Hyperfocal distances for HC Lenses?

[Andy Johnson-Laird]

I'm shooting some panos with a H4D and was curious to find out what the hyperfocal distances were for each of the HC lenses. I don't see any data about hyperfocal distances in the "lens manual" that comes with each HC lens.

Anyone got any data, please?

Oh, and see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperfocal_distance in case you have no clue what I'm blathering on about.

Mrs. Google suggests that there might be an answer on page 307 of The Hasselblad Manual by Wildi, but I can't see what it says online and I don't have the book.

Regards
Andy

[NickT]

Andy is this any use?

http://www.dofmaster.com/charts.html

Nick-T

[Andy Johnson-Laird]

Andy is this any use?

http://www.dofmaster.com/charts.html

Nick-T

Kia ora, Nick.
Sadly, it's for 35mm format lenses -- and my tiny brain says that therefore the data won't apply for HC (Huge Chunks of glass) lenses.
What's your take?

Regards
Andy

[NickT]

I had no idea that HC stood for Huge Chunk.. I like it!

As to your question, my brain although extremely large is mostly empty..

I am sure I have come across this question before but a search of 25 130 emails failed to turn up the answer, I shall write to a clever Swede and let you know what he says.
Cheers
Nick-T

[Andy Johnson-Laird]

I had no idea that HC stood for Huge Chunk.. I like it!

Glad to have brought a smile to your day. Mind you, I'm the guy who thought my Mamiya RB67 was so called because it was a Real Boat-anchor.

As to your question, my brain although extremely large is mostly empty..

I sympathize with the condition. I share the condition save that mine seems to be chock full of useless information.

I am sure I have come across this question before but a search of 25 130 emails failed to turn up the answer, I shall write to a clever Swede and let you know what he says.
Cheers
Nick-T

That's much appreciated. More frequently than ever, I get the impression that I'm the first person to try certain things with a Hassie. This could either be (a) yes, I really am, or (b) I'm the only person dumb enough to even think about putting a Hassie on a Gigapan Epic Pro.

I think the good folks at Gigapan Epic Pro think the latter. "Hey, it says, max. weight of 10 pounds, so he's trying to see what funny noises it will make as he approaches that limit...."

Actually, give the Gigapan Epic Pro its due -- it's worked flawlessly (and really without groaning motors!) -- and great support from their tech. support guys.

The jury is still out on whether it makes sense to shoot HDR bracketed images of a panorama -- the H4D with about 12EV dynamic range at 50 ISO so handles typical landscapes pretty well. Similarly, I don't know whether it makes sense to stitch the EV0, EV-2, and EV+2 images first and then run the stitched images into Photomatix. We'll see. Any reports of a bright flash in the NW USA is probably my MacPro subliming.

Regards
Andy

[jeff.grant@pobox.com]

Andy, I would be interested in hearing how you go with the Gigapan, and also getting a look at the output.

[perjorgen]

Try this one

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

There is a Pentax 645D in the list but you can just select a CoC that correspond to your pixel size

[CESnider]

Using the common calculation where Circle of Confusion = d/1500 (d is the diagonal size of your sensor).

H3DII-39 Sensor size is 36.8mmx49.1mm I believe so the diagonal size of the sensor is 61.36mm

61.36/1500 = .0409

CoC = .0409mm

This is based on what I can see from the formulas to get CoC. YMMV

Cheers,
Carl

[Andy Johnson-Laird]

I think I've answered my own question re: Hyperfocal distances.

See http://www.dofmaster.com/hyperfocal.html -- as David Grover points out, you can calculate it based on the DOF ring on the lens barrels -- although it's a broad brush calculation as the DoF scales are like a man in a bathroom. Pretty "approximate."

Or, given the CoC, focal length, f-stop you can precalculate it. The web page at http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html that Per pointed out is an on-line calculator, but (as he points out, Hassies are not listed so you have to use the CoC size).

Thanks to Carl for the worked example of CoC calculation.

There is an iPad app for apparently calculatng Hyperfocal distances too. I'll download it and try it and then see if I can figure out, for example, where 17 feet is shown on the barrel of the Huge Chunk 35-90mm.

Which raises the question -- I see fairly precise focusing distances in the EXIF data for images from the H4D-50. Any way to display that? Need to RTFM to see if there is a way -- just don't recall off-hand. (Oh....RTFM? Read the errr...."fine" manual").

Thanks to all who responded.
Regards
Andy

[Andy Johnson-Laird]

Andy, I would be interested in hearing how you go with the Gigapan, and also getting a look at the output.

Sure Jeff. Be happy to share my experiences with you and the group. I should probably start a separate thread in a different part of the forum otherwise Nick will emerge DPOd from under the volcano and move the thread hisself. (DPO = Decidedly pissed off).

I've just spent the past week solving some of the fundamental problems and experimenting with different techniques and stitching software. I'll be off on Vancouver Island for three weeks so I wanted to get some general idea of the issues of shooting HDR panoramas and get a workflow established. I'm not a great fan of HDR but that could be because a lot of it seems "overdone" to me, but I reasoned that capturing the panos with bracketing is easy -- and the decision whether to use the bracket images is something that can be decided back in the studio.

Also, I have to say that H4D-50 with an dynamic range of 12EV does such a great job on landscapes that I'm pondering the merits of bracketing -- but, as I say, that's something that's easy to do in the field (the Gigapan Epic Pro automates it, taking N exposures at each position), that I might as well do it. I mean, how else can I fill up hard disks?


Regards
Andy

[Andy Johnson-Laird]

Forget about the iPad app "VisualDof." While it's only $4.99, the one 1-star review for it reads:

Only 3 inputs: medium [which seems to be CoC size, AJL] focal distance, and focal length. Fixed f-stops. No metric system.
Can I have my money back.

Oh, well...
Andy.

[CESnider]

Andy,

DOFmaster is also available for the iPhone, check the app store and you should be good to go.

Carl

[NickT]

Hi Guys
I think I'll leave this thread here for now as it seems pretty relevant. I heard back from the Swedes and they are putting together a document for us, it will be written by the guy who designs the lenses . His brain (I have looked) is entirely full of very clever stuff so it should be useful info.
Cheers
Nick-T

[Andy Johnson-Laird]

That's impressive Nick.

Du är den mannen.  (Swedish for the American: "You da man." English: "Oh, I say, that's jolly good of you, old chap.")

Thanks
Andy

[KeithL]

One thing I miss when using the HC lenses are the long throw barrels of the manual focus V series lenses. Am I right in thinking these long throw barrels and the resulting DOF scales were more accurate when used to approximate the hyperfocal distance?

While on this subject, the first thing I ever noticed about the Leica S lenses was the absence of a DOF scale. Am I alone in thinking this a retrograde step?

Perhaps a user button reassigned to auto-set the lens to the hyperfocal distance?

Apologies, questions, questions, no answers.