Railfan Technology > Smartphone cameras.....

What would be the best option (or setting) to shoot and Ho scale display about 4ft long in outdoor light? I get fairly good shots of the first locomotive but nearly everything else is blurred! Am I just shooting TOO close?

Txtrainman60 Wrote:
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> What would be the best option (or setting) to
> shoot and Ho scale display about 4ft long
> in outdoor light? I get fairly good shots of the
> first locomotive but nearly everything else is
> blurred! Am I just shooting TOO close?

Depth of field is too shallow because you're too close and the lens is at wide angle, letting in lots of light and your aperture/f no.  is low. Walk away and zoom in to increase your f no. and therefore depth of field.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/21 11:37 by exhaustED.

For a smartphone, I'd recommend investigating focus stacking apps.

There's a reason Art Schmidt used a 4x5 view camera to photograph models back in the early Model Railroader days. You're going to need a lot of technology to overcome the (optical) limitations of a smartphone.

Arved Grass
Fleming Island, FL
Arved Grass

I use Helicon Focus to "focus stack" a series of images taken from my smart phone mounted on a tripod.  It seems to work relatively well.

Cheers,
Harry

Put a LOT of light on the subject, and the camera will respond by tightening up the aperture, giving you much better depth of field. Outdoors is good, a ripping-bright studio light on a light stand is better. A half-assed floodlight from Home Depot helps at least a little. 

You actually have a lot going for you, using a camera phone. The lenses in those phones have really, really short focal lengths (that's how they can fit them into a smart phone case). That in itself helps a lot with depth of field.