Showing my age here
Dep mode
Would you like it to make a comeback??
Yes I know peaking gives similar
But after all these years I still miss that Dep mode.
I tried DEP once. I tried peaking (shouldn't that be PEEKing?) once. I don't see much need for it. I don't find it overly difficult to close the aperture a few stops all by myself. Oops! Sorry! The old DEP mode could do that for you, with some input. Peaking just shows what you have dialed in. It can't change your aperture. Progress.
TomSchriefer wrote:
I tried DEP once. I tried peaking (shouldn't that be PEEKing?) once. I don't see much need for it. I don't find it overly difficult to close the aperture a few stops all by myself. Oops! Sorry! The old DEP mode could do that for you, with some input. Peaking just shows what you have dialed in. It can't change your aperture. Progress.
I have fond memories of using Dep mode
Back then I only had 1 lens.. EF 28-70 3.5-4.5II
(Later exchanged it for the usm 28-105)
The Dep mode for me was perfect. I seemed to use it for everything back then
If I shot groups of friends I’d focus on the nearest, then the furthest then trip the shutter, or doing landscapes I’d repeat the above.
I loved it.
When canon dropped it and instead offered A-Dep which is basically your green square today it ruined it… and I never used it again.
I’d like Dep mode back on mirrorless
It would be handy when shooting with mid telephotos.
Obviously it’s not going to happen - but it was a good thing whilst it lasted.
Essentially, stop down and hope. But tempered with a thorough knowledge of how aperture affects DOF, and of HFD, and the use of Aperture/DOF scales on most lenses. Done right, it is a guarantee of getting the results you are after.
I am old school. Back in the day, I was quite good at manual flash calculations on the fly, and shooting without a meter. I loved my Yashica FX3s. So cheap I kept 3 of them on hand... while they lasted. The battery was completely superfluous; it only powered the meter.
TomSchriefer wrote:
Essentially, stop down and hope. But tempered with a thorough knowledge of how aperture affects DOF, and of HFD, and the use of Aperture/DOF scales on most lenses. Done right, it is a guarantee of getting the results you are after.
I am old school. Back in the day, I was quite good at manual flash calculations on the fly, and shooting without a meter. I loved my Yashica FX3s. So cheap I kept 3 of them on hand... while they lasted. The battery was completely superfluous; it only powered the meter.
Funny you mentioned flash Tom… sent my head spinning and shivers down my spine 🤣
Oh jeez, the inverse square law !!! I’m sweating already!!!
I always got confused with fill in. Until one day the penny dropped . Just set the gun to iso 400 if I had loaded iso 100.
As simple as that, changed in a instant🤣
I do miss the purity (is that the right word)
But I also admit auto iso, eye focus and peaking are now fabulous tools to have.
DEP mode was a great feature for landscape and still life type work. There are other ways to calculate the best focus distance, I have an app on my phone that's helpful, but the DEP mode was so easy and to use. I am not sure why it went away and with the technology advancements I would think it would be such an easy feature to implement.
For those that never used a camera with DEP mode, First you would focus on the closest thing you wanted in focus followed by the farthest thing you wanted in focus and the camera would calculate the best aperture and focus to the correct distance automatically. Simple as that.
Pete73 wrote:
DEP mode was a great feature for landscape and still life type work. There are other ways to calculate the best focus distance, I have an app on my phone that's helpful, but the DEP mode was so easy and to use. I am not sure why it went away and with the technology advancements I would think it would be such an easy feature to implement.
For those that never used a camera with DEP mode, First you would focus on the closest thing you wanted in focus followed by the farthest thing you wanted in focus and the camera would calculate the best aperture and focus to the correct distance automatically. Simple as that....Show more →
No offense, but that is way more complicated than knowing your gear, how aperture affects DOF, and what HFD is. THAT is simple. A knowledgeable shooter could get in one shot, what you are spending 3 shutter releases to accomplish. Just like the old saying, the most important hardware in photography is just behind the viewfinder.
With Live-view technology one can view and magnify a Landscape scene on the LCD screen and in Manual mode adjust the DOF close & far precisely as desired.
Of course that takes a bit of "non-auto" effort, and so many spend $$$K on an expensive highly adaptively controllable camera and then choose to use it like a "Point & Shoot" 21st century Kodak Brownie.
I miss DEP. Canon said the reason they removed it was to "make room in the firmware for other features" which certainly doesn't apply today anymore. Yes, you can see in live view the depth of field, but (1) that's not perfect especially if your eyes aren't perfect and (2) doesn't help with placing the focal plane. It seems like an unfortunate omission to me, I used it on my 1DS and 1Ds2 and wish it was still around.
I've had Live-View on a host of Canon cameras since my 500D (T1i). Of course, I've played with it. I've never used it to take a serious photograph. Back in those days the phase-detect AF was incredibly slow. My 80D, 6D2, and now 90D use the much faster DPAF. I still can't find a real use for LV.
TomSchriefer wrote:
I've had Live-View on a host of Canon cameras since my 500D (T1i). Of course, I've played with it. I've never used it to take a serious photograph. Back in those days the phase-detect AF was incredibly slow. My 80D, 6D2, and now 90D use the much faster DPAF. I still can't find a real use for LV.
You don't do macro or TSE lenses?
stanj wrote:
Realtime exposure and DOF preview / simulation for one.
Realtime exposure? The entire photographic world got by very nicely without realtime exposure for more than 200 years. I'll go with we've firmly established that it isn't necessary. I don't argue that it is useless, merely that I don't have a use for it. As far as DOF preview goes, as I've said before, if you know your gear: aperture's affect of DOF, HFD, and can read a DOF scale on your lens, DOF preview will only be showing you what you already know.
Don't take this personally, but just because modern electronics CAN do something does not by default make that task any easy, faster, or better. It just makes it different. The point could be made that relying on realtime exposure and DOF preview/simulation is a corollary to GREEN SQUARE or P-Mode. They certainly do the job. But that doesn't make them the best choice for every situation, it doesn't even make them necessary. I get by just fine with neither. That said, I don't mind if anyone else uses them.
I don't do everything without a meter, or ETTL-II flash, but I am perfectly comfortable with manual everything. Rusty these days, but comfortable.
You are correct, about tilt-shift, anyway. I don't even understand your question WRT macro. Surely you cannot be positing that macro photography was not done before Live-View, or realtime exposure. I used a few different macro lenses made in the '70s and '80s for Contax/Yashica mount cameras. Well before digital cameras were even thought of.
TomSchriefer wrote:
The entire photographic world got by very nicely without realtime exposure for more than 200 years.
and mankind got along without electricity for thousands of years just as fine. Discounting progress that's welcomed by most isn't particularly viable just because it doesn't mean anything for you. I merely answered your question, the fact that the answer is meaningless to you doesn't mean the majority of people don't appreciate it. I miss DEP despite 99.999% of the people not sharing my opinion, which is probably why it's gone. I don't particularly care for video features in the camera either, but they don't bother me because they're pretty easy to ignore. You can break out the light meter if you want, I for one much prefer looking thru the EVF and knowing instantly if I'm on the money (and I'd turn on the zebras if Canon ever gave them to me.)
EVF has been a game changer
The ability to see your exposure in real-time in your viewfinder is amazing. I never enjoyed viewing the rear screen in Live View on cameras yet I’m perfectly fine using cell phone screens to take pictures?? I don’t know why this is??
As for Dep…
I would be ecstatic if it were reintroduced to modern mirrorless. Fact is besides eye tracking I only ever still use centre spot AF point … focus/recompose.
I find when the camera has free control over AF t does whatever the hell it wants to do - but never what I want it to do!!… so utterly pointless and frustrating. But that’s not just canon… that’s all the cameras I’ve ever tried… left to their own devices they are all hit and miss.
Dep would be so convenient in today’s era with modern AF lenses.
A quick one-two using centre spot af to tell the camera what exactly I need in focus and then by the time I’ve pressed the button the third time it’s already set the correct HFD and the aperture/shutter speed needed…. Just like it did 30yrs ago!! Brilliant
Can you imagine that !! Plus the ability to now be able to see real time exposure via EVF….. AND throw in the option to also use Ex/compensation too!!
