rabbitmountain Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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Wow thanks guys for all your input. Here in the Netherlands it's 8AM and I am very pleased to see you all added your opinions. I see 2.2 through 8 so I may need to narrow things down a bit.
Light and Location
My shoot is at 9.30, summer time, outside location in a national park setting. I expect ample light, although @f1.2~2.8 I could shoot @ ISO100 even in cloudy conditions. I intend to backlight wherever I can and use Manual metering mode and spot metering to measure the exposure compensation (mostly it's +1 in my experience), then switch to Aperture priority and dial in that compensation amount, which should not need to change as long as I'm shooting the same scene. This way I can quickly change my aperture.
Backgrounds
I expect to have distant backgrounds (20m or more) for the most part. There may be the occasional tree or bush close by, but I'll try to include the distant part wherever I can.
Group rows
As there are children 1-5 yrs old, I'll have at least 2 rows of people. I will ask them to be in a straight line as much as possible, and I will try to put them on a bridge or crossing to help them organise themselves. I don't think I'll need 3 rows.
Subject distance
I reckon my subject distance is more than 10 ft. because - well - it's a group. This works with me when it comes to DoF on the 50L. I took some test shots - at approx. 12-15 ft / 4-5m distance of 3 children who couldn't sit still at all. f/1.2 did not work reliably, but f/2.8 worked quite OK.
Auto Focus
Even in good light, my 5DmkII sometimes misses the right spot. I'm using centre focus point only and my camera is set to rear button focus so I can set it once (or as often as I like) and subsequently use the exposure button only for snapping. I noticed that some shots @f/2.8 were all 3 children were slightly OOF. Maybe 10%. I guess I should prepare for saving for a 5D3 if I'm going to do these shots more often.
Aperture bracketing
Snapsy your suggestion is to Aperture bracket, I suppose all I can do is take several shots while adjusting the aperture manually between each shot, as I am not aware of any functionality where the 5DmkII can bracket Aperture automatically. I could use standard bracket functionality and rely on exposure correction in post. 1.2 - 2 - 2.8. Or set the increments to 1 stop and do it manually.
Focus stacking
surf monkey you mention focus stacking. I suppose you mean to use a tripod, ask the group to maintain their positions, take a f/1.2 shot for the background, then switch to f/4, f/5.6 or f/8 to shoot the group and then combine those two images in post? I could do that, my PS skills are good enough for that.
Based on all of this, given the larger subject distance I'm leaning towards f/2.8 if I'd have to choose only one aperture, use a tripod and use jcolwell's tip: LV to check focus on the bunch. As long as the group stays where they are focus should be fine then.
Smaller groups
Included in my package offer is a number of images of smaller groups, like only the kids and their parents, only the grandparents with the moms and dads, etc. Here we have a different situation because I'll be shooting from a shorter subject distance. I'm used to shooting 1 row @f/1.2, but now there are children standing and being held so I must expect 2 rows at least and shoot f/4 to be sure? No focus shift @f/4 and smaller.
Hope this is not too much info for you guys and thanks again for your help!
Stay good,
Ralph
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