What is the lens (with a shutter) that has the smallest depth of field

[KarlF]

Dear colleagues,

I am looking for a lens with a shutter that has the shortest depth of field. The quality of the lens is not very important to me.

To phrase it differently, if we were to restrict ourselves to the 300mm - 450mm range , do you know of a lens with a widest aperture as these FL ? I am looking for specific lens names.

Best,
Karl

[Ben Syverson]

Shortest depth of field? As in least depth of field? Just choose the longest, fastest lens you can find.

If you want the opposite, choose the opposite: shortest lens, stopped down.

If you don't care about image quality, choose a pinhole. Infinite depth of field.

[Mark Sawyer]

Remember that movements on a view camera can also simulate short depth of field.

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

Just play with any of the online DOF calculators and figure it out. I would imagine that the differences between a 19" lens and longer, say a 800mm Nikkor telephoto, is pretty negligible; with a subject 10 feet away at f9 you have the DOF of a fraction of an inch.

[Daniel Stone]

try one of these:

Oscillo-Paragon 75mm F/1.9

I'm not sure of exact coverage, but I don't think its much...

like this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/OSCILLO-PARA...item2a1a95162e

-Dan

[benrains]

I am looking for a lens with a shutter that has the shortest depth of field. The quality of the lens is not very important to me.

To phrase it differently, if we were to restrict ourselves to the 300mm - 450mm range , do you know of a lens with a widest aperture as these FL ? I am looking for specific lens names.

I doubt you'll find one with a modern built in shutter in the 300-450mm (12in to 18in) focal length range, but you'll want to consider older barrel lenses. Some of the Wollensak lines like the Verito (f/4) and the Vitax (f/3.8) did come with a studio shutter option, but that shutter is more limited in their design than modern ones. There are wide range of Wollensak lenses at f/4.5 in the Velostigmat (later Raptar) line, some of which came in Betax shutters. For the really fast lenses you'll have to consider the older Petzval designs with the fastest being around f/3 like the Dallmeyer B series. You'll have to add your own shutter though.

[Hugo Zhang]

Without a shutter, this is the one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-Taylor-...item19ce4f46c4

[Paul Fitzgerald]

KarlF,

DOF will be equal to (apparent aperture/focus distance) so you would need to find the largest shutter (Compound #5). Any of the lenses in a #5 Compound will have virtually the same DOF wide open at the same distance.

Have fun with the hunt.

[Leigh]

I doubt you'll find one with a modern built in shutter in the 300-450mm (12in to 18in) focal length range...

Huh? There are lots of them.

My database shows:
nine 300mm lenses with apertures from f/5.6,
six 360mm lenses from f/6.5,
one 400mm f/8, and
two 450mm from f/9. All of these are in modern Copal shutters.

There are probably others since I don't have all the Schneider lenses in the database.

- Leigh

[benrains]

Huh? There are lots of them.

My database shows:
nine 300mm lenses with apertures from f/5.6,
six 360mm lenses from f/6.5,
one 400mm f/8, and
two 450mm from f/9. All of these are in modern Copal shutters.

There are probably others since I don't have all the Schneider lenses in the database.

I'd assumed (maybe incorrectly) that he was after something a bit more exotic than the run-of-the-mill modern offerings which max out at around f/5.6.