Hyperfocal Lens Geeks - ASSEMBLE!

Sep 13, 2011
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Hey guys, I've a Q about hyperfocal distancing that is frying my brain a little.

I shoot my evening shots flash assisted. Using the 16-35mm lens I set the aperture to F8, adjust the ISO and flash power to suit and set the lens manually at 1.5m. Simple stuf.

Generally everything is in focus front and back for dance floor shots. Which suits me fine. However, I would like a longer focal length with the same functionality.

Is there a difference between how wide a lens is and its hyperfocal distance? For example, is a 135L lens different from a 35-300mm lens at 135mm?

I'd like more reach around the 50-85mm mark and sometimes it's a little too dark for my 85mm to acquire focus. The other way is to stop the aperture down further but that taxes the flashes more.

Thanks!
 
Also without reading the entire article this table might help (taken from the article).

As you can see with an 85mm lens and at close distances you have to stop down quite a bit and I'm not sure you could achieve hyperfocus at 1.5metres. Also, at f/22 flash power will be severely diminished.

It's better to use a 35mm or 50mm lens and crop in post.
 

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d4mike said:
I use the PhotoPills app on my iPhone, they have a Hyperfocal calculator as well.


http://www.photopills.com/calculators/hyperfocal-table

Yeah you gotta have a dof calculator saved as a bookmark on your phone! It's like landscape 101!

Though I mainly just 16mm f/8 everything and chill. ;D
 
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