Andy Harbin Photography
Capturing the beauty of The Cotswolds and surrounding areas

In principle, the idea is quite straight forward....focus your camera at the hyperfocal distance and everything in the image from half the hyperfocal distance to infinity will be in focus.

In practical terms, you should aim to focus your camera a third of the way up from the bottom of your image (see picture below - light blue line). Whilst this may not be an exact science, as a 'rule of thumb' it will serve you well. For a more precise approach, there are devices cheaply available which can help you find the hyperfocal point. These come in the form of circular cards; you rotate the various discs based upon your camera, lens, focal length etc and out pops the distance at which you should focus. Alternatively there are 'Apps' available for most smart phones these days.

As with depth of field, the hyperfocal distance is dependant upon the focal length of the lens, aperture and the circle of confusion for the particular camera being used. The graph below shows this relationship for a Canon 400D.

Graphs in PDF format for other circles of confusion can be downloaded by clicking the links below. To view a list of the circle of confusion values for some of the more popular digital cameras click here.

• CofC 0.007

• CofC 0.015

• CofC 0.019

• CofC 0.020

• CofC 0.023

• CofC 0.030