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How to Determine Hyper-Focal Distance With Digital Cameras

When set to hyper-focal distance, a camera lens will be sharply focused on anything from half of this distance to infinity. Simply put, the hyper-focal distance creates a zone of focus within the resulting picture--anything within the zone will be clear and sharp, and anything outside it will be soft or blurred. This principle relies heavily on your selected aperture (lens opening), the lens focal length and the etched or painted distance scale on the barrel of your lens. Determining hyper-focal distance is much the same for both digital and film cameras.

Instructions

- 1
  Set your camera to manual focus mode. This will allow you to move the aperture ring to your desired setting and manually operate your focusing ring, both of which are integral to determining hyper-focal distance.
- 2
  Select your desired aperture, or lens opening. The smaller your lens opening, the greater the depth of field (range of effective sharp focus) will be. For example, an aperture of f/16 will render your entire scene sharp, while f/2.0 will only allow you to focus sharply on the very foreground or distant background of the scene. Deep depth of field allows for a greater hyper-focal distance.
- 3
  Move your lens's focusing ring so that the infinity symbol, which looks like a sideways "8," aligns with your selected aperture value on the distance scale. The distance scale is printed on the top of your lens's barrel.
- 4
  Locate your selected aperture value at the other end of the distance scale and note the distance above it. This is the minimal distance at which elements in your scene will be sharply focused.

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