Hyperfocal Distance - A Critical Concept Often Ignored

I received a request from my camera club to make a presentation on hyperfocal distance and as I built the presentation, I thought the discussion might be pertinent here as well.

Hyperfocal distance is a reference point that defines the closest focus point on any lens and at any aperture, where everything from that point to infinity will be sharp.

With autofocus being so darn good these days, many photographers don’t see the point in understanding this method, but being both long tenured as a photographer and an afficiando of fast street photography, I use it all the time, and as my chosen street cameras are all manual focus, and some <egads!> are film based, I thought that it would be useful to talk about.

The Use Case

The simplest use case, and very applicable to street is to be able to make an image quickly without fiddling around with camera settings. I am not suggesting trying to be completely surreptitious, but people are generally away of larger cameras and sensitive to them whereas they will ignore seventeen thousand smartphones in their face. I don’t use a smartphone for photography. That’s my choice. I prefer a film image or a large sensor digital image. So I want the ability to bring the camera to eye, or to waist in the case of a twin lens reflex, compose and shoot as quietly as possible and keep moving. Street photography is about telling stories and not injecting yourself into the story. So if I don’t think about focusing, or exposure, only composition and shutter release squeeze matter.

Old Lenses

Old lenses actually had hyperfocal distance scales engraved on their controls. With autofocus, those scales are gone. I understand the decision but don’t like it, however no maker listens to or cares about my opinion. So when working with modern cameras I use a different approach.

Manual Focus Cameras with Film

With film, I am forced to fix the ISO, and to use hyperfocal distance I have to fix the aperture, so my only job other than shutter squeeze is to have an optimal shutter speed. Since most of my film cameras are so old, not to have a light meter anyway, I use experience and a handheld meter, make a setting and then watch for light changes. I use the hyperfocal distance scale to put the infinity focus mark on the aperture number at one end of the scale, and check the other end to learn what my closest in focus point will be. I no longer carry charts, I use the superb PhotoPills app on my phone and learn the hyperfocal distance for the lens and aperture in use ahead of time, set it and forget it. Works every time.

Auto Focus Cameras with Digital Sensors

In this scenario, I don’t want the camera to be trying to autofocus, I want to use the power of hyperfocal distance. So I check the PhotoPills app, for the lens and aperture I have selected and look up the hyperfocal distance and then focus on the distance that delivers it. Then I turn AF off. I always set my cameras to back button focus so that’s not a big deal for me. The only other difference I make with a digital camera is set AUTO ISO on and now I manually set the shutter speed and the aperture and forget about them. Now I just bring the camera to eye, compose, squeeze and move on. Very fast, very smooth and I turn off the shutter noise where I can.

Being Invisible

As I have mentioned before, big cameras, and moreso big lenses call you out to others, so I go with smaller bodies, no battery grips, nothing that looks remotely professional and I use wider angle of view lenses, a 35mm on the full frame mirrorless and the Leica and an 80mm on the Twin Lens Reflex (same angle of view as a 50mm on full frame mirrorless). Being compact, quiet and smooth makes one unobtrusive.

Wrapping Up

PhotoPills is a tremendous application that I recommend to all committed photographers and does much more than just hyperfocal distance. If you want to build your skills in using hyperfocal distance, you need Photo Pills. You can get it on your phone by purchasing it from your phone system app store.

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