WWM May 2015 – HyperFocal Distance

2 June 2015 | Shoot With Me

The theme of this WWM was to explore HyperFocal Distance Focusing.

HyperFocal Distance(HFD): is the Distance that you can Focus on so that the Image will be “Sharp” from the Far
Distance (Infinity) to a distance Halfway(½) between the Camera and the Distance you have Focused(Near).
The factors that affect HFD are :

  1. Focal Length,
  2. Aperture,
  3. Sensor size and
  4. Subject Distance!

The wider the Angle of the Lens, the Shorter its Focal Length and the deeper it Depth of Field.

A lens of a given Focal Length, set to a given Aperture, has a pre-determined Focus distance called the Hyperfocal Distance at which
the absolute maximum Depth of Field(DOF) is obtained.

Simply put : HyperFocal Distance is the Point nearest the camera at which the Depth of Field(DOF) extends to Infinity.

All our Images relate to Depth of Field for any Aperture

There were four people in this group : Roseanne Baume, Maria Jose Gonzalez, Gerald Donnelly, Andy Quinlan

Roseanne’s Seascape is from her AIPF panel and it was not possible to focus normally so she used HyperFocal focusing.

We have undoubtedly proved the Value of Hyperfocal Focusing for wide angle Lens in 10 .. 35 mm range.

Full Frame Cameras have a closer Hyperfocal Distance than APS-C cameras

  • e.g. Canon 5D MkII @ f/11 has a Hyperfocal Distance of 3.6 metres
  • e.g. Canon 7D MkI or II @ f/11 has a Hyperfocal Distance of 5.7 metres

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