Originally posted by kadajawi A few notes: From what I understand, the wider the lens, the bigger the hyperfocal range. Also, any 28mm lens should perform the same at the same aperture, though perhaps the optical quality might have an influence.
Yes, correct. In fact, some wide-angle lenses have distance scales that, at f22, exceed their marked focusing range.
As for 28mm all having the same hyperfocal range, I don't think I agree. I think that's a factor of focal length, yes, but also of lens design and probably some factors such as depth of focal plane (how much thicker the actual focal plane is than the film or sensor), focal plane curvature (lenses don't focus on a perfectly flat field), and focus height (distance from the rear element to the front of the focal plane.)
Originally posted by kadajawi Say on a 3 MP APS-C camera the hyperfocal range will be bigger than on a 24 MP APS-C camera
Well, sort of yes. That's no so much a function of the lens, which has the same capabilities regardless of sensor, but of how capable the sensor is of seeing the imperfections in the lens' image. It would be worth considering that downsampling a larger image to a smaller one would likely result in the same in-focus effect as the smaller native image.
Originally posted by kadajawi (so that I won't waste sharpness on diffraction (?) from being beyond, say, f11).
Depends on your camera. To my eyes, an sensor up to around 16 MP won't suffer diffraction softness until f13 or smaller. My K-3 starts to suffer it around f9 or f10, but this depends on the lens as f10 on a 300mm is a 30mm opening, but on a 50mm is a 5mm opening, so diffraction is almost never an issue with longer lenses, even stopped down to f29 or so.