Depth Of Field - Minolta X-370s Instruction Manual

DEPTH OF FIELD
subject, there is a certain range
behind and in front of the subject
which appears sharp. This range is
called "depth of field", and it varies
according to the aperture set: large
apertures (e.g., f/1.7) yield a
shallow depth of field rendering the
background out of focus (example
A); small apertures (e.g., f/22) give
greater depth of field with sharper
background (example B). The depth
of field can be checked on the lens'
depth-of-field scale as shown.
Depth of field also varies with
subject distance: when the lens is
focused on a close subject, the
depth of field is shallow; when
focused on a distant subject, the
depth of field is greater.