Circle of Confusion

10 years 1 week ago #371998 by Scuba Mike
I have read post on Wikipedia and I think I'm more confused then I started.  Yeah I know, I pun'd!  lol.  Does anyone have a reasonable simple breakdown of how this works? 


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10 years 1 week ago #372005 by KCook
A perfect lens would image a point of light (star) as a tiny, perfect point.  Of course there is no lens that is truly perfect.  All lens designs have "aberrations", usually in the form of flare.  So ... if vee focus our poor lens so as to contain all of this flare inside the smallest circle possible for that lens ... vee then have the minimum diameter for the circle of confusion.  Move the lens off focus, either side of focus, and that circle grows larger.

propellorhead

Canon 50D, Olympus PL2
kellycook.zenfolio.com/

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10 years 6 days ago #372065 by effron

Why so serious?
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10 years 6 days ago #372067 by ThatNikonGuy
This should clear things up for you



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10 years 6 days ago #372070 by garyrhook
That's an outstanding explanation/demonstration.  Good find.



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10 years 6 days ago #372085 by Glen Martin
Agree, good video Nikon Guy!


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10 years 6 days ago #372103 by icepics
That's very good Kelly, you do a good impression of a nutty professor! lol

I was wondering why in the video the guy was 'standing' out in traffic... I'm kidding of course, but that made more sense when he referred to the lights in the background.

Confusion might be the key word, I never even heard of this til recently and I'm a longtime photographer (the wonder of the internet) - seems like basically, go get a decent lens and learn how to focus it properly. Or get a vintage camera with bellows, open the back and watch what it does as the lens moves forward and back if you want to see how the inside of a camera works.

Sharon
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10 years 6 days ago - 10 years 6 days ago #372123 by KCook
Thanks Sharon.  Even back when I was working in research optics, the COC term was a rare one to hear.  More useful for talking about optical theory than for practical photography.  Linkies -

www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/depth-of-field.htm

www.bobatkins.com/photography/technical/diffraction.html

photographic.com/lens-tips/122/

Kelly

Canon 50D, Olympus PL2
kellycook.zenfolio.com/

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10 years 6 days ago #372141 by Number 7
Well that's a term that I wasn't aware of before.  Good thread


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10 years 4 days ago #372436 by Oh Bob
:agree: thats a good video on something that can be difficult to otherwise explain.    Good post. 


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10 years 3 days ago #372539 by EOS_Fan
New to me, good post


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10 years 3 days ago #372677 by Rudy Sosa
Well that is something I didn't know or even heard of before.  :agree: good click


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10 years 2 days ago #372682 by Stealthy Ninja
Can someone explain what a circle is? I heard it is something to do with a pie or something... I'm confused.
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9 years 10 months ago #380296 by Alan Nunez

ThatNikonGuy wrote: This should clear things up for you


Well explained!


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9 years 10 months ago #380297 by Alan Nunez

Stealthy Ninja wrote: Can someone explain what a circle is? I heard it is something to do with a pie or something... I'm confused.


Ha. 


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