Landscape focus issues?

Carl911

Carl911

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carl
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Hi, I 'm new here but have been a practicing ameteur photographer for about 3 months now.
I have tried my hand at a few different types of photography but one that I have struggled with is landscapes.
I have been finding it hard to get a landscape that is clear and well focused.
I have read about Hyperfocal length but still find it very confusing.
I downloaded the DOFMaster hyperfocal length chart but i am not sure I am entering all the right information.
For instance, I have a Canon 85mm Prime lens (f/1.8) and inputing what I feel to be the correct info I get a hyperfocal distance of 110.6ft at F/11.
I dont understand why the far distance focus is only 11.0ft. how can that be?
Can someone input the same details and explain to me what this means and how it works. The help function does not work for me on the DOFmaster either.
My Camera is a Canon 40D with 'circle of confusion-0.019'
Help much appreciated.

Carl
 
Ah, I dont want to belittle anyone that uses formulas, etc to work out focus etc - because I'm sure many people use it to great success - and it is something I have never tried, nor fully understand.

I would however suggest, if you're having huge problems - just whacking the aperture up around 11-16, focusing throught the viewfinder (if you insist on MF) or LiveVeiw and see what happens. Can you get sharper results doing this than using numbers? If so great, happy shooting....

...if not, maybe someone else can help...?
 
In hyperfocal focusing, the far distance is always infinity and the close focus distance is always half the distance the table tells you to set the lens focus to.

There is no such thing as a hyperfocal distance of 110.6 ft at f11. There is however a hyperfocal distance for an 85mm lens at f11.

If you are just starting out in this then don't spend too much time worrying about it. Much better to spend it actually taking some pictures and experimenting.

For a trial, set your aperture to around f11 and focus on something about a third of the way into the scene. then vary the aperture and see what happens.

There is another school of thought which suggests that you should set your focus onto whatever needs to be in focus and use your aperture to control the depth of field in front and behind it.


Steve.
 
Hyperfocal distance is gonna be kinda rough on a modern lens without accurate focus markings anyway. Set your lens to f11 or f16, focus to infinity and then turn the focus ring to focus a little closer. For most purposes this is fine.
 
I was struggling like you... and without writing it all out again... I ended up having a really interesting threat on this very topic... It went off topic at times... but in general a good guide for a landscape tog!

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=141973

Hope the stuff on it helps you out!
 
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