# sensor size and hyperfocal distance



## sashmo (Oct 19, 2002)

Hi, I have rudimentary knowledge of depth of field. Now I'm trying to learn about hyperfocal distance and in order to calculate this I need to know the sensor size and crop frame ratios of my cameras. However the stats don't indicate this. Does anyone know where I can find this information?
Thanks for your help.


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## Guest (Apr 16, 2012)

A good place to start would probably be looking up your camera/lens specs on Digital Photography Review

What kind of camera and lens setup are you using? Maybe someone here can help.


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## phuviano (Sep 14, 2005)

Image sensor format - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## Kami (Jul 29, 2002)

Here you go

Understanding Your Camera’s Hyperfocal Distance

Scroll about half way down the page and look for the heading "Hyperfocal Chart Calculator"

There is a drop down menu in which you can select the sensor type (e.g. APS-C, APS,H, full frame, etc.)

You can also change the distance unit from metres to feet if you are more comfortable with imperial units

There are other web sites with this type of calculator. I wonder if there is an app for that??


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## sashmo (Oct 19, 2002)

Hi, Thanks for sending all of those links. I have read a number of articles and sadly, am only slightly further ahead. Lots of pictures are good. What surprises me is that I've gone to a few photography seminars and only now do I hear about how important hyper focal distance is.


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## Joker Eh (Jan 22, 2008)

sashmo said:


> Hi, Thanks for sending all of those links. I have read a number of articles and sadly, am only slightly further ahead. Lots of pictures are good. What surprises me is that I've gone to a few photography seminars and only now do I hear about how important hyper focal distance is.


Just take the picture. You are doing what I wasd doing. Thinking to much. By the time you think about all what you are supposed to do the shot is gone. And actually the enjoyment of the hobby is gone.


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## sashmo (Oct 19, 2002)

Yeah, I was wondering about that also. Every time I go to a photography seminar, I end up either trying to understand a new concept or wishing I had better equipment. Now I'm pining for Live View.


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## The Doug (Jun 14, 2003)

Joker Eh said:


> Just take the picture. You are doing what I wasd doing. Thinking to much. By the time you think about all what you are supposed to do the shot is gone. And actually the enjoyment of the hobby is gone.


As Obi Wan said, _let go your conscious self and act on instinct._


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## MacBrian (Apr 20, 2012)

Hyperfocal Distance was much more useful in the old days of manual focusing, etc. News photographers used to keep their Speed Graphics set at the hyperfocal distance. If you asked them what's the best camera setting? They would say "ƒ8 and be there". And of course, on older cameras they used to have very usable depth of field scales. It was easy to set the hyper focal distance with that scale.

Simply put, the hyperfocal distance is where your lens is focused at when you move the far end of your depth of field range to "infinity". You know that your depth of field gives you a range of acceptable focus closer and farther than your focus distance. A small aperture (ƒ11 or ƒ16) gives you more depth of field while wider apertures (ƒ2.8 or ƒ4) give you shallow depth of field.

Let's say your aperture is set at ƒ11 (and you have a 35mm camera or full-sized sensor digital camera with a 50mm lens). If your lens is focused at infinity then your depth of field extends from some near point (about 40 feet) and the far end of your depth of field goes far beyond infinity, or is wasted. If you move your far end of your depth of field to infinity, now your lens is focused at about 40 feet and your nearest depth of field is about 20 feet. So you gained 20 feet of foreground depth of field for free. Your hyperfocal distance is 40 feet. 

While you are getting into depth of field and hyper focal distance a very important issue to consider is diffraction at small apertures. This is much more of a limitation to sharpness than just depth of field.

There's and excellent iPhone app called "TrueDoF" which is very handy for field use. You can plainly see the depth of field distances and the limitations where diffraction starts to interfere with sharpness as you move the sliders around on the app.


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## sashmo (Oct 19, 2002)

Thanks for the explanation MacBrian. I have downloaded an app called DOFMaster, which someone else had recommended. Haven't tried it yet as I've been doing some reading to find out what type of sensor I have in my Panasonic point and shoot and my Canon Rebel DSLR.


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