Finding Hyperfocal Distance with kit lens??

KH wrote:Wah.. need to be so technical meh?

For me I see nice place just compose & shoot until I satisfy lo... anyway v r not gonna zoom in 100% to check any spot is out of focus in the pic when we enjoy our pic oso... as long as overall looks clear & sharp is enuf for me..

we enjoy the art we shoot not so much on the technical details behind it wat... anyway I just my thoughts seems like I talk too much cabut!!

digitalartist @ PhotoMalaysia

"To calculate the Hyperfocal distance, HF charts and calculators usually asks for your lens focal length and the aperture that you intend to use. Assuming your camera body is a Kwannon cropped frame sensor, and you have an 18mm lens, and you set it at f/11, the hyperfocal distance is given as 5 ft

If you focus on a subject that is 10 feet away, my Kwanon Hyperfocal Calculator says the near limit of the DOF or zone of sharp focus will be approximately from 3.3 ft to infinity. As the subject is 10 feet away, this means that everything about 6.7ft in front of the subject will be in sharp focus.(i.e. 10ft minus 3.3ft equals to 6.7ft.) Everything behind the subject to infinity will be in focus.

If you now focus the lens on something at the hyperfocal distance of 5 ft away, the DOF or zone of sharp focus will extend from 2.5 ft to infinity. Everything from 2.5ft to infinity, including that subject 10 ft away will be in sharp focus.

If you've done your reading and you find it too complicated to understand, just note and memorize the fact that if you have an 18mm lens with the aperture set at f/11, you will need to focus at an object 5ft away (the hypefocal distance) and after that simply ensure that everything you want to be in sharp focus is not nearer than 2.5 from your lens.

The DOF is wider at smaller aperturers.

At an aperture of f/16, with the same 18mm, if you focus at the hyperfocal distance of 3.5 ft, the DOF extends from 1.8ft to infinity.

At f/22. the hyperfocal distance is 2.53 ft and the DOF extends from 1.26ft to infinity.

So the smaller the aperture, the wider will be the DOF, and if you focus at the HF distance you've noted, and you use smaller and smaller apertures, you'll be able to get a wider and wider zone of sharp focus, with everything nearer and nearer staying in sharp focus.

Assuming there's enough light, setting your focus at the hyperfocal distance at an aperture of, say, f/11. will be an ideal setting for street shooters. Get a Red dot camera, set the focusing at the HF distance for F/11, and you can simply fire away without even looking thru the view finder in order to get properly focussed pictures.

Sounds complicated but we gave a very detailed demonstration of this at the PMPE. To make things easier, just work out the Hyperfocal distances at various apertures for each of your (prime) lens. A zoom lens, besides giving you less sharp images, makes life too complicated with hyperfocal distances."