F stops make no diff for me .

[inkista]

1. The Fuji FinePix S5600 has a 1/2.5" sensor. This is typical of P&Ses and the f-stops you're looking at are similar to looking at the differences between f/11, and f/16 on a dSLR.

2. Your hose is smack in the middle between you and the wall behind it, and it's only about three or four feet. Not enough distance to create bokeh given the tiny sensor size.

3. You're barely zoomed in at all (17.6mm equates to ~100mm in the 38-380 equiv. range of the camera; you've got roughly a 6x crop factor with a 1/2.5" sensor). Bokeh is exaggerated more with longer focal lengths.

Try the following things to get a smaller DoF: zoom all the way in, switch the macro mode, get closer to your subject, and make sure the background is farther away, AND open up the aperture. With a small-sensor P&S, just messing with the aperture isn't going to have as much effect on DoF as it would with a camera that has a larger image plane (e.g., a dSLR).

[dimitrz]

Originally Posted by Elmo

Set it to its maximum Focal length. Get as close as possible to something as it will focus. And it is possible you will see the difference.

Agree with Elmo also I feel you are shooting from too far to get the effect....you have to come closer , zoom and focus on the faucet (if I presume thats your main subject)


Havent read the entire thread but I notice that your focal lenght is approx 16mm ....that is a bit too far to get the effect using a P&S - get closer and fill the frame.

Just my thought process based on my experience.

Cheers

[dimitrz]

Just saw inkista's views and as you can see he points out the same thing - if not more

[wulf]

What is the distance between the front and back of the picture there? Maybe 10'? Try the same idea but covering a larger distance and ensuring you are focusing on something closer. I am sure that, even with this set up, the difference (there but very small) would be more obvious if you had your toys from the other shot focused in the foreground.

Wulf

[geotography]

I do see a slight difference; but, as others have said, the other variables are affecting how obvious it is to you. Check this link out on DOF:

http://www.cs.mtu.edu/~shene/DigiCam...-of-field.html

I have failed at making this link functional; however, just copy and paste it. It is a nice piece of depth of field with a very cool set of image examples using a tape measure and different f-stops

[wulf]

You have the link working perfectly and it is a very useful site. Note how there is an obvious difference between the first and last photos but the difference between any consecutive pair is much more subtle.

Wulf

[daft_biker]

Aperture settings on a typical digi compact don't really make a lot of difference. As others have said you can get a more OOF background if you jam the camera right up against the subject but if you want to blur the background on larger subjects (eg people portraits) then a larger format of camera and a reasonably fast prime lens will do a much better job.

Would also help if compacts have faster lenses but not enough compact buyers know what a fast lens is or what it can do....they seem to understand megapixels tho so you get more than enough of them