DOF and Hyperfocal Distance

argyle

I'm relatively new to the dslr world after many years of shooting film (also new to dgrin). Back in the days of my FD lenses, I was able to determine the hyperfocal distance using the scale on the lens barrel. I noticed when I bought the first AF lens for my 30D that there wasn't a DOF scale. Is there a simpler way to determine the hyperfocal distance in digital, other than performing calculations with focal distance and circle of confusion and making a table? I hate to think that I'd need to do this for each lens. Thanks for any help or advice.

LiquidAir

Generally zoom lenses don't have DoF scales because it is different at every focal length. EF series prime lenses still have a DoF scale printed on them. As for tools for calculating DoF and hyperfocal distances, try here

http://www.dofmaster.com/

argyle

LiquidAir wrote:

Generally zoom lenses don't have DoF scales because it is different at every focal length. EF series prime lenses still have a DoF scale printed on them. As for tools for calculating DoF and hyperfocal distances, try here

http://www.dofmaster.com/

Thanks for the link. All of my lenses are zooms, so it looks like I'll either have to do some calculations and carry index cards or charts in my bag, or download the software to my PDA. Thanks again.

andymillson

Also check out

http://www.expodisc.com/products/product_detail.php?prodid=4&productname=ExpoAperture2_Depth-of-Field_Guide

The ExpoAperture tool is VERY useful and works for a very large range of focallengths, all in one easy to carry tool.

It appears thayhave just released a new version. I have been using the first generation version and love it!

Edit: I have just read through the quick start guide, and this is a real improvemnet over the previous version, makes using different size sensors much easier to use. Another item to add to the gift list 8-)

Andy