Chromatic aberrations, often abbreviated to CA, is lines of color, typically along high contrast areas in your image. These lines do not reflect what the lens actually saw – it is created in the lens as the light travels through. It is also known as purple fringing or color fringing. So your lens simply adds a line of color along a high contrast area.
Chromatic aberration – notice the line to the right of the stem…
In the image above shot with the Nikkor 28-105mm (formerly a kit lens), the CA is really bad – notice the vertical line that follows the left hand side of the stem, but also all the leaves with white background suffer from serious CA – they are almost more purple than green!
The reason for this is a fault in the lens, where it does not manage to align the different wavelengths of light correct. The reason can be the lens design, slight movement of the glass over years (wear and tear simply) or a combination of the two.
If you notice CA while shooting, you can try to stop down the lens a bit, i.e. go to a higher f-stop number. CA is known to be worse at wide apertures, so this may help you reduce the problem.
Your post processing software can remove some parts of the CA, but not necessarily all. Lightroom has different sliders that you can try to use, if the standard checkbox “remove CA” does not work. I find that in many cases it works, but there are still a few images where I have not been able to remove the CA. If the CA is too bad and it cannot be removed in post, the only option left is to convert the image to a B&W image, as the CA is reduced to a slight blur in the image.
The Fuji X-T20 is far from the latest and greatest from Fuji – the X-T30 was released in 2019, two years after the release of the X-T20. So firmware updates apart, the X-T20 is approaching it’s 5 year birthday, and in the world of technology that is simply forever! And with the X-T40 rumored for 2022, the X-T20 falls even further behind relative to the latest and greatest, not to mention the big brothers, the X-T3 and the X-T4. And that is probably also why Fuji has stopped the production of the X-T20.
So why bother with the X-T20? Well, I have 2 principles when I buy gear: I try not to buy the latest model, and I if I can, I try to get a (slightly) used copy. It’s all about budget and price/performance ratio.
Camera manufacturers will exaggerate improvements from one version to another and make it look like a revolution that will change your photography capabilities dramatically and take you to a new level. However, this is seldom the case. Camera technology evolves in fine steps, and true ground breaking cameras are seldom, more often it is minor steps like:
a bit more frames per second,
better resolution in the electronic viewfinder
slightly improved ISO performance
improved battery life
60/120 frames per second in video to replace 30/60 frames per second, etc.
But I get it – the camera industry makes a living selling new cameras. If you buy a used copy of the X-T20 over at mpb.com then Fuji makes no money from that transaction. So of course they will market the marginal improvements as giant steps, and for many professionals these minor improvements can save time and workflow, and as the saying goes: time is money, so buying the latest camera model makes a lot of sense for hard working professionals.
The Fujifilm X-T20 close up. Here in the silver version, it also comes in black.
Here in September 2021 I found a used copy of the X-T20 over at mpb.com for around 450 EUR. Compare that to a new X-T30 that Amazon.de sells for around 900 EUR. Both prices are body only. I hope that my point about (1) buying used and (2) not the latest model, makes sense now.
Why I love this little camera…
To me the Fuji X-T20 is an excellent combination of weight, size and image quality. It often competes with my Sony RX100 when I have to decide which camera to throw in my camera bag.
The Fuji is larger and more heavy than the Sony, but still small and light (830 grams body only) and it does not bother me too much when biking or hiking. If you can, see if you can get the body in combination with a kit lens, say the 18-55 mm (27-82mm full frame equivalent), and you have a really good lightweight solution. The Fuji X-T20 is a cropped sensor camera (APS-C) and I find the lenses to be really light and compact relative to full frame.
The XF 18-55mm zoom lens is an excellent first lens for the X-T20
The image quality (IQ) is really good and I find that the RAW files are of excellent quality. The 24MP sensor gives more than enough resolution. Only if you want to crop a lot, you may lack resolution, but for most 24MP is more than plenty. My trusty old Nikon D700 has 12MP and that works fine as well, just to give a reference point.
The APS-C sensor struggles in low light however – this is not a Fuji specific observation. I have had the same issue with Nikon D5600 and D7500 that are also cropped sensor cameras. For low light photography I prefer full frame and even though modern sensors can successfully crank up the ISO to compensate for lack of light to a large extend, then full frame will always come out on top. So for low light, I would not use APS-C cameras. But for just about any other situation, I find the IQ is great!
Comparing the files that comes out of the X-T20 with the ones from the X-T3, I must admit that I cannot see the difference! I think this is more a tribute to the X-T20 than it is criticism of the X-T3, as the files look great! So in terms of IQ the little X-T20 gets top score from me!
If you really want to see the RAW files shine, then give Capture One a try. I normally use Lightroom as I find the file management to be the best, but Capture One has an edge when we are talking Fuji. Some of the images – not all, but some – turn out a sharpness and contrast that I have never seen in Lightroom. I even tried to import an image in both Lightroom and Capture One, and the difference was astonishing. So if you go for Fuji, I will strongly recommend you give Capture One a try as your post editing software. Mind you however, that it is not in all images I have noticed this difference.
The ergonomics of this little camera is not fantastic, but OK. It helps a lot that it is light and small and I like it so much more than the big brother X-T3 that I found way too heavy for my liking. The X-T20 is a 3-finger-camera and you don’t need to have all of your hand engaged to feel you have control of it.
I have added a grip to the camera to improve ergonomics.
However, in order to improve the ergonomics just a bit and give me more to hold on to, I have added a grip. I also, maybe more as a gimmick, added a little red metal button on top of the camera to make it easier to switch on/off + release the shutter. It is not a must have, but a small improvement, that once you get used to it, you don’t want to go back.
Fuji is notorious for it buttons and dials that shows you the settings directly rather than some value in an LCD. I think this works fine, but also feel that this small difference from a more traditional camera is often exaggerated to a level where I think: “Hey, take it easy, it’s just a camera…”.
Shutter speed dial to the left, exposure compensation to the right.
Contrary to Sony, the menu systems are logical and well organized. And especially the quick access menu that enables you to get to some of the most frequently used parameters really works well
The Q-button over the command wheel to the right gives access to the quick menu.
Things that could be better…
Relative to the X-T3 that I have owned and sold again, the buttons and dials of the X-T20 are not as rock solid in build quality. That is what is to be expected as the X-T20 is the little brother, but going back and forth between the two, you will notice a difference. Also, the X-T20 clearly has less computing power, and to boot the camera you will notice that the X-T20 is significantly slower here. Not a big thing when you get used to it, but if these things are important to you, then you may want to look at the X-T3 or X-T4.
The rear LCD is not fully articulating…
The LCD is not fully articulating, and if you plan to use this camera for Vlogging, this could be a showstopper. Mind you that the X-T30 albeit more resolution, also does not have a fully articulating screen.
I have never missed anything when it comes to the X-T20 and auto focus. With 325 focus points I find that is more than enough for my use, but mind you that I shoot more landscapes than portraits, and for portraits eye and face recognition is vital to secure you come home with razor sharp images solely. Also, for sports and things moving fast, I would imagine the AF system in the X-T20 would struggle as the computing power is on the low end relative to more modern cameras. They do put more and more computing power into cameras these days, and the firmware updates make sure to improve the AF capabilities and use the hardware to full extend, so this is probably an area where the X-T20 will feel dated if you compare to a more modern camera.
The viewfinder is not the best I have tried – relative to the X-T3 it leaves a lot to be desired. But you will be surprised what you can get used to. And it does get the job done, but clearly the viewfinder could be better. I suspect that Fuji deliberately makes the X-T4 viewfinder so much better to give a distinct differentiation towards the X-T20 and X-T30 (+ II), but I have no evidence to back this claim.
Being the budget version of its big brother the X-T2, there is of course a number of things that you miss when using the X-T20:
The single card slot
The lack of weather sealing
The lack of a battery grip as an option
The lack of a joystick to move the focus point
Etc
But I have learned to live with these setbacks just fine. Bring an extra battery as they run down fast, wrap the camera in a plastic bag in harsh weather, use the rear LCD to move the focus point around, etc. Of course it would be ideal to have all this solved using the X-T2 or X-T3, but I am surprised how easy I find it to live without these features.
For video, I have used the X-T20 a lot, and for its age it is impressive that it gives 4K video, albeit not at the crazy high frames per second rates that are in fashion these days. I did at some point experience that the recording of image and sound got out of sync, and as I could not figure out what was wrong, I ended up not using the X-T20 for video. Also, the fact that the LCD is not fully articulating makes video framing a bit cumbersome for my video needs. So I use other cameras for video now.
Conclusion
If you are after a small and light, easy to use all round camera and you are not into low light photography or a demanding videographer, then the X-T20 in my mind is an option that should be on your short list. Find a used copy in good condition, preferably including a kit lens, and you have a combo that will give you lots of great images. The fact that it has a vintage look and that you can get leather cases that will make it look even more cool, may also fit some of the more fashion conscious. And if you decide to invest in Capture One post processing software, the image quality may sometimes go to levels new to you.
When you zoom in and zoom out you expect the effect to be a change in angle of view, i.e. that the subject moves closer to you or further away.
When you turn the focus ring on your lens, you expect the lens to move the focal plane back and forth to focus on different subjects in the frame.
Focus breathing is when your lens does both at the same time! As you turn the focus ring the angle of view changes as well. In other words, the closer to yourself you zoom, the shorter your lens becomes! For example the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 is actually a 120mm when it focuses to minimum focus distance at 200mm!
Focus breathing is for most of us not an issue, but in two cases it can cause you a headache:
In a scene where you have two persons in the frame talking to each other and you want to focus back and forth between the two as they speak, you really don’t want to change the angle of view. It needs to be constant, otherwise the viewer gets confused at best, and a bit seasick at worst. You want that framing to be constant. For this reason, videographers absolutely do not like focus breathing.
Macro photographers struggle with focus breathing when doing image stacking, that aims to compensate for a very shallow DOF by blending images that have been shot of the same subject with varying focus points. Here you absolutely need the framing and angle of view to be constant, otherwise the image will look very strange or at worst your post processing software wont be able to blend the images.
So should you worry about focus breathing? Not really, if you ask me. Only in the two above specific cases would I worry.
Of course it can be annoying to know that your wonderful lens has focus breathing, but now that you know what it is and in which cases it is a problem, in all other cases you can disregard focus breathing.
Thank you for reading this far! Comments and questions more than welcome!
I have been bitten by the photography bug! And seriously! Hope you will to! In this short post I try to explain why I think photography has got under my skin so very fast and probably will sit there until I drop!
Starting to see
Photography really changed the way I see the world. I am not sure to what extend I actually saw it before I started to get serious with photography. It is as if photography opens your mind to new ways of of seeing the world, you will start to notice things that were irrelevant to you before or you simply did not care.
Mental side to it…
You will find that when you get serious with photography, then there is a mental side to it that starts to appear: you find that your concentration and focus while shooting pushes every other thought or concern away, leaving you fully engaged into the photography work. This is both refreshing and charges your batteries in a way that not many other activities do. To me photography has an element of mindfulness to it that you become more and more aware of the more you shoot.
Beautiful sunset made up of several images blended in post.
Meaning…
If you ask me to go for a walk, a hike or bike to a nice location, you probably would be able to persuade me into the activity. Repeat that, and remind me that I can bring my camera, and I am all onboard the proposal! To me photography brings meaning or an additional element into activities like that and I find that almost anything (like taking the bus to work) is an opportunity for photography. It may sound silly and it may just be me, but that added dimension to an activity means a lot to me!
Opening presents all the time
In a video with photographer Fiona Lark, she described the process of opening images in post processing software as opening little presents and see what they contain! I fully agree! Most of the time I am disappointed I must admit! But just once in a while I am positively surprised by what I have captured and what I can do with it in post processing. And to my surprise it is often those images that I think nothing of during the shoot that are the best when I get back to the computer.
A continuous process
I recently did an exhibition where I had to select which images to go on the exhibition and which to stay home. I absolutely hated it! Reflecting upon the reason for this, I think it is because photography to me is 90% process and 10% result, and when you are forced to draw a line in the sand and present your portfolio, you are confronted with the 10%. But to me that is not the vital part, and I have feeling that later today or tomorrow, I can do and will do better than what I have done so far. So if I can just get 5 more minutes before I have to present my work…. So the ambition and the work to make my work better and occasionally succeeding is what makes photography a lot of fun.
All the way…
As you get older, there are probably a few things that you have to drop either because it is no longer an interest of yours or you simply get too old. I can still both hike, bike, run and swim, but skiing and roller blades are no longer on my agenda, and as I get older, I expect the list of things I can do to be shorter and shorter. Photography is one of those things that I both hope and plan can stay with me all the way; maybe I cannot climb the highest of mountains to get the best views for my images, but less can certainly do! And I am sure I will enjoy it as much as any other photographer, both younger and more fit than me!
A short description of lens distortion, the two main types and to what extend you as a photographer should worry about distortion.
Straight lines…
Lens distortion is when a straight line in reality is not represented as a straight line in your image. It is caused by the lens and the way the lens glass elements shape the light on its way to the sensor or film in your camera.
Barrel distortion makes the center of the image pop out to appear closer to you even if the wall with these tiles is as straight as they come!
Modern lens constructions seldom have significant lens distortion, as the lens designers know that reviewers by tradition will test the lens for distortion and make a point of it if the lens suffers from distortion. In reality, most of us will never notice the distortion, and only if you shoot architecture, real estate or landscapes with edge-to-edge horizons will you notice the potential distortion in your lens.
Pincushion distortion makes the center of the image appear further away….
Wide lenses, i.e. lenses with a short focal length, suffers more from distortion than longer lenses. The wide field of view that a wide lens has makes it more of a challenge for lens designers to make the edges of the image free from distortion. A good example where the designers deliberately have given up is a so called fish eye lens (say 8mm focal length), where the distortion to a large extend is the point.
In Lightroom and similar editing tools, the lens profile is available to the software and hence the distortion can easily be corrected in post, just by ticking off an option during post processing. In some cases the camera and the lens in combination is able to remove the distortion as part of the cameras internal processing of the image, and hence the image that you find on the memory card of your camera is distortion free from birth.
Thank you for reading this far! Comments and questions more than welcome!
Back in 1947 Nikon started making lenses and cameras for the F-mount, and even today (September 2021) they make both the lenses and DSLR cameras for this legendary mount. Contrary to Canon, Nikon’s F-mount is to a large extend backwards compatible all the way to the very first lenses.
Z-mount for mirrorless
A few years back Nikon introduced the Z-mount for their mirrorless camera series. The mount is bigger and has a smaller flange distance, which according to Nikon should give better image quality. I think this is most relevant for short lenses as long lenses will angle the light the same way irrespective of the mount size.
The Z-mount is not directly compatible with the F-mount. You need a so called FTZ (F-mount to Z-mount) adaptor to use the F-mount lenses on the mirrorless cameras. More about this later. Nikon is working hard to deliver more and more lenses to their mirrorless cameras and they have a roadmap defined for when what lenses comes out, but currently there are a lot to be desired and at the time of writing this, it is regarded as one of the drawbacks of the Nikon mirrorless cameras.
F-mount History
In very broad terms, Nikon has made 3 types of lenses for the F-mount:
1947: Manual focus (pre-AI, AI and AIS)
1986: Mechanical auto focus (AF and AF-D)
1998: Auto focus with a focus motor built into the lens (AF-S or G-series)
(1) The manual focus lenses of course do not provide any sort of automated focus capabilities; they were designed long before auto-focus technology was invented. So no matter how advanced your camera body is, the manual focus lens will stay manual focus.
(3) The auto focus lenses with a built in motor (AF-S) is the latest and greatest technology for the F-mount. A built in motor enables the focus to work both very fast and very silent as the motor can sit very close to the glass it is moving. It is a engineering masterpiece in terms of space management, as the motor and mechanics has to be squeezed into a very small space.
(2) The mechanical auto focus (AF) is based on a cooperation between your lens and the camera body – it is a very good practical illustration that it takes two to tango: The focus motor sits in the camera body and drives a metal piece that sticks out of the camera body, whereas the glass has a purely mechanical focus drive that links into the motor of the camera body.
The focus motor drives shown here – it goes flush with the lens mount when the switch on the camera body is change from AF to M
The camera body can then via commands to the motor drive the lens glass back and forth. Such glass is typically named AF or AF-D by Nikon.
Mechanical AF
One of the Nikon related questions I get the most often relates to AF glass: Will the auto focus work for this lens? The answer in most cases is yes, but there are a few exceptions: these are what Nikon call the entry level camera bodies in their DSLR setup. The Cameras named D3x00 and D5x00 (e.g. D5600) do not have the focus motor built into them and hence there is no way the camera body can drive the mechanical auto focus. That is why I do not recommend the D3x00 and D5x00 camera bodies. It is not because these cameras are APS-C cameras (i.e. cropped sensors relative to full frame) but because Nikon decided to leave the motors out of these bodies in the expectation that buyers of these bodies were unlikely to buy AF glass. For enthusiast level APS-C cameras such as the D500, D7100, D7200 and D7500 there is a motor in the camera body.
Here is the little screw that drives the mechanical AF. You can actually take a screwdriver and turn the AF yourself to get a feel for how it works!
Unfortunately Nikon did not build an autofocus motor into their mirrorless camera bodies, and hence these share the same fate as the D3x00 and D5x00, i.e. that AF F-mount glass will not yield auto focus. One could have hoped that Nikon would have built the motor into the FTZ adaptor, but so far this has not been the case. We are still many that hope this will come, either from Nikon or a 3rd party provided, but so far (September 2021) no luck! The AF-S series lenses where the motor is built into the lens will work with the FTZ adaptor, and hence some F-mount lenses do give auto focus on a mirrorless camera, but not those with mechanical auto focus.
Distance information
The difference between AF and AF-D lenses is that the -D ones gives distance information as well via the CPU contacts. This helps the more advanced metering options such as the matrix metering to give better results. As a rule of thumb, the AF-D lenses are optically similar to the -D lenses, but there may of course be slight variations for specific lenses.
The Nikkor 35-70 is a classic lens in the AF line-up, and it gives distance information
Lens motor built in or not
Should you buy AF or AF-S glass? It depends very much on your budget and ambitions. AF-S glass is significantly more expensive than the AF glass, but it also works fast and silently, so for e.g. wildlife shooters or video shooters with a microphone close to the lens this could be crucial. Also, AF-S glass will work on a mirrorless camera with a FTZ adaptor, so if your plans are to go mirrorless at a later stage, then the AF-S glass is “future proofed” with autofocus.
AF glass on the other hand is available on say e-Bay for a bargain, and if you buy from a seller with a good reputation (and even factor in import taxes and transportation costs), you will find that you can get glass that is of astonishing quality for a fraction of the price of modern glass. But your camera body needs that AF motor…
Nikon 28-105mm with variable aperture and a macro mode. It is surprisingly light for a zoom lens and the image quality is really good. Only issue is the bad CA and that getting a good copy can be a challenge. AF on this one only works of your camera has a built in AF motor, e.g. AF will not work on the Nikon D5600.
Back to the past…
Glass that is older, i.e. AI, AIS and pre-AI, can also offer price/performance ratios that you will never get close to with modern glass. The further you go back, the more challenges you will face. The pre-AI requires you to modify the lens mount slightly to fit on a modern camera and the older lens constructions often have optical flaws and limited control of flare or distortion etc. So for these lenses you may want to do your homework carefully before buying, check that you don’t mind focusing manually AND make sure to look in the mirror and confirm that you see a vintage lens enthusiast before you buy.
Zoom versus primes
Zooms versus primes is a debate as old as photography itself. Back in the days the primes were clearly more sharp than zooms, as the construction is much simpler and hence easier to make consistent from copy to copy.
Variations between copies from the same production line is a known issue – Nikon has always been good at managing this, especially for lenses “made in Japan”, but the wear and tear on any lens can deteriorate performance, no matter how perfect it was when it left the production line.
More modern lenses have clearly proved that zooms are at level with primes, so I think that most AF-S zoom lenses can be considered as sharp as a prime. But the zoom still has two major disadvantages: weight and price. And if a zoom has to cover a large range, it becomes difficult for the lens designers to maintain a constant maximum aperture – here the (short) prime often makes mincemeat of the longer zoom lenses.
So if low weight and small size is important to you, then a prime may be the way to go. Also, a prime can be a true challenge as you impose a limitation that the zoom does not, and that limitation can spark some creativity that you did not know you possessed! And both weight and cost wise, you can “afford” two primes in the camera bag (say a 24mm and a 50mm) and still be below the price of a zoom to cover the same range.
Back in the days when everyone shot 35mm film, you could get films with different ISO levels, say ISO100 or ISO400. You could actually by buying a different film change the ISO. Also, this gave rise to the term the exposure triangle consisting of shutter speed, aperture and ISO. But that was back in the film days. Today, when your sensor leaves the factory, the sensitivity to light is fixed. So no changes to ISO as we knew it from the film days. But turning up the ISO will give you images that look more exposed than images with lower ISO’s, so what is going on?
Film with ISO 400
Turn up the volume!
When you listen to radio and the signal gets bad with lots of noise, what do you do? Yes, you can turn up the volume, but that will both amplify the noise and the signal, so my guess is that you turn the knob for controlling the tuning, in order to get a better signal. Turning up the volume will not help.
So what is ISO in a digital camera? After the camera has taken the picture and the sensor has read the light, then the ISO is applied in the cameras internal post processing! It takes the signal and amplifies it as ordered by the ISO setting. The higher the setting, the more the amplification. But just like the old analogue radio, both the signal and noise is amplified.
That is why ISO is no longer part of the exposure, as it is applied after the exposure. The exposure triangle is now only aperture and shutter speed. Your sensor has the sensitivity it had when it left the factory.
What is it good for?
If you set your ISO to the cameras base ISO, typically ISO 100 or ISO 200, then you will get the cleanest images. As soon as you crank up the ISO, the price you pay is more noise and more grain. Luckily, most modern cameras have algorithms that are pretty good at separating noise from signal, so you can get good results at ISO 800, ISO 1600 and even ISO 3200 or higher. You can continue the work with optimising the image in post and get good results with even higher ISOs that that.
More modern cameras can go to higher ISO values than older ones. The reason being that the computing power in modern cameras has increased and hence there is capacity (“horse power”) to run advanced noise suppression algorithms in the camera. The better the noise suppression, the higher (meaningful) ISO values can be applied.
The reason why you would turn up the ISO is lack of light. It is a simple as that. Maybe you want to shoot something that moves very fast so you need to reduce the shutter speed? A high ISO may be the compromise you need to get images that are sufficiently exposed. Maybe you want to shoot at a very narrow aperture to get lots of (DOF)? That narrow aperture won’t let in much light, so ISO could help you out.
There is no free lunch when it comes to photography. It is one big pile of compromises. But subtle use of ISO may be just what helps you out when you lack a little bit of light. So give it a try and you will over time find out where the limits for your use of ISO subject to what you shoot.
A short definition of what Depth-of-Field in photography is…
Acceptable sharpness
Depth-of-fields (DOF) is the area (depth) in which subjects in view of your lens appear to be acceptably sharp. The DOF area closest to you is called the DOF near limit, and the other end the DOF far limit. Within that interval, subjects appear to be sharp.
If you have not tried to focus manually, I encourage you to try so. Flick the little switch on the front left of your camera (typically) from AF to M, and try to turn the focus ring manually. Notice how different parts of the scene becomes sharp as you turn the ring. You are actually “pushing” the focal plane back and forth when you turn the focus ring – the focal plane being where you as photographer decide the image is to be sharp, but there is an element of “forgiveness” prior and after the focal plane and that is the DOF.
DOF illustrated
I think of the DOF being around 1/3 prior to the focal plane (the focus point) and 2/3 after the focal plane, but this is not a technically correct way to see it, but if you like me just want to have a drivers license to what DOF is, then this is a good and operational way to think about DOF.
Your DOF depends on many factors such as the distance to the subject, the sensor size, most notably the aperture and the length of your lens. Most photographers work with the aperture to control the DOF, but you can also use the distance to the subject.
Macro photography
Macro photographers suffer from the fact that when you are super close to your subject, the DOF shrinks to almost noting, even if you pump up the Aperture to something crazy high – it won’t help, as the distance is so small that you get a paper thin DOF no matter what. Therefore many macro photographers use focus stacking, where you take several images and change the focus point, and then in post merge the sharp parts together to create an image with a larger DOF.
Portrait photography
Portrait photographers use a relatively small aperture to shrink the DOF so that the background becomes very blurred and hence does not take focus from the subject. You can also get this effect at a higher aperture (and hence DOF) if you just make sure that the distance from the subject to the background is by factors way bigger than the distance from the lens to the subject.
Although the name sounds very advanced and almost like something from a galaxy far far away, it is really very simple: to make the most of your dept-of-field (DOF).
Notice the “distance” in the term “hyperfocal distance” – it is all about the distance between your camera and the focus point. When you focus at the hyperfocal distance, everything between that point and to infinity is in focus. Or I should say, appears to be in focus. There is a lot of technical details here that I omit, but I want to give you a drivers license to shooting at the hyperfocal distance – not turn you into an engineer.
Your depth-of-field (DOF) is an interval before and after the focus point where things appear to be in focus. I normally think about it so that 1/3 of the depth-of-field (DOF) lies before the focus point, and 2/3rds lies after the focus point. This is not very accurate, but a good operational way to think about it. So when your focus point is so that the far end of the DOF just reaches infinity, then there is also a good part before the focus point that is in focus. If your hyperfocal distance for example is 10 meters away, then the space between the focus point and halfway back to you also appears to be in focus. In other words, only what is between you and 5 meters out will be out of focus. From 5 meters out and to infinity is in focus.
Calculations are not necessary
So should you calculate the (DOF)? You can if you want to, but what I do is to focus to infinity with manual focus, and then pull the focus point back towards me until infinity becomes out of focus, and then revert just a little bit until infinity becomes sharp again, and then I have the focus point hyper focal distance. If you have a mirrorless camera with focus peak highlights, this is a brilliant illustration of how your focus plane and the (DOF) works you can find the hyper focal distance using the method I just described, but supported by the focus peaking highlights.
Learning from old lenses…
On old lenses, there was markings showing the (DOF). The black dot just above the blue “11” shows that the lens is at f/11 aperture . The same blue color as the “11” is used for the (DOF) markings on the zoom ring. You can see that to the left, the blue mark is at infinity, and to the right the other blue mark is between 3 and 5, i.e. around 4, the precision is not that great. The focus point is between 5 meters and infinity (the tilted 8 to the left just above the black dot). The blue mark to the left is the far end of the (DOF) whereas the blue mark to the right is the near end of the (DOF).
DOF indicator on the Nikkor 50mm f/1.2
Is the lens at the hyper focal distance? Yes, it is as the far end of the DOF touches infinity. Had I focused closer, then infinity would be out of focus (which every portrait photographer knows), had I focused further away, I would have wasted DOF beyond infinity.
The distance is not linear
Also notice the distance scale: You can see it (in meters) top right is at 1.2 meters, then 1.5, 2, 3, 5 and infinity! So it is almost is if the distance “explodes” when you get beyond 5 meters, i.e. a very small turn on the focus ring gives a big jump in the distance. That is why it is vital that you get the far end of the DOF to touch infinity, because you then work with the part of the distance scale where you cover a lot of ground!
DOF calculator
If you put the above example into a DOF calculator (credit: Photopills) then you will get a hyperfocal distance of 7.42 meters, DOF near limit to the half of that and the DOF far limit to infinity. In this example we have got the most out of the DOF and only the distance from the camera and 3.7 meters out is out of focus.
DOF calculator from Photopills
Notice that the DOF depends on several factors, such as the sensor size, the aperture you shoot at, the focal length of your lens, distance to the subject etc. But no matter what DOF you are working with, the hyperfocal distance is the focus distance where you make the most of what you got.
