Hyper focal distance e.... Arrrgghh!

SAM81 · 27 Jan 2013 at 06:56

I just can't seem to get my head round it!

Assuming the following scenario...

I want to take a landscape shot, have an app installed on my phone which asks for the focal distance the lens is at and the aperture. I set the lens to 17mm and aperture to f11, the app tells me the hyper focal point is 5.59ft.

Am I right in assuming I frame my shot as normal, picking my focus point (let's say say in this instance its the centre of the shot), and I then manually adjust the focal ring to 5.59ft?

Do I need to worry about what I pick as my focal point (assuming it's within the total distance covered by half the hyper focal point to infinity?)

Thanks for any hp on this!

Ksanti · 27 Jan 2013 at 09:55

Focus on the closest thing that's 5.59ft away or further. There's no real point focusing further out than 5.59ft and indeed it will result in foreground elements being out of focus if there are any closer than 5.59 ft.

D.P. · 27 Jan 2013 at 15:22

SAM81 said:
I just can't seem to get my head round it!

Assuming the following scenario...

I want to take a landscape shot, have an app installed on my phone which asks for the focal distance the lens is at and the aperture. I set the lens to 17mm and aperture to f11, the app tells me the hyper focal point is 5.59ft.

Am I right in assuming I frame my shot as normal, picking my focus point (let's say say in this instance its the centre of the shot), and I then manually adjust the focal ring to 5.59ft?

Do I need to worry about what I pick as my focal point (assuming it's within the total distance covered by half the hyper focal point to infinity?)

Thanks for any hp on this!

Assuming the app,is correct and yu are using it right thn yes, you set the focus point to about 6 feet and everything from fairly close to infinity will be in focus.

dannyjo22 · 27 Jan 2013 at 15:23

I auto focus on something 5.59 feet away. Flip the focus to manual, recompose and take the shot. Other people focus a third of the way into the framed shot, switch to manual to lock focus and recompose.

Whatever works for you

SAM81 · 27 Jan 2013 at 17:43

Thanks guys, that clarifies it

a1ex2001 · 30 Jan 2013 at 12:30

Remember the term 'acceptable focus' that is the key with this if you pixel peep with your face a foot from your 24" screen you will se softness 'acceptabel focus' means just that when viewing theprint at sensible sizes and viewing distances.

D.P. · 30 Jan 2013 at 15:13

a1ex2001 said:
Remember the term 'acceptable focus' that is the key with this if you pixel peep with your face a foot from your 24" screen you will se softness 'acceptabel focus' means just that when viewing theprint at sensible sizes and viewing distances.

Acceptable focus also does permit for very large prints, it just assumes that the bigger the print Te further away you will stand to view it.

a1ex2001 · 30 Jan 2013 at 15:31

D.P. said:
Acceptable focus also does permit for very large prints, it just assumes that the bigger the print Te further away you will stand to view it.

Thats what I was trying to say and looking back failed to word quite right, basically if you are a pixel peeper hyperfocal focussing won't necessarily satisfy you but it you viewing the an image from an appropriate distance for the size of print/display then you'll be ok.

(Hopes he's managed to get his point accross this time!)

Devrij · 30 Jan 2013 at 18:04

So am I right in thinking that I would be better focussing on the nearest object outside of the hyperfocal distance to achieve critical sharpness while maximising dof? Or does focusing further out than the hyperfocal distance reduce dof? Obviously I get that the foreground might lose focus if I go too far out, but will it focus to infinity if, say, I focussed at 15 - 20ft in the OP's example?