Camera Labs

Hi. I'm a little confused about where hyperfocal distance is measured from.

If for example, you find that your hyperfocal distance is 7 feet, does this mean 7 feet straight in front of your feet? Or does it mean 7 feet from the lens (plane of the sensor), which means you are actually measuring from the diagonal, instead of 7 feet from your toes?

Thanks.

Hi spodeworld,

May I wish you a warm welcome to the CameraLabs forum.

"From the camera" is good enough for government work.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Seems a little confusing on how to set the focus for the hyperfocal distance if you have a short hyperfocal distance (e.g. 5 ft or so) and don't have a ring on your lens to set. I guess you would have to point your lens at something you believe is the hf distance from the lens and lock the focus.

Is this they way that it would be done?

Thanks.

The hyperfocal distance is measured from the focal plane, i.e. the location where your camera sensor or film is situated. Some cameras even have a symbol on top of the camera indicating where the film plane resides.

What lens are you using? If it has distance marks on it you can use those for hyperfocal shooting.

Note: a lens only has ONE hyperfocal distance at each aperture. The hyperfocaldistance is the distance to focus the lens at to achieve everything from a near point to infinity all in focus. If you focus on the near point, then you are not hyperfocal shooting. The hyperfocal is some distance between the closest in focus point and infinity and you can estimate that distance if your lens does not show feet markings.

If you still need more info, go here:

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html