.0 - this gives a good shot with a short DoF (good camera all round really). The newer model, the S120 has a max aperture of 1.8 so should be even better.

patman99

Also, remember that the closer to the background your subject is, the harder it is to blur the background out.
I have a Sony A700 (DSLR) & a Fuji HS10 (bridge) and both are capable of blurring the background. However, the HS10 has such a shallow 'F' range that it can be hard to achieve the required result.

Btw. I would suggest finding your nearest photo club & speaking to them. A lot of the bigger ones run cheap courses to raise funds for the club and as they are run by members, they tend to be better suited to beginners.

cocopops21

Thanks for all your input. I was previously able to achieve a bit of blur by following tutorials online but I want something more like this:

http://cdn.tutsplus.com/photo/uploads/legacy/292_depthoffield/1.jpg

I thought it may have been the camera but sounds like I was wrong. I will take a class when I get some free time.

WTFH

Big aperture (f/1.8 or wider), big sensor.

Your kit lens is probably f/4 or f/5.6. A second hand nifty fifty will cost you £60 and fill give you good bokeh. A second hand 5D MkI will give you good bokeh even with f/2.8.
I use a 5DII with either a 100mm f/2.8 or a 50mm f/1.8

daveyjp

cocopops21 wrote: »

Thanks for all your input. I was previously able to achieve a bit of blur by following tutorials online but I want something more like this:

http://cdn.tutsplus.com/photo/uploads/legacy/292_depthoffield/1.jpg

I thought it may have been the camera but sounds like I was wrong. I will take a class when I get some free time.

That photo needs a camera where the focus can be pinpointed to a very specific area.

cocopops21

daveyjp wrote: »

That photo needs a camera where the focus can be pinpointed to a very specific area.

Do you know what kind of camera can achieve this? Or is it a full frame dslr and a lot of skill? Thanks