Smartphone Depth of Field

Discussions focus on limitations of depth of field, focus control, and exposure settings on smartphone cameras compared to DSLRs and mirrorless, including fixed apertures, manual modes, and computational photography alternatives.

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Keywords

AE AI D5000 youtu.be ENG ASP D750 YouTube imgur.com DSLR lens camera focus sensor shutter depth cameras exposure field length

Sample Comments

scubakid Aug 23, 2022 View on HN

Is my intuition right that this is not achievable on a smartphone due to the limited/fixed apertures?

m463 Jun 19, 2022 View on HN

Turn it to manual focus and set the focus and depth of field appropriately?

dgrant Oct 20, 2011 View on HN

Why not just use a normal camera and focus it right the first time?

CWuestefeld Oct 26, 2018 View on HN

You need to be able to change only shutter speed or ISO, while holding aperture constant. That's not a problem for phones, because they're almost always fixed aperture anyway. And of course any DSLR or mirrorless camera can do it. But some point-and-shoot cameras won't have this capability, they'll want to be fully automatic, not giving the photographer that specific control.

Aaron2222 Mar 30, 2023 View on HN

Wouldn't that preclude using facial recognition for setting focus and exposure though (which has been a thing for years)?

wordpad25 Dec 2, 2024 View on HN

Does this also work for macro shots, like a landscape? all the examples are focused on specific objects

davchana Jan 14, 2023 View on HN

Or the fstop, focal length, & stuff.

mangomountain May 18, 2025 View on HN

Actually not sure if the focal length prevents this, if so very exciting

colechristensen Dec 31, 2021 View on HN

Filmic pro is pretty good and supports manual focus and selecting which camera to use

waterlesscloud Jan 10, 2014 View on HN

Wouldn't a wide-angle lens on the camera address many of your concerns?