hi everybody, this is my first time here and using this camera. i have crown graphic special with Xenar 135 lens. i have used it twice, the images aren't very sharp and there is almost no depth of field. i shoot portraits in front of tall buildings. my goal is to have good amount of depth of field, maybe 2 feet in front of the subject and a few feet behind. could you please tell me how i will possibly achieve that goal? thank you very much.
Q

Quote:

On 2005-06-15 07:42, mmostar111 wrote: hi everybody, this is my first time here and using this camera. i have crown graphic special with Xenar 135 lens. i have used it twice, the images aren't very sharp and there is almost no depth of field. i shoot portraits in front of tall buildings. my goal is to have good amount of depth of field, maybe 2 feet in front of the subject and a few feet behind. could you please tell me how i will possibly achieve that goal? thank you very much. Q

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

Are you sure that the camera is focused accurately? If you are using an aperture of f:8 or smaller, depth of field should be an issue only if you are working in very close.

The conventional wisdom, half a century ago, was that it was a good idea to try for apertures in the f:11-or-smaller range, with the prevalent "Optar," "Raptar," "Ektar" and "Xenar" lenses of 127mm. and 135mm. focal length.

In those days, a strong point of the 4x5 format was that you could use rather fast film without worrying about grain.

Are you focusing with the rangefinder? Is it accurately calibrated for the lens you are using? Does the ground glass focus panel have an Ektalite fresnel screen installed? Is it installed properly? Is it even supposed to have one at all? Did it have one that has been removed and not replaced? Those are things that will affect focus/sharpness. Aperture controls depth of field.