Hyperfocal Charts

[deadpixel]

Ok, following Max 2.8's suggestion, I'll post some hyperfocal charts here in JPEG so that the more adventurous can try out hyperfocusing. The charts should be accurate as I got the computer to calculate everything in an Excel spreadsheet, but if anyone spots errors, please drop me a PM and I'll fix it.

Here're some links of interest regarding hyperfocusing:
A Little About Hyperfocusing
The Basic Formula
Online Calculator for Nikon Cameras (Film, DX and Coolpix)

There are of course many more (and better) links than the ones I provided above, but these are the simplest ones to understand and begin with.

How To Use The Charts

There are two ways to use them:

1. Let's say you have a 12mm lens for a Nikon DX format DSLR camera and you wished to use hyperfocus to maximize your DOF. You would refer to the appropriate chart, looking at the line for the 12mm focus length and determine that if you set your aperture to f/4, and focus distance (by turning the focus ring manually) to 1.8m, you'd be able to effectively capture everything from 1.8m in front of your camera.

OR

2. Let's say you have a 20mm lens and you would like to only have objects from around 3m onwards in focus, then you would look up the correct chart, along the row for the 20mm focal length and locate a distance that is close to 3m. In this case, it is either 3.6m or 2.5m, so you would set your lens to either f/5.6 or f/8 and focus at the appropriate hyperfocal distance marked on the chart.

That's it. All that's left is for you to do is to ensure that the camera is stable and then press the shutter release.

Cheers,
Matt

[deadpixel]

Here's the chart for Nikon DX format DSLR cameras



Cheers,
Matt

[TrailsofLife]

Thankyou, DP .

Mod, can we have another stickie, pleasssssssssse...........

[hyperFocal]

Heard my nick... Ha..haha.. Ok, I newbie only. But this hyperfocusing stuff is very interesting, esp handy for ppl doing landscapes...

Nice work there! Thx for sharing.

[TrailsofLife]

I did up this chart for Canon User. Dead Pixel, can you help check if I got it right? For Canon's circle of confusion diameter, I used 0.019. Someoone mention this figure earlier, is it right?

[deadpixel]

Max,

It's ok for the 10D, 20D, D30, D60, 300D and 350D.

The 1D and 1DMarkII has a CoC of 0.023 and the 1DS 0.030

Cheers,
Matt

[vortex]

what are u guys going on about man

[teerex]

Originally Posted by vortex what are u guys going on about man

I also blur

[TrailsofLife]

Originally Posted by deadpixel Max, It's ok for the 10D, 20D, D30, D60, 300D and 350D. The 1D and 1DMarkII has a CoC of 0.023 and the 1DS 0.030 Cheers, Matt

Nevermind lah, most of us dun have such pro camera.

Teerex and Vortex, I also dun know lah. Deadpixel say this is supposed to be a formula to get maximum DOF. Next outing, we try, ok?

I am going Ubin on Monday, Teerex, dun say I never jio hor.... Wanna join?

[kensh09]

REgarding the mm, do I have to include the crop factor? I'm using a 20mm but on a 1.6 crop factor body. So I shld be looking at 32 mm instead of 20mm?

[gooseberry]

Originally Posted by kensh09 REgarding the mm, do I have to include the crop factor? I'm using a 20mm but on a 1.6 crop factor body. So I shld be looking at 32 mm instead of 20mm?

No, you do not include the crop factor. If you are using 20mm on your lens, then use 20mm on the chart. The crop factor has already been taken into consideration into the Circle of Confusion (CoC).

Matt,
I assume you have used the Carl Zeiss formula for the CoC ?

[gooseberry]

Originally Posted by deadpixel ... 1. Let's say you have a 12mm lens for a Nikon DX format DSLR camera and you wished to use hyperfocus to maximize your DOF. You would refer to the appropriate chart, looking at the line for the 12mm focus length and determine that if you set your aperture to f/4, and focus distance (by turning the focus ring manually) to 1.8m, you'd be able to effectively capture everything from 1.8m in front of your camera. ...

Matt,
Also, sorry to just nitpick, but if you set your lens to the hyperfocal distance, you will actually get everything from half the hyperfocal distance to infinty, eg. in you example above, if hyperfocal distance is 1.8m for f/4 at 12mm, and you set your focus to 1.8m, you will get everything from 0.9m to infinity to be "in focus" (not just 1.8m and above)

[kensh09]

was wondering is this chart useful for taking interior photos? Since the distance is not that great in a house.

[kensh09]

Originally Posted by gooseberry Matt, Also, sorry to just nitpick, but if you set your lens to the hyperfocal distance, you will actually get everything from half the hyperfocal distance to infinty, eg. in you example above, if hyperfocal distance is 1.8m for f/4 at 12mm, and you set your focus to 1.8m, you will get everything from 0.9m to infinity to be "in focus" (not just 1.8m and above)

Hi....can ask u something? So say i i using 20mm with f22. So everything from 1/2 metre will be in focus rite? I using canon chart.

[deadpixel]

Originally Posted by gooseberry Matt, I assume you have used the Carl Zeiss formula for the CoC ?

Weeeelllll, sort of. I guess it would have its roots in the Carl Zeiss formula:

CoC = Imager Diagonal / Zeiss-Factor

However, if I had stuck to this formaula, the CoC of the Nikon DX sensors would be almost the same as that of the Canon's - 0.0163 for Nikon vs. 0.0156 for Canon. If we round it up to 3 decimals, they would be exactly the same - 0.016 vs. 0.016.

I used a simpler calculation by dividing the CoC of a normal 35mm format camera by that of the sensor's crop factor. As the common CoC range for DoF calculations of a 35mm format ranges from 0.025 to 0.035, I took the middle value of 0.03.

Originally Posted by gooseberry Matt, Also, sorry to just nitpick, but if you set your lens to the hyperfocal distance, you will actually get everything from half the hyperfocal distance to infinty, eg. in you example above, if hyperfocal distance is 1.8m for f/4 at 12mm, and you set your focus to 1.8m, you will get everything from 0.9m to infinity to be "in focus" (not just 1.8m and above)

Yep, yep, I'm aware of that:

DOF (when focused at Hyperfocal Distance [H]) = H/2 to Infinity

But considering that many are already confused about just getting the hyperfocal distance, I thought that it would be best to just leave DoF calculations out. Even with these charts and explanations up, I'm not sure how many have actually tried them.

Cheers,
Matt

[deadpixel]

Originally Posted by kensh09 Hi....can ask u something? So say i i using 20mm with f22. So everything from 1/2 metre will be in focus rite? I using canon chart.

According to the charts and Hyperfocal DoF? Yes it is. But consider this, the quality of most lenses' images is usually best between f/8 to f/16 (wider for better ones) - are you sure you want to shoot at f/22?