Using hyperfocal distance on A200

[Staxis]

Sorry to come in late on this one. Don't neglect the telephoto end of your zoom range for landscape shots. If you want to show recession of a few hill-sides, you will need the long end. There are many successful landscape shots taken using a 200mm lens or longer. Equally, 18mm is useful (but not on an Axxx without a converter).

Happy snapping!

--
When you've got a moment, have a look at my site:
http://www.wrightphotos.co.uk

Winner of the South West Rural section of the BBC's Picture of Britain Competition.

Greg

 

[simonkit]

There are many successful landscape shots taken using a 200mm lens or
longer.

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Greg - added to my list

28mm focal length @ F5.6 = 1 metre hyp dist

35mm focal length @ F5.6 = 1 metre hyp dist

50mm focal length @ F5.6 = 4 metre hyp dist

100mm focal length @F5.6 = 10 metre hyp dist

200mm focal length @F5.6 = 50 metre hyp dist

I guess images at F7.1 should be pretty sharp too:

28mm focal length @ F7.1 = 1 metre hyp dist

35mm focal length @ F7.1 = 1 metre hyp dist

50mm focal length @ F7.1 = 3 metre hyp dist

100mm focal length @F7.1 = 10 metre hyp dist

200mm focal length @F7.1 = 50 metre hyp dist

Just to be clear these values are based on a COC of 0.008 (KM GT lens) & have been rounded to suit the available distance settings in the manual mode of the A200

simon

simon

 

[Staxis]

Interesting set of data.

Although the sweet spot of your lens is around f/5.6 - f/8, the results at both ends of the aperture scale are very acceptable. I have no hesitation in using them when I want to either maximise or minimise the depth of field with my A2.
--
When you've got a moment, have a look at my site:
http://www.wrightphotos.co.uk

Winner of the South West Rural section of the BBC's Picture of Britain Competition.

Greg

 

[Ronald S]

How about manual focussing at that distance, i.e. not using the scale / indicated distance in the EVF, but focussing on a real object/real distance. For landscapes, this is not too difficult to judge right.

I have found that I can manual focus and turn the focusring a bit without the numbers being changed, whilst I can definetly hear the focus motor change and do see the difference with the electronic magnifier. (on a D7u that is)

Wouldn't a distance bracketting feature be nice in the next firmware: 5m, 20m, 100m You then could blend in easily the parts in focus ?

Ronald.

 

[simonkit]

How about manual focussing at that distance, i.e. not using the
scale / indicated distance in the EVF, but focussing on a real
object/real distance. For landscapes, this is not too difficult to
judge right.

I have found that I can manual focus and turn the focusring a bit
without the numbers being changed, whilst I can definetly hear the
focus motor change and do see the difference with the electronic
magnifier. (on a D7u that is)

Wouldn't a distance bracketting feature be nice in the next
firmware: 5m, 20m, 100m You then could blend in easily the parts in
focus ?

Ronald.

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Must admit that I don't find manual focusing "by eye" that easy with the A200's EVF - its unfortunate that KM didn't carry the resolution over from the A2.

Think I'll try using the "shown distance" first & see how things work out

-- don't think we'll see any further firmware updates either now Sony are in charge

simon

 

[Siberiinn]

Focus bracketing (or distance bracketing) is a feature I really want to have. I agree that this should be a simple firmware change, just like saturation bracketing, WB balance bracketing, etc. (which are completely useless when shooting RAW). The only thing that can't be fixed by post-processing is focus, so if a shot is a bit out-of-focus, I delete it.

Most of my photos are at the extreme ends: macro and telephoto, where DOF is very limited. The camera knows exactly what the DOF is, because it knows the aperture and focus distance. No matter how good the AF is (or MF through the EVF), if it is out a little bit, the shot is often ruined. So when I'm in these situations, I often manually bracket the focus, and then pick the best shot afterwards. I wish the camera could help with this.

Similarly, it would be nice if the camera could handle hyperfocal distance too. Most SLR lenses have that scale on them, so why isn't this implemented in the viewfinder of digital cameras?

Mike