Learn't something new - Hyperfocal Focussing

[Dazzlercee]

I was getting a bit irritated by dust on my sensor showing in shots taken at f11, f16 and f22 when taking landscape, large DOF shots. I'd heard about hyperfocal focussing etc and decided to do some reading on the subject. I was amazed to learn that at short focal lengths, say 24mm full frame, I only have to set an aperture of f5.6 to get a DOF from about 2m to infinity (manual focussing distance set at about 3.5m). Setting to f8 yields even better results.

Of course these larger apertures give faster shutter speeds and prevent dust spots from showing on the final images. Its not a cure for dust, the sensor still has to be cleaned every so often, but it saves time when processing.

I just didn't realise how much DOF is affected by focal length.

 

[Samiad]

I was getting a bit irritated by dust on my sensor showing in shots taken at f11, f16 and f22 when taking landscape, large DOF shots. I'd heard about hyperfocal focussing etc and decided to do some reading on the subject. I was amazed to learn that at short focal lengths, say 24mm full frame, I only have to set an aperture of f5.6 to get a DOF from about 2m to infinity (manual focussing distance set at about 3.5m). Setting to f8 yields even better results.

Of course these larger apertures give faster shutter speeds and prevent dust spots from showing on the final images. Its not a cure for dust, the sensor still has to be cleaned every so often, but it saves time when processing.

I just didn't realise how much DOF is affected by focal length.

It's very useful - I keep a quick printout of hyperfocal ranges of typical focal lengths and apertures, which is really handy.

Don't forget that prime sharpness will be somewhere in the middle of your aperture range....somewhere between f/5.6 and f/11 depending on your lens. When you start going smaller than f/11 on a typical 1.6x crop camera you start meeting the enemy, by the name of 'DIFFRACTION'