i saw a suggestion a few years ago for a mode that would just let you set depth of field directly, picking an aperture and shutter (and possibly iso and comp too) appropriately given the lighting. after all, what most people want most of the time is either a narrow depth to isolate a subject with bokeh or a wide depth to show something in context.
Yes, for people who understand how aperture relates to depth of field. But there seem to be a good number of people who understand what depth of field is, without understanding how to control for it using aperture.
Depth of field is controlled by aperture, focal length, and distance to subject. The degree to which the subject is actually isolated from the background is also very important. This simulator manages to bury one aspect of this information and ignore the rest.
All else being equal, to increase subject isolation:
* Increase separation between subject and background
Each of these things is equally important. (But all else is not equal, so if you're determined to stand in one spot and not change your composition, just increasing aperture size is your only option.)
Yes, this is indeed the case! I shoot with a prime, so the ability to change the focal length doesn't really come to me. But I think it's very important that you brought up specifically the fact that the distance spatially between the camera, the subject, and the background are very important!
