Lumix M4/3 ...Here’s how to set the Hyperfocal Distance.

Dave in Wales

Dave in Wales

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I cannot lay claim to discovering this, I came across it elsewhere.

It’s oh so simple.

Set the camera to manual focusing, aperture priority or manual.
Turn the camera off and then back on.
Bingo, the lens is set to the hyperfocal distance.

The camera has to be turned off and on every time the aperture or zoom setting is changed.

Sorry if this has been posted before.
 
Dave in Wales said:
I cannot lay claim to discovering this, I came across it elsewhere.

It’s oh so simple.

Set the camera to manual focusing, aperture priority or manual.
Turn the camera off and then back on.
Bingo, the lens is set to the hyperfocal distance.

The camera has to be turned off and on every time the aperture or zoom setting is changed.

Sorry if this has been posted before.
Click to expand...

I noticed this while "testing" my partner's GF2.
However I get the feeling that Panasonic did not really design this camera (or their lenses) to be aimed at manual focus fans. The only MFT lens I have seen (so far) aimed at manual focus is the £600 12mm Zuiko.
 
I'll try this later but by hyperfocal distance do you mean focus on infinity?
 
woof woof said:
I'll try this later but by hyperfocal distance do you mean focus on infinity?
Click to expand...

I guess it's around the 2.5 metre mark for f/8 but will be closer the narrower the aperture.

At f/22 you will get a huge DOF so probably even closer.

It's the closest focus distance that still puts distant objects "in focus".

Very handy for street photography when there is less time to focus either with AF or manually.

PS - it works best with wider lenses as they naturally have wider DOF than normal or tele lenses.
 
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Whoa.. thanks for this. I wish they would show the hyperfocal distance on the screen too..
 
Well the hyperfocal distance is a bit of a continuum though, isn't it. It all depends on your tolerance of what is in focus and what isn't. It's not like it's all perfectly in focus from infinity to e.g. 3m and then suddenly out of focus..
 
I know what hyperfocal is, I was just asking for confirmation as I could understand the camera setting focus on infinity but didn't imagine that it would do some thought and set what it thought was hyperfocal.

Anyway, tried it with my GF1 with unspectacular results but I'll give it another try when out and about one day.
 
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