 Suman Chatterjee |
Focusing at hyperfocal distance with landscape We know in order to increase the sharpness of image (specially in landscape) if we focus at hyper focal distance, then from halfway of hyper focal distance up to infinity will be in sharp focus. Now how to focus at hyper focal distance when there is no distance scale or hyper focal scale on the lens barrel? Because I own a 28-80 Nikor G type lens which has got neither distance scale nor hyper focal scale on lens barrel. So what I do, first I decide the hyper focal distance (for decided aperture and focal length) from hyper focal table (available in different photography books). Now I focus approximately at hyper focal distance and then with this focusing, recompose the picture and shoot it. Please let me know whether this process will work or not. Otherwise what should be the correct procedure with this lens. Your advice in this regard will be highly appreciated.
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Andy |
There is an online DOF calculator in this site: http://dfleming.ameranet.com/dofjs.html What I do is to print out a sheet with the lens at various focal length, aperture and the DOF distance and bring it with me all the time. Hope this helps.
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John A. Lind |
Suman, Be cautious in using hyperfocal distance for landscapes. It doesn't *always* increase "sharpness." Depth of field is an apparent effect based human perception about what is and is not in focus. The *only* things truly in sharp focus are those objects at the focus distance the lens is set to. It's whether or not something is enough out of focus for the human eye and brain to perceive that it's out of focus. The human aspect is determined by acuity of the human eye and viewing distance. The rest is determined by how much the print (or screen projection) is enlarged from the original film and optical phyics. If the lens aperture is incorrectly calculated for human eye acuity, viewing distance and enlargement, *everything* in the very distant background can end soft and slightly fuzzy. Be especially careful when using DOF "calculators." Many of them make unstated assumptions about how much enlargement will be made from the film in combination with the minimum viewing distance to be expected for that enlargement. Worse yet, these unstated assumptions are often for small 3.5x5 inch or 4x6 inch prints viewed at average human reading distance . . . which is quite forgiving with apparent sharpness compared to larger "display" prints, the depth of field in which is nearly always noticeably shallower than in a 4x6 proof of the same photograph viewed at average reading distance. Hyperfocal distance is not used that much for landscapes. The occasions for it are situational. They depend entirely on the composition and the closeness with which one desires the appearance of objects being "in focus." It's my recommendation to use infinity focus and an aperture of f/11 (possibly f/16 depending on focal length) unless the closest distance that will be in the depth of field is not close enough. -- John Lind
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