Quick and Easy technique to find the Hyperfocal Distance
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- čas přidán 5. 11. 2016
- This is a quick and easy technique for Sony Alpha users to find the optimum Hyperfocal Distance when shooting landscape images. This technique will ensure maximum depth of field for sharp focus from the foreground to infinity. This technique will work for DSLR owners as well if they go into live view and then hold the depth of field preview button down. For Mirrorless users it is very much a case of WYSIWYG or what you see is what you get so there there no depth of field button required. The added advantage of Mirrorless users is that they can also preview the optimum focus distance through the EVF (electronic viewfinder) as well as on the LCD screen.
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Short and sweet - GREAT TIP Mark, thank you. I wished I had seen this before my recent trip to Sedona, Arizona, which is one of the most beautiful places on earth to photograph. I thought by just putting the lens on F/11 or F13, it would give me great detail throughout, but boy was I wrong!! The foreground wasn’t in focus on many shots. Now it will be. Thanks!
My favourite teacher ever.
You're the best, Mark. Thank you and please keep these tips coming.
Such a simple explaination short and crisp , wasted lot of my time watching lengthy videos.thank you pro
Brilliant! Thank you Mark.
Wow really? That's it? Thanks so much, saved me buying an app to do this.
This guy is a LEGEND! Thank you so much. You just saved us lot of time 🥳
That's a class and also very simple tip Mark, I can't wait to try it out on some shoots
Dam its too easy such a informative video thanks
How did I never think of this! Amazing technique, thank you for sharing!
Glad it was helpful!
Wooow.... Quite easy dude, thank you 😁
Thanks!
Hello I am actually shooting on an iPhone 11 Pro Max using an app that lets me really dial it in for landscapes. Thank you for making an easy tutorial. I am already seeing an improvement in my image quality. ♥️
phone sensors are so small u don't really need to do this >_>
Thank you
Nice tip! Is It the same with old manuel vintage lens ( no digital meetering scale on the screen) zoom In on the horison turn the focus to get focus,, zoom out and In again on the forground to se if it's in focus also?
Thank you so so much Mark. I have been trying all methods focusing 1 third in etc. All a bit hit and miss. This is so easy and logical, now you say it.
I love your channel, down to earth great advice and easy to undetstand.
Allan UK
Thanks for your positive feedback
Mark great video!! I just bought the Sony A7III and I used the hyperfocal technique with the 90 macro lens, I used an app and it said that I have to focus at about 25 meters, I did it but I also shot using focus to infinity to be able to compare, the shot with the hyperfocal distance is acceptable sharp but the one to infinity is way sharper especially to the buildings far away, do you know why is that? isn't better focus to infinity? Thanks for your great channel. I am watching from Colombia.
ExcelyFinanzasparatodos Darío Fuentes - depth of field will also be influenced by the focal length of the lens, so achieving depth of field from subjects near to the camera to infinity may not be possible with a telephoto lens. If you were using an app to discover the distance you had to focus their should be adjustable parameters as the words ‘Acceptably Sharp’ are a variable depending on viewing size and viewing distance. Focusing at infinity for landscape work will pretty much always ensure the foreground is blurry.
Thank you! It really helps me out but only in the day light time. When it comes to night, things get more tricky.
Turn off bright monitoring and you will be able to see in the dark ;)
@@maximecoutu2440 Hi, thanks but how do I do it in the Settings?
Great!
Hi Mark. Please excuse my ignorance regarding the subject of this video. Am I to take away from this video that with the a7r3, I should always use f16 in a landscape scene similar to the one in this video, to get maximum DOF without diffraction and by using the technique you demonstrate, obtain acceptable sharpness from front to back? Or is the minimum focusing distance of 5m in your example, the hyperfocal distance and we should focus at 5m into the scene to get the desired sharpness? Thanks.
If you can achieve sharp focus in a scene from the nearest subject matter to the sharpest subject matter at f/11 or even f/8 then that is what I would advise. Generally most lenses will be sharper at f/11 than they are at f/16. If, however, you were in a hurry you could simply set the focusing distance to 5 or 6m and stop down to f/16. if you have a little more time on your hands I would use the technique outlined in this movie and see if you can achieve the desired depth of field at f/11. The proximity of the nearest subject matter and the choice of lens may change from landscape to landscape and so there can be no hard a fast distance setting for all situations.
Very easy! Thank you for the video. I don't understand why so many dislikes?
Some want it to be more complicated than it is and some do not understand my explanation.
Does this apply to videography too? It's hard to focus on entire screen. Any tips?
I have a full frame Sony A7R111 and plan on shooting landscape using F11 as recommended in one of your other videos; should I set the F number to F16 in order to find the hyperlocal distance then switch back to F11
The Hyperfocal distance changes if you change the aperture so test at the aperture you intend to use.
Wish I could hit the like button twice
Thanks for your positive feedback
Question: Can hyperfocal distance work with wider apertures like f.1.8 ? Or do I have to stop it down to something high like f.16?
Hyperfocal distance is applicable to all apertures but depth of field will be narrower when using the wider apertures.
Hi Mark, I have just bought my first Sony A7R III, I found your videos and my mind is blowing up! Thank you so much for these. Not sure if you will have a chance to see and answer my question here, put I will leave it anyway. I got a Tamron 28-75mm and I will have some Painting (arts) to photograph in a gallery and as you can see, I need to make it absolutely sharp and focus in every single detail. Any tip about it? I mean, I will definitely try to use your technique, but do you recommend that i pay attention to anything else? Thank you so much.
Depending on the lighting in the gallery and the reflective nature of the artwork you may also need to use a polarising filter.
@@AlphaCreativeSkills Thank you for replying me, Mark. The gallery light itself is quite good but I'm taking a softbox with me. Also, There is no glass or reflection on the artworks. Thank you again
what your lens do you use? how about third party lens? like laowa 15mm F2
I use a variety of lenses such as the FE 16-35 F/2.8 GM, FE 16-35 F/4 ZA, Batis 2.8/18, Voigtlander 15, SEL 10-18 F/4
@@AlphaCreativeSkills thx a lot, new reference, god bless u
Hi Mark. Would you ordinarily shoot landscapes at f16 or does the practice apply at any aperture? Obviously, at my preferred aperture of f9 - f11, the hyperfocal distance will change.
but u can use the same principle; the difference is at f9, the near focus point will be further than the one at f16
I open up one stop to avoid the effects of 'diffraction'. As the effects of diffraction kick in earlier on a cropped sensor I would open up to f/11. The depth of field is greater on a smaller sensor so the resulting depth of field would be similar. The principle works at any aperture. If you are shooting at f/8 or f/9 I would be reviewing the foreground detail to make sure the wider aperture has rendered the foreground detail sharp.
If you are further away from your foreground subject matter you could open up to f/11 or f/8 and still render the subject sharp from foreground to Infinity. When you apply this technique at wider apertures you will effectively be moving the Hyperlocal Distance further away from the lens.
but what if u shoot at f2.8? focusing at the furthest object and adjusting the focus for that won't cut it; the near to far distance will be like 8m or less; that works only for apertures smaller than f8-f11
normally you wont shoot landscapes as f2.8 as most shoot between f8 and f16 to get the MOST of the stuff in focus from front to back. Check out the hyper-focal distance calculator site Mark refers to in his other videos to get the actual amount of stuff that will in and out of focus and where to focus: www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/dof-calculator.htm
AM I right in thinking that the 5m that is displayed in live view when you are focusing is the hyperfocal distance. I use a canon EOS m50 mirrorless camera, and unfortunately this information is not shown when manual focusing using live view or the EVF
Yes - I am choosing to focus on the hyperfocal distance (the nearest I can focus while keeping the horizon sharp).
thanks for that. Very informative video
I wonder if that trick will work in fujifilm cameras...Ill try in the morning.
If you have a finder with more than 3 million dots you should be OK
Quick questions
1) does this work with any lens? Like ones with no electrical contacts or any focal length?
2) do you have to focus only on the horizon? If i focus just under or above will it change anything? Are we pretty much just focusing at the furthest point? Sometimes there is no horizon in my frame.
Thank for answering this in advance
Yes it works with any lens - You are NOT focussing on the horizon. You are Magnifying the view on the horizon to check it is still sharp when you have focussed nearer the foreground. Optimum focus point (hyperfocal distance) is much closer to the camera when using a wide angle lens - usually 6 metres or less.
@@AlphaCreativeSkills
thanks for the reply. I think i understand this whole concept now.
1. so are you just stopping down first to increase depth of field?
2. since the hyperfocal distance comes before infinity it naturally follows that, the first point at which the horizon is acceptably sharp would be the hyperfocal distance? is that basically what youre doing?
Hi Mark, great video! why do you use ISO 50? Isn't that a fake iso
The optimum ISO of the camera is 100 but using 50 is not a problem on the A7RII and A7RIII cameras as it does not impact negatively on the dynamic range (not always the case on other cameras). Using 50 ISO was a choice to slow the shutter speed down - my preferred option compared to using f/22, which will noticeably soften sharp detail due to the effects of diffraction.
Hi thanks for this.
Could this technique be used to establish a setting for zone focusing for street photography? I have a Sony A7C II
Many Thanks
Yes, absolutely
@@AlphaCreativeSkills Thanks for that - a very useful technique
If you find the minimum focusing distance for F16 on a FF sensor will it alter when you open up to F8 or will it remain constant?
It will change
Thanks - I've just been reading up on it @@AlphaCreativeSkills
Are you saying in this case that you should focus 5 meters and not the horizon?
The hyperfocal distance is never the horizon - precise distance depends on focal length, aperture and size of sensor.
Q:Would using focus peaking in manual mode work also ?
Focus Peaking is overly optimistic and not really useful for stills unless used in Super magnified view
@@AlphaCreativeSkills as soon as the farthest subject is in focus this will be your minimum focus distance ?
My lens has no distance markers. How do I focus on infinity for stars and milky way photography? The only thing I can figure out is to focus the camera for infinity before it gets dark and not move the focus ring until I am done shooting later at night.
Distance is also displayed in the EVF and LCD. For stars try focussing on the brightest star in the sky in Magnify View - Peaking may also help if set to Red when in Magnify view.
Thank you!
@@AlphaCreativeSkills Thank you for this tip Mark! I suppose it will take practise approximating distance on field (like 5m in your video) to focus on with this method. How would you do that when you get high HFD (like 20-25m / beach scenario)?
This technique works without any distance readout
@@AlphaCreativeSkills could you please elaborate? What I understood from the video is, after I get minimum distance from focusing on horizon, I need to focus at that distance (not horizon) from vantage point in order to render sharp foreground and background. Is that right?
Hi Mark. A new great video. But I'm a bit unsure how to use this and have a few questions. In this video and this example, is the 4-5 meter hyperfocal point when focusing on the horizon? Will the image be sharp from about 1/3 part in front of 4-5 meters and to the horizon?
Depth-of-field will extend in front of the actual focusing distance - go to www.cambridgeincolour.com and check out their depth-of-field calculator if you need reassurance as to the extent of the coverage you will have. The actual 'proof-of-the-pudding,' however, is when you review your own photos and check to see how close subject matter can be placed and still be in sharp focus - remember it changes with each focal length you use.
Thanks for the great tip. I have little doubt. I do mostly video as a part of my filmmaking. Luckily I am using Sony alpha cameras (A7SII). My concern is let's say my subject is 4-5 meters away and a room is not well lit and this scenario, I want to use F3.2 or at the max 5.6 aperture. How can I use this technique to achieve sharp focus?
Just focus straight on your subject in the room. Hyperfocal Distance techniques are mainly for landscape photography
But you can have "infinity" sharp and your foreground soft...so it's not really always working that way. Also your sharpest aperture is not F16
Molybdan42 - not sure what you mean by your first part of your statement as this movie is about achieving sharp focus in both. Don’t confuse the sharpest aperture of the lens with the aperture that gives you more depth of field (zone of sharp focus). F/8 may technically be sharper than f/16 at the point of focus but may not provide the depth of field to render the foreground sharp.
Clarification Please: 1) Once you've dialed in the Hyperfocal distance (5 Meters) are you really discarding that data and just shooting at what you visually observe to be the sharpest setting there at F/16? 2) Do you also dial open to F/ 11 and F/ 9 for comparative samples? 3) When you choose the horizon you could have also chosen to select the furthest pylon that you could focus on.....is that correct because it seems that the center horizon is harder to focus on than say that building on the very far left of the image that also sits on the horizon? Thank you~! (A7R-III)
Not too sure what you mean by ‘discarding the data’ and yes, you could monitor the furthest detail in the image to ensure that remains sharp instead of the horizon.
I aim to shoot at f/11 in instances where I don’t need to use f/16 as this will produce sharper detail (marginally) than f/16
@@AlphaCreativeSkills "Discarding the 5 M data". Once you determined the Hyper-focal distance to be 5 Meters I didn't see that led to any actionable use of that data. You merely took the shot ......'
@@dmarque - When I determined that 5 meters was the closest I could focus and keep the horizon sharp I took the shot. I don't think I discarded anything. What would you have done with the distance info?
@@AlphaCreativeSkills I'm not suggesting that I would have an alternate procedure. I just want to understand WHY you determine the distance (5M) and then do nothing with that Data once you have it. Supports my supposition that you just shoot when the image is sharpest by your own perception regardless of what the measurement of the hyper-focal point measurement is. Maybe that 5M numeric can then be a factor and useful in determining the hyper-focal distance for other apertures or maybe other focal length options? Like maybe if the hyper-focal length was determined to be 15M and you really wanted the hyperlocal distance to be closer in at perhaps 5M...... what would your options be at that point? Thank you.....
gee, if i had a sony alpha, this might actually be useful
It applies to most Mirrorless cameras and also DSLRs working in Live View mode
Mark, thnx for this quick and easy solution. One question remains : in your example the hyperfocal distance seems to be 4 or 5 meters. How do you then apply this to the exact focuspoint ? You can’t jump into the water to figure out what 5 meters will be from your starting point. And f16 won’t be the aperture for a lot of scenes. Can i apply the dame trick for lets say f8 or f11 ?
The technique of moving focus as far forward as you can without losing sharp focus on the distant most subject where you need sharp does not require a focus distance readout or any measurement - it is simply done by eye. And yes it applies to every lens you use at every aperture.
Mark Galer's Alpha Creative Skills : simply done by eye? So 1 or 2 meters more or less is not so important??
My apologies but once you have a displayed distance of say for example 5m when focusing on the horizon. Would you then refocus the lens to be sharp on an object 5m into your composition, then press the shutter? Or do you just focus on the horizon to be sharp at the minimum distance you can see it being sharp at then hit the shutter button?
I never ‘focus’ on the horizon. I just magnify the view to check the horizon is sharp when I have focused on something in the foreground.
If that's your before ( in camera view ) and your post processed photo then I guess that explains why I can't get nice in camera photos. People are spending heaps of time in front of the computer.
Takes just one minute: czcams.com/video/wWCspsGL-rc/video.html - the reason the in-camera view is darker is because I have lowered the exposure so as not to overexpose the highlights in the sky and have then restored the shadows and added a graduated filter in post. I used to do the same thing in the darkroom in the analog days but then it took an hour. The finished view is what I saw rather than what current cameras fail to capture.
Mark Galer's Alpha Creative Skills I am now doing the same thing, under exposing often then recovering the shadows in Lightroom mobile. But it takes a while to accept the in camera photos will look pretty rubbish without editing. Maybe we are so used to seeing post edit photos everywhere that I half expect out of camera pics to look like that. My Nikon D810 at least retains very good recoverable shadows.
Mark, that technique is quite frankly, astonishing. I`ve got hyperfocal distance apps, numerous print outs, etc but this is soo easy. One of the best tips ever. Thank you soo much.
The Nikon D810 sensor is made by Sony so it is one of the few sensors that really tolerate shadow recovery without excessive noise. dpreview.com have an interesting article on the subject called "ISO Invariance".
Hello Mark,
my name is Andrea Dublaski from Germany. I'm a photographer (www.spicy-art.works) and recently I´ve bought the Sony Alpha A7RIII and 9.
One of my goals is to focus as much as possible on the overall subject or to focus optimally on landscape shots with the help of the correct hyperfocal distance setting (for example with the Sony wide-angle lens 16-35 mm or with the Laowa 12 mm). For this I have watched your CZcams video "Quick and Easy technique to find the Hyperfocal Distance“, but unfortunately - despite multiple repetition - not completely understood regarding the photo used by you (wooden piles in the lake). Maybe it's because of my bad English….. It would be very nice of you to explain this to me in detail with your words in the following point:
What I understood is that you are using the crop sensor, the manual mode and then the magnify focus feature. Then you zoom in on the horizon (the end of the wooden poles / navigation marks).
Now it comes: You set the minimum focus distance on the ring of the lens to display the image details sharp. What exactly do you mean by that? Do you do that in relation to the section of the horizon in the video? Is this the hyperfocal distance from which everything is in focus right up to the horizon? I do not understand that right now, because you have applied this to the selected image section of the horizon. In my opinion the DOF must be much further forward in the picture. At the aperture of 11 maybe 3 to 5 meters from the photographer, but at one of the first wooden posts in the photo. What did I completely misunderstand?
Thank you for your support. I am looking forward to your soon answer.
Warm greetings from Germany - Andrea
______________________________________
Andrea Dublaski
SPICY ARTWORKS
The concept of using the magnify view positioned on the horizon/infinity is to assess that it remains in sharp focus when moving the focus point to a close distance such as 5 or 6 metres. If the horizon/infinity loses sharp focus the focus distance is too short for the focal length of the lens and the aperture selected. The solution is to choose a smaller aperture or move the focus point further away.
Thx for your answer. I think now I understood your video tutorial in total and I´ll try that way asap. Greetings - Andrea
I'm not sure that's right. By focusing on the distant detail ... in your photo appeared to be the land (on that distant horizon) you have depth of field in front of that sure. But beyond your focus point as well. In your case .... completely beyond the farthest point. So you've lost that extra dof you had or could have used for the foreground. No.
You have not understood the video workflow I have outlined. I check the distance for focus - I do not focus on the distance. The workflow is shown live so you should be able to determine what I am doing it if you watch it a second time.
where is this pier?
Princes Pier, Port Melbourne
Or just use focus peaking, and focus to where most of the serene is peaking
I did that and the result is that infinity is the best way to go (I am using the 90 macro lens)
ExcelyFinanzasparatodos Darío Fuentes oops just seen ‘serene’ lol love auto correct :-)
Or just set the focus where the hyperfocal chart or app tells you. I trust calculations WAY MORE than electronic screens in the back of the camera. Optics are a science. If you want to make 100% sure you are doing the right thing, GO BY CALCULATIONS, that is, by your chart or app.