P3D shoot wide open?

[John Toeppen <toeppen@xxxxxxxx>]

> 
> Since I began shooting in stereo, which wasn't long ago, a friend told me to
> always shoot with my lenses as wide open as possible for maximum stereo
> effect.  I have done this and have no complaints.  Since the lenses on my
> rangefinders are f/1.7 this isn't difficult.  I have also made some good
> stereo pictures at f/8 and f/16. Why does shooting with a larger aperture
> supposedly render a better stereoscopic effect?

You have been given bad advice.  I generally like everything possible to
be in focus.
On rare occasions I will use a shallow depth of field to emphasize a
flower against 
a soft focus background.  Ansel Adams shot for many years at f/64 in the
mistaken 
belief that it produced the highest resolution; it does not.  It may
produce
an image with the appearance of the best overall sharpness due to
improved depth of
field.  Books on flat photography often cover this subject well.

I have a posted an f22 pair at:

http://members.home.com/holographics/poppies.jpg

Any lack of sharpness here is due to compression for the web and monitor
limitations.
It is a bit extreem, but it was worth a shot......

I would recommend f/13 and 1/100 in full sun on ISO 100 slide films.  I
would rather
shoot at 1/50 and f8 in shade in preference to f5.6 at 1/100.

John Toeppen
http://members.home.com/holographics

>


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