Depth of Field calculator

Depth of Field (or DoF) is a concept that is of paramount importance to all photographers and can make or break a picture of any type.

Shuttermap.com defines it as "The amount of distance between the nearest and farthest objects that appear in acceptably sharp focus in a photograph. Depth of field depends on the size of the aperture, the distance of the camera from the subject, and the focal length of the lens. The bigger the aperture, the greater the depth of field. If the camera focuses on a distant subject, the depth of field will be greater than if it was focused on a near subject; and if you fit a wide-angle lens to your camera, it will give you greater depth of field than a normal lens".

With the fact in mind that some complicated maths are required to accurately calculate the DoF, Norbert Fuerst from Vorarlberg in Austria has developed a fantastic Mac OS X widget to do the donkey work.

Following some correspondence between onsuper8.org and Norbert, he's kindly added specific settings for Super 8 and Standard 8 film users in the latest version, 1.5. Simply type in the focal length, the aperture and the distance to the subject in meters or feet and the widget calculates the DoF both behind and in front of the subject. I've you've got a laptop, this little programme will certainly take the guesswork out of any shoot.

Version 1.5 of the widget can be downloaded at DoF Calculator where a full explanation of its functionality is given and a two page manual provided.

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