Originally posted by photoptimist If anything, knowing that DoF and hyperfocal distance depend on the photographer's goal/tolerance for CoC, makes the concept more useful. If you know the intended print size or required final required resolution, you know the right CoC to use.
The whole point of DoF calculators is to control what's in focus and what's out of focus in the final output by appropriate choices of aperture and focus distance. Sure, you can trial-and-error it with digital previews at various focus and aperture settings, but that will take a lot longer than just plugging a few numbers into a DoF calculator.
Even if you focus-stack, you still need some understanding of DoF (and CoC) to ensure the correct number and spacing of the focus slices.
IMHO, that's just not necessary for landscape as in the thread title. Maybe if you're focus stacking a macro where the back edge of your image is not near infinity. But most of the time I use hyperfocal settings it's with the horizon visible in the image. The far distance you want is infinity. All I need to know is what will be in focus at what distance at the front end of the image with the back edge set to infinity on the DoF guide. And that is pretty easily estimated with acceptable error built in.
For macro I use live view, manual focus and the focus confirm. No need to calculate anything. I can see it on the back screen.
But this also goes back to the need for resolution. You do need to know about the CoC if you plan to view a large print from too close to appreciate the composition. But as the print gets larger, your view from a further distance and the size of the CoC can be larger than they would have to be on a smaller print.
I always wonder about folks making things way more complicated than they need to be.
If you are concerned about minutiae then maybe these calculators and concerns will mean something to you. I've gone a lifetime using what I learned from my DoF guide on my 55 1.8 in film days without having to waste time with mathematical formula. You can, but in my experience you won't lose much if anything because you don't.
This is an area where you can develop a feel for what you are doing, and that's part of the skill of the trade. You can calculate stuff, but you'll never be as fast as those with a more experienced based approach. If you're a pro, time is money. If you're not, time wasted is shots missed.
The only way I'd recommend an actual DoF guide would be as training wheels while you're figuring it out.
But an FA 50 1.7 would be better. It's more intuitive and easier to understand and interpret. And you can take pictures with it.
I always find it so odd when people start recommending stuff I've never felt the need to do.
Sometimes it's not about how many technical calculations you bring with you and futz around with, it's about how confident you are in your ability to correctly gauge a situation. As longs I keep nailing the images the way I'm doing it, I'm not going to recommend something more complicated.
The DoF of even a 100mm lens is so narrow as to be pretty much useless for all in focus landscape if you're shooting objects form 10-15 feet way in the foreground. My DA*55 still has a DoF guide on top. If you apply 50mm DoF knowledge to a wider lens like a 20, 24, 28, 35, all you need to know is your lens is probably sharpest at ƒ5.6 and there's no reason to go below that. You portably have DoF over kill at ƒ5.6 or ƒ8.
Its the same with any skill, you train yourself to do what the amateurs need guides and other supports to accomplish. I also know how to file a chainsaw without a file guide, sharpen a chisel without guide to hold my angle and keep it precise without a guide, and file my teeth flat on a crosscut saw without a guide. That stuff is all part of learning your trade. And they make guides for all these things, I even own them , but they slow you down. My boss hated seeing guys using guides when he was paying them. You taking the extra time to use a guide cost him money, he'd be happier paying someone who was more efficient. Anything you can learn to do correctly without a guide increases your efficiency.
Maybe you need to work with a guide for a while, but your goal should be to leave it behind at some point. The look on my face right now is probably the look on one of the old cabinet makers seeing me use a sharpening guide to sharpen a chisel back when I was learning, Or the look a kid gets on his face when he sees a buddy using training wheels on his bike. Use them if you have to, you'll be happier when you learn to leave them behind, except in the most un-usual of circumstances.
Last edited by normhead; 06-10-2019 at 01:54 PM.