hypofocal distance

[thelight]

hi,
to calculate hypofocal distance we use,
Circle of confusion (CoC)
Selected F-stop (aperture)
Focal length.
if say, the hypofocal length is 23m,
how do judge to focus that distance?
my lens has 0.3,0.35,0.4,0.5,0.7,1,2, ∞
do i just focus to infinity?
sorry if it sound dumb.

 

[Rashkae]

Do a search online for "hyperfocal distance". Please note the spelling, you'll get better results.

 

[thelight]

Do a search online for "hyperfocal distance". Please note the spelling, you'll get better results.

ok. thanx.
have a good weekend.
cheers.

 

[thenomad]

ok. thanx.
have a good weekend.
cheers.

Lol..

Hyperfocal distance is very useful if you shoot a lot of landscapes. Basically the objective is to find the focusing distance whereby anything from 1)half of that distance from you towards 2)infinity is in focus

If your lens has the aperture markings on the distance scale, that will help you to determine how much distance will be in focus when setting the lens to that aperture

 

[SHLEW]

I find the subject on hyperfocal focusing very "chim", so much so that I even made a
hyperfocal distance card for my lens for reference.
However, I came across a site on landscape photography that instructs one to focus
somewhere at the bottom 1/3 of the screen and you are approximately right.
I am still trying this technique and it seems quite true.:bigeyes::bigeyes:
Cheers.
LEW

 

[thelight]

I find the subject on hyperfocal focusing very "chim", so much so that I even made a
hyperfocal distance card for my lens for reference.
However, I came across a site on landscape photography that instructs one to focus
somewhere at the bottom 1/3 of the screen and you are approximately right.
I am still trying this technique and it seems quite true.:bigeyes::bigeyes:
Cheers.
LEW

haha,
i agree.
it is quite chim.
bought DOF master from APPs store.
now i got the numbers.
but dunno how to apply the distance thru my lens.
the markings on my lens are quite limited.
for example, the tokina 11-16 has these markings 0.3,0.35,0.4,0.5,0.7,1,2, ∞ (in metres)
in other words, anything more than 2 meters = infinity?
hence the question here.
i am just trying to learn as much as i can before my trip to Perth on Monday.
hopefully i will take some 'good' shots.

 

[Rashkae]

haha,
i agree.
it is quite chim.
bought DOF master from APPs store.
now i got the numbers.
but dunno how to apply the distance thru my lens.
the markings on my lens are quite limited.
for example, the tokina 11-16 has these markings 0.3,0.35,0.4,0.5,0.7,1,2, ∞ (in metres)
in other words, anything more than 2 meters = infinity?
hence the question here.
i am just trying to learn as much as i can before my trip to Perth on Monday.
hopefully i will take some 'good' shots.

If in doubt, set your camera to "landscape" mode. It does a good job.

 

[thelight]

If in doubt, set your camera to "landscape" mode. It does a good job.

that's probably the last thing i'll do.
no offence, it's good advice.
but the reason why i took up photography at this age is because,
it is an art.
and like all art,
sacrifices must be made.
there must be patience.
there must be practice.
sure, there will be a lot of reading,
there will be questions( with caustic replies sometimes, no doubt) but hey,
i can live with that.
if i were to take the easy way out,
then no point for a DSLR.
i know eventually i will upgrade to a full frame.
but i know, i know nothing yet.
if i were to take it in 'landscape' mode,
then, i would get me a PnS.

 

[daredevil123]

hi,
to calculate hypofocal distance we use,
Circle of confusion (CoC)
Selected F-stop (aperture)
Focal length.
if say, the hypofocal length is 23m,
how do judge to focus that distance?
my lens has 0.3,0.35,0.4,0.5,0.7,1,2, ∞
do i just focus to infinity?
sorry if it sound dumb.

thelight, the answer is estimation.

What if I do not have a distance scale on my lens, and/or I do not know whether I can focus at the exact spot?

Do not worry. Hyperfocal distance will work further away. So if you are not sure, just focus on a spot further away than the calculated hyperfocal distance, and everything from half of the distance of that spot to infinity will be in focus.

from my blog post at http://darthbertz.blogspot.com/2010/07/getting-everything-into-focus.html. I think I listed some examples in there as well on this.

 

[Rashkae]

that's probably the last thing i'll do.
no offence, it's good advice.
but the reason why i took up photography at this age is because,
it is an art.
and like all art,
sacrifices must be made.
there must be patience.
there must be practice.
sure, there will be a lot of reading,
there will be questions( with caustic replies sometimes, no doubt) but hey,
i can live with that.
if i were to take the easy way out,
then no point for a DSLR.
i know eventually i will upgrade to a full frame.
but i know, i know nothing yet.
if i were to take it in 'landscape' mode,
then, i would get me a PnS.

What I meant is, if you are running out of time and you can't figure out your settings and you need to take the shot right away, use one of the modes.

 

[newghost]

For landscape or any given fixed sets, you'll usually have the luxury of time to adjust your settings on your camera / lens and compose your shots. I don't see why the need for hyperfocal range shooting?

IMHO, I do find hyperfocal range shooting or zone focusing much more useful for shooting streets. When you want to get close yet unobtrusive, like shooting from the tummy or hips. You can pre-set and then just snap away to capture the spontaneity of the moment without looking at the viewfinder (and the moment is lost!)

Compare to setting at infinity, shooting in hyperfocal range you'll gain extra DOF... :thumbsup:

 

[An drew]

haha,
for example, the tokina 11-16 has these markings 0.3,0.35,0.4,0.5,0.7,1,2, ∞ (in metres)
in other words, anything more than 2 meters = infinity?
hence the question here.

The Tokina 11-16 is such a wide lens that the dof will be very deep. So I think you just need to put the focus between 1.2 and infinity. But if your subject is at infinity, it would still be better to focus at infinity rather than use hyperfocal distance.

For landscape or any given fixed sets, you'll usually have the luxury of time to adjust your settings on your camera / lens and compose your shots. I don't see why the need for hyperfocal range shooting?

IMHO, I do find hyperfocal range shooting or zone focusing much more useful for shooting streets. When you want to get close yet unobtrusive, like shooting from the tummy or hips. You can pre-set and then just snap away to capture the spontaneity of the moment without looking at the viewfinder (and the moment is lost!)

Compare to setting at infinity, shooting in hyperfocal range you'll gain extra DOF... :thumbsup:

Agree, for landscape you would probably be trying to apply the Scheimpflug principle rather than hyperfocal distance, which is still a compromised approach.

 

[giantcanopy]

Agree, for landscape you would probably be trying to apply the Scheimpflug principle rather than hyperfocal distance, which is still a compromised approach.

How else do you usually apply the Scheimpflug principle for landscape shooting without tilt ?

ryan

 

[An drew]

How else do you usually apply the Scheimpflug principle for landscape shooting without tilt ?

ryan

get tilt lah.

 

[giantcanopy]

Agree, for landscape you would probably be trying to apply the Scheimpflug principle rather than hyperfocal distance, which is still a compromised approach.

How else do you usually apply the Scheimpflug principle for landscape shooting without tilt ?

ryan

 

[GRbenji]

For landscape or any given fixed sets, you'll usually have the luxury of time to adjust your settings on your camera / lens and compose your shots. I don't see why the need for hyperfocal range shooting?

IMHO, I do find hyperfocal range shooting or zone focusing much more useful for shooting streets. When you want to get close yet unobtrusive, like shooting from the tummy or hips. You can pre-set and then just snap away to capture the spontaneity of the moment without looking at the viewfinder (and the moment is lost!)

Compare to setting at infinity, shooting in hyperfocal range you'll gain extra DOF... :thumbsup:

The use of hyperfocal for landscape is when the is/are foreground object(s).

 

[daredevil123]

For landscape or any given fixed sets, you'll usually have the luxury of time to adjust your settings on your camera / lens and compose your shots. I don't see why the need for hyperfocal range shooting?

IMHO, I do find hyperfocal range shooting or zone focusing much more useful for shooting streets. When you want to get close yet unobtrusive, like shooting from the tummy or hips. You can pre-set and then just snap away to capture the spontaneity of the moment without looking at the viewfinder (and the moment is lost!)

Compare to setting at infinity, shooting in hyperfocal range you'll gain extra DOF... :thumbsup:

Hyperfocal distance can be very useful in some circumstances, some of which are:

1. If the light is too dark for you to achieve focus lock or focus confirmation, or for you to get an accurate eyeball on the correct focus
3. If you have a very heavy ND attached to the lens causing the camera to not able to get a focus lock or confirmation,
4. when you are dealing with a setting or rising sun where you have a few minutes to get it right,
5. when you have a close foreground and you want enough DoF to get both the foreground and the background to be all in focus.

And if you think about it, landscape is the genre that benefits the most from hyperfocal distance focusing. Unless you shoot landscapes in good light all the time, do not do any ND work or extra long exposures or you do not shoot your landscapes with foreground.

my 2 cents.

 

[daredevil123]

The Tokina 11-16 is such a wide lens that the dof will be very deep. So I think you just need to put the focus between 1.2 and infinity. But if your subject is at infinity, it would still be better to focus at infinity rather than use hyperfocal distance.

That is not a sure fire way to get deep DoF. What if you are shooting at 16mm and at F2.8. Will putting the focus between 1.2 and infinity work still? I believe it is better to know for sure, than to do all these trail and error "magic" settings. (FYI, there are no magic settings).

Agree, for landscape you would probably be trying to apply the Scheimpflug principle rather than hyperfocal distance, which is still a compromised approach.

This is where I really lost you.

How many people actually do own tilt-shift lenses? And you are asking people to get a $3k tilt lens and apply Scheimpflug over hyperfocal distance focusing that can be applied to a kit lens...

BTW getting a tilt lens and applying Scheimpflug do not give you a deeper DoF. It just shifts the plane of Dof to an angle not parallel to the sensor. You still get OOF areas, just in different areas now.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Scandiacus]

I only know how to set a lens with DOF gauge to be hyperfocused via setting the infinity symbol to the desired aperture marking.

Is this method correct? =/

 

[daredevil123]

I only know how to set a lens with DOF gauge to be hyperfocused via setting the infinity symbol to the desired aperture marking.

Is this method correct? =/

Yup... for older lenses, that should be correct.