Brent Russell Paull
 American West Photography
 


Hyperfocal Distance

  

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 Hyperfocal Distance is the point at which you focus your camera to achieve the maximum amount of depth-of-field (DOF) in an image at any particular aperture (F-stop) setting.   This technique to achieving maximum DOF is particularly useful in photographing landscape images.  It requires the photographer to, instead of focusing on the subject, focus at some point in the foreground (called the hyperfocal distance) allowing the selected F-stop's DOF to include the subject.  There is more information about calculating the hyperfocal distance in my October 2007 newsletter.

     For the sake of being brief, I've used the hyperfocal distance program found at DOFMaster.com (a free program you can download) to calculate these distances.  Recently, I downloaded an I-Phone app that calculates the hyperfocal distance as well, for just a couple of dollars.  After using the program you can find the hyperfocal distance for any lens setting and any F-stop.

     I created a small, laminated card with the hyperfocal distances on it for my usual landscape lenses - and just carry it in my vest when I'm in the field ... my i-Phone app is my backup.  In the first example below, the hyperfocal distance for an 18mm lens at F22 is 1 foot, 8 inches - or 1'-8" approximately.  You focus at the hyperfocal distance, not at the subject (unless the main subject is that far away).  I've rounded the numbers slightly to make the distances easier to understand.  I've chosen 4 popular lens position for landscapes (like on an 18mm-55mm zoom lens) images and 2 popular telephoto lengths for sports and wildlife. Other F-stop settings can be extrapolated from the numbers below.  These numbers are for full-sensor size cameras.  For cameras that have a sensor crop factor (many Nikons are 1.5x and Canons are 1.6x) you need to multiply your lens by that factor.  For example, a 24mm lens would be a 36mm (24mm x 1.5) on my Nikon D2x - so calculate accordingly.

 
Lens Position Aperture (F-stop) Hyperfocal Distances
18mm F22 Focus at 1'-8" and everything from 10" to Infinity is in focus
  F16 Focus at 2'-3" and everything from 1'-2" to Infinity is in focus.
  F11 Focus at 3'-2" and everything from 1'-7" to Infinity is in focus.
  F8 Focus at 4'-6" and everything from 2'-3" to Infinity is in focus.
     
21mm F22 Focus at 2'-3" and everything from 1'-2" to Infinity is in focus.
  F16 Focus at 3'-2" and everything from 1'-7" to Infinity is in focus.
  F11 Focus at 4'-4" and everything from 2'-2" to Infinity is in focus.
  F8 Focus at 6'-2" and everything from 3'-1" to Infinity is in focus.
     
24mm F22 Focus at 2'-11" and everything from 1'-6" to Infinity is in focus.
  F16 Focus at 4' and everything from 2' to Infinity is in focus.
  F11 Focus at 5'-7" and everything from 2'-10" to Infinity is in focus.
  F8 Focus at 8' and everything from 4' to Infinity is in focus.
     
28mm F22 Focus at 3'-11" and everything from 1'-11" to Infinity is in focus.
  F16 Focus at 5'-6" and everything from 2'-9" to Infinity is in focus.
  F11 Focus at 7'-8" and everything from 3'-10" to Infinity is in focus.
  F8 Focus at 10'-11" and everything from 5'-5" to Infinity is in focus.

     What does all this really mean?  In my digital photography seminars I teach people that their lenses have a "sweet spot", a
F-stop range that provides the greatest sharpness and quality, with the least distortion.  Usually that F-stop range is F8 to F11.  By understanding hyperfocal distances as they relate to F-stops, we can make better choices in F-stop selection.

     If your subject area (in a landscape) begins 3 feet away and you are using your lens at 24mm, why would you choose F22 and focus at 2'-11" (with greater distortion) when you could choose F11 and focus at 5'-7"and take a better "quality" photo, still getting all the DOF you need.  Look at the chart.  Those settings are highlighted in gray.

     This only seems complex.  To improve the quality of our images we want to move towards those lens F-stops that provide us the best quality images and not get locked into thinking all landscape images should be at F16 or F22.  Sometimes - yes, but not always.  We want to be thinking photographers. 

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Contact: 559-909-5208   brentrpaull@hotmail.com