Depth of field info in view finder?

[iND]

When my 5DIII is connected to an canon L lens, there is certainly a communication regarding F stop and focal length

When I am using a single focus point there is or could be data exchanged about  distance.

Would it then be a stretch to have the computing power on board determine the depth of field and display this information in the viewfinder?

[jfo]

This is an interesting idea. 

I know that focusing is based on finding contrast, and so it might not be an exact or direct way to translate that to distance? 

[iND]

But I can find a laser device at Lowes or Home Depot to accuately measure distance to 165 feet with 1/16 inch accuracy.

Could this not be put on board with the 5DIII to at least give me a distance to subject?

Knowing this DOF would imporve my keeper/out-of-focus ratio.

[Bazsl]

Doesn't the DOF preview button help?

[iND]

Not really,

Not when we are dealing with lenses with aperatures like 1.2, 1.4, 1.8.

The display, especially when combined on location scenerios is not 'fine' enough to capture that fine of a detail.

Ever shoot a two person scene and one is in fine focus and the other is relatively close but is just a bit soft?

The exact mathematical information could give me enogh of a nudge to change a 1.4 to a 2.0.

[BDeKid]

I use a Bosch Laser Meter  for 3D Projekts  and  I can ensure You that this thing is very expensive ( ca 1000$ US or 700€ )

Also it would make not too muche sense to use  it   on a moving Objekt  ,  also  the sureface  have to be refelctiv  or flat   for a good messurment. 

The Idea  that  come to me  in the Past  would be to have  a Laser  "Fächer" ( don t  know the  word in English sorry)  which  means  that  U have  a kind  of  LaserScanner ,  this  Idea  we   had   doing  a lot of  MoCap  over here in my Studio.  

This would make  sence  if u  use it  during  recording  of  video     ,  means   a LaserScanner  appears  every  second Frame  of  say  100FpS  -  so  50FpS would be  Video / Picture   and  the other 50FpS  would  be Data   to provide  for  3D  MoCap

For  u r  IDea  the cam   would  have to  scan  and calculate the  Distance  and  the  Fieeld  of  Depth   ,  here the Prob  could be that  u  have  to send  the laser straight  from  the middle of the  lense  to the Objekt.

Fact  =  Nice Idea  for  the Future  but  at the Moment  I  guess  it is not  realy  possible

Greets 

B.DeKid  

[shoot_ric]

You can find a DOF calculator on-line, buy a hard copy or download an app for the Android OS. 

[jfo]

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@iND wrote:

But I can find a laser device at Lowes or Home Depot to accuately measure distance to 165 feet with 1/16 inch accuracy.

Could this not be put on board with the 5DIII to at least give me a distance to subject?

Knowing this DOF would imporve my keeper/out-of-focus ratio.

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 Considering how big and bulky that laser device probably is, I don't think that's something that can just be integrated into a DSLR.

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@shoot_ric wrote:

You can find a DOF calculator on-line, buy a hard copy or download an app for the Android OS. 

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Its not that iND is looking for a tool to calculate how big the depth of field is for certain settings (lens, aperture, and distance to focus point), but he's wondering since the camera knows the first two #'s, if it also figure the third and then automatically display the depth of field.