On 14 Apr 2003 07:55:50 -0700, artistic_annie@hotmail.com (Ann T. M.) wrote:

>I want to buy a SLR that will give me room to grow as a photographer.

>Right now I am leaning towards the Canon Rebel 2000, but that is

>largely because of the SLRs at its price, it is one of the only ones

>that has a Depth of Field Preview.

>

>How important is DoFPw to a hobbyist (with leanings to get serious)?

>

>I have seen what is does by testing out my camera in the store, but I

>don't really "get it". Yes, I know what depth of field is, and yes, I

>can see how (using the Rebel 2000) by adjusting the aperture with

>DoFPw engaged the picture in the viewfinder is noticibly dimmed

>according to aperture size. But I do not see how this tells me what

>the depth of field will be? And the effect in the viewfinder is so

>subtle! Can someone explain how the dimming corresponds to the

>"Preview" feature? The salespeople I have talked to can't communicate

>to me how this "dimming" translates to depth of field, and many of

>them don't seem to consider this much of a feature, either!

>

>If it wasn't for the Manifesto here:

>http://chapelhillnoir.com/mani/equip/mmselect.html

>I wouldn't be trying to select a camera with this feature, but if I

>don't understand the feature, it hardly seems reason to seek it out!

>(Although I may regret this later when I am more savvy -- hence this

>posting!!) If I decide this feature is NOT important, I will probably

>lean towards another SLR.

It is important for some, but maybe not for the obvious

reason...;-) Unless the viewfinder is very sharp (unlikely

in the Rebel 2000 - and this is becoming rarer all the time

in the AF age, when people value finder brightness above

sharpness...), it would be very hard to see subtleties of

DOF change with aperture unless you aim the camera at a

very near object that is very out of focus, with good focus

on a distant scene (or the other way around...) and then stop

the lens down. You should see the out of focus part of the

image sharpen. Even with a very sharp VF, it is impossible to

see when the OOF part of the image sharpens enough to look

sharp in the final image. Better uses for DOF preview:

previewing the "look" of OOF image parts at the taking

aperture (this changes a lot with stop used, if the OOF

parts are far out of focus and not likely to be made sharp

by stopping down); judging tonal effects in the final image

(highlight and shadow detail will be lost in the image,

compared with normal viewing, and using the DOF preview

to see better what the darker tones will look like in the image

with the lower tones "dropped-out", or what the relatively

"blown-out" highlights will look like can give you a better

sense of the graphic effects of the final image...