My first prime lens

[Digifrog]

Hi

OK, this is a really basic question but as I've never used a prime or indeed manually focussed I would like some clarity.

The advice on using hyperfocal focussing on a pro end prime is easy enough, the exact procedure being as follows.

"Some prime, or fixed focal length, lenses have hyperfocal markings on the
lens barrel. Check for f-stop numbers (11, 16, 22) printed on the lens
barrel near the focus scale, or check the lens user manual.

1. Compose your image.
2. Determine the f-stop
3. Manually focus the lens so that the f-stop marking on the barrel of
the lens lines up with the infinity symbol (looks like a sideways “8&#8243 on
the focus scale. Done!"

Looking at this lens

...I can see the aperture markings (bottom set of figures with the 8 centred) and I can see the infinity symbol (3rd row up). What then are those (aperture?) numbers 2nd row up? and does this lens look like it's set at f/8 using the hyperfocal distance? And how does the selection of aperture on the lens correspond to selecting the aperture on the camera?

Sorry for noobism, I've never been technically minded but time has come to sort it the hell out.

Thanks in advance

Scott

 

[vaizki]

That lens is focused on infinity with an aperture of 8. The second row of apertures is the depth of field scale, so here you can see that with f/8 the picture will be sharp from just short of 2 meters to infinity. As you can see, the smaller the aperture, the wider the DoF range will be.

Now to focus on the hyperfocal distance, you would choose a narrow aperture like f/16, then align the left-hand 16 on the DoF scale (second row up) with the infinity marker. This would place the right-hand 16 somewhere near 0,5 so you know your scene will be (acceptably) sharp from 0.5meters to infinity. Where the central marker lies makes no difference in this case. Just to clarify, the DoF scale is fixed onto the lens body. You are turning the focus ring only to align (and of course the separate aperture ring when changing aperture).

Most of my lenses don't have a DoF scale, so I have made a small note into the camera bag with the hyperfocal distances calculated for different lenses at various apertures. Of course this is not as handy has having it on the lens, but even some of those lenses that do have it show just the f/22 or f/32 and those marks are VERY close to the focus mark as the focusing ring doesn't turn all that much.