Taking blurry background shots

[vdo]

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I am planning to buy either a canon a80 or s1, and i have read that digi cam's depth of field is fairly deep and it would be hard to produce those nice" blurry background" pro looking shots. is this a limitation on equiment as i need to get a better cam w/ a bigger apeature like the G5 w/ a f/2? thanks

[scottbergerphoto]

Blurry backgrounds require a narrow depth of field. You only want a narrow area to be in focus. That requires a wide aperture ( 1.2, 1.4, 2, 2.8 ), or a long lens or both. You need a DSLR that allows you to change lenses to get those effects. Alternatively you can ,make selections in photoshop and try to blur the background, but it won't look the same. Good lenses, provide a smooth appearance to the out of focus areas or bokeh.
Scott

[vdo]

so given a80 's lowest fstop @ f/2.8 it sounds like its gonna be a little hard to get the results i like w/ that equipment... and u mentioning that its gonna takea DSLR, the g5 wont even live up to the job, so its gotta be something like the digital rebel and up???

i am tryin to choose the right equipment and not goin for anything too fancy, thanks!

[Digital Prophet]

I might be totally wrong about this, but I thought that "longer" lenses, like a tele-macro, will produce a deeper depth of field at great focal lengths. In other words, a 50mm prime will have a depth of field that is shorted than a 100mm lens setup further away but zoomed in to fill the frame the same as the 50mm.

Then again I could have it all wrong. Who knows. I am lost without my reference books.

- Digital Prophet -

[matjazr]

To give you a feeling what you can do, this photo was taken with a G3 at 4x zoom (28.8 mm) and maximum aperture (3.0). With A80 you can not blur that much, because it has less zoom and slower lens. I don't know how much you can blur a background with S1. It has a 10x zoom which I believe should give you better results.
http://community.webshots.com/photo/157400976/157401940jappEv

[vdo]

cant see picture, repost or new link plz? thanks

[matjazr]

Sorry, I don't know why you can't see it. Here is the link.
http://community.webshots.com/photo/157400976/157401940jappEv

[scottbergerphoto]

I might be totally wrong about this, but I thought that "longer" lenses, like a tele-macro, will produce a deeper depth of field at great focal lengths. In other words, a 50mm prime will have a depth of field that is shorted than a 100mm lens setup further away but zoomed in to fill the frame the same as the 50mm.

Then again I could have it all wrong. Who knows. I am lost without my reference books.

- Digital Prophet -
Wrong is such a harsh word. Perhaps mistaken is better. " Three factors influence the depth of field: the focal length of the lens in use, the distance between you and the subject you want to focus on, and the aperture you selected. The shorter the focal length of the lens, and the larger the aperture number, f/11,16,22(smaller aperture), the greater the area of sharpness. Conversely, the longer a lens, such as a 200mm telephoto, and the smaller the aperture number in use, f/1.4,2,2.8(wider aperture), the narrower or more shallow the area of sharpness." Excerpted from "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson.
Check it out for yourself using one of the many free DOF calculators available on the web.
http://dfleming.ameranet.com/dofjs.html
Regards,
Scott