Setting hyperfocal distance

[kvbarkley]

I know this is a bit old fashioned, but any ideas on how to set hyperfocal distamce on a lens - like my new 18-135 STM - that does not have a distance scale?

[ezpop]

There are some apps for free. See if thing like this will help to solve your problem

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aimenrg.dof&hl=en

[kvbarkley]

Not exactly. I don't want to *determine* the hyperfocal distance, I want to *set* it. On my 17-85 I have a rudimentary distance scale that I can use in manual mode to get in the ball park. The 18-135 has no distance scale.

[Waddizzle]

I use AF to get in the ball park, and then I shut it off.

[kvbarkley]

That was one of my options, find an object you think is the correct distance and focus on it with AF, and switch to MF.

It would be nice if there was a custom function to allow one of the buttons to be used as a "set hyper focal" since the camera has all the info it needs to calculate and set it. Would be great for night shots when AF doesn't work well, or astrophotography. (Canon: Hint, Hint)

[Waddizzle]

TCampbell is the astrophotography guru around here.  Tim has posted a suggestion on how to best focus your lens for taking a wide angle shot of the night sky.  Basically, you use different exposure settings to focus from what you would use to shoot.  I saved the settings as a custom shooting mode.

I'll probably get it wrong, but here goes.  You want to focus on the brightest star in the sky.  My saved settings are f/8, maximum ISO setting, and a 30 second exposure, which is also the maximum.  You need to focus manually.  Once you're focused, change the settings to what you would use for taking a shot.

[ebiggs1]

"... any ideas on how to set hyperfocal distamce on a lens ..."

Can you explain why you want to do this?  That may make it more clear on how to do what you need.  There is a reason why camera lens makers have eliminated the scales on lenses.  Mostly it isn't required any more.

[Waddizzle]

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@kvbarkley wrote:

I know this is a bit old fashioned, but any ideas on how to set hyperfocal distamce on a lens - like my new 18-135 STM - that does not have a distance scale?

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Food for tought, I have distances scales on all three of my "L" series lenses, BTW

[ScottyP]

I always kind of wondered what was meant when they say to "focus on something 1/3 of the way into the scene" to approximate the HF distance.  If you have the horizon/infinity in the shot, what is 1/3 of infinity?  Do they mean 1/3 of the distance to the most distant thing you care to see in the photo?

[kvbarkley]

While I was thinking about the aerial night shot thread, I realized - and I suggested in the thread - that setting the lens to the hyperfocal distance would work well for that case and eliminate missed shots due to the camera being unable to focus.  The other reason, as I said, is to set infinity focus for star field shot.