Originally posted by Rondec To me, these photos show the down side of full frame. That is to say, shallow depth of field can be your friend in some situations and enemy in a lot more. Feels like a lot of these photos would have benefited from being stopped down more.
Official old timer here, The shallow depth of field is easily controllable by adjusting the f-stop. And as that is how I have always worked, not an issue. What I do not like about the current lenses is the lack of a aperture ring. The lack of a simple dedicated DOF preview button on any modern Pentax cameras is annoying to me too.
I think that the modern cameras are simply way to complex. The perfect DLSR for me would have lenses with aperture rings, a dial to adjust shutter speed and a depth of field preview button so I can easily see results and a simple needle moving up and down to let me know when the exposure is right. Just press the DOF button and spin the aperture and focus rings to get the shot you want. All without having to take you eye away from the viewfinder. Spot and averageing meters too. I don't need 15 user modes etc. etc. etc.
If it had a PHD (push here dummy) mode that would be okay too, but these are not snapshot cameras. These are tools that should require a bit a thought as to what you are trying to accomplish with the image you are making.
I do plan on getting a full frame camera becasue of the shallow depth of field and the better viewfinder. I will probably have to get a different focus screen. If one from one of my SLR's with a micro prism focus aid fit it would be awesome. A 45 degree angle split screen in the middle would be nice too.
Even with my auto focus lenses I find myself using manual forcus for a high percentage of my shots. And in cold weather lenses like my Sigma 17-70mm lens simply won't auto focus at all once it gets to 20F or so. Almost all of my winter shots are manual focus.