Help with Panorama

[jchooper12]

I am starting to learn how to do panorama's but am having issues with one thing. If I am using a telephoto lens (my 70-200) to do a pano of some mountains, how to I set up the camera to get the best sharpness throuhout the entire photo if set at 200mm? I am talking about the Hyperfocal Distance, if I calculate the hyperfocal distance for 200mm @ f22, I have to set the focus at infinity on the lens to get everything from 291' to infinity' in focus. So my issue is, if there are trees in the forground I want as part of the photo say at 50' and I set the focus on the lens to infinity, they wil be OOF. Does this mean if I want the trees in focus and also have the mountains in focus I would have to use a different focal length. It is so much easier at smaller focal lengths like 24mm or 50mm, we are talking @ 24mm @ f/22, if I focus at 5', everything from 2.3' to infinity is in focus but, I cannot get as much detail in the infinity range.

Please please please help me out here. I am going to Yellowstone in Sept and want to be prepared so I don't waste any time learning this stuff and I use that time taking awsome photos..

[venchka]

Well, as we discussed in the other thread, f22 isn't the answer. Also, if 200mm doesn't give you enough depth of field, you'll have to back off. However, I doubt that you'll have to go all the way to 24mm. On the other hand, the 24mm focal length is a favorite of mine out west. However, that was single frame pictures. I don't think the 24 would be right for panoramas.

Here's a thought: pick a shorter focal length than 200mm for DOF. You're looking for a FL whose horizontal field of view equals the 200mm vertical field of view. Turn the camera vertical. Make more images. You should be able to equal the look of the 200mm.

ps: Where did you get those numbers for the 24mm lens? My 24mm lens says: f=22, focus=3', DOF = 1.6' to Infinity. On my lens, at f=8.0, DOF is 4' to infinity. Just curious if different lenses have different DOF.

[venchka]

another ps: You can't know until you get there which focal length works.

[jchooper12]

Here is a site I found that does the Hyperfocal Distance calulations. http://www.dofmaster.com/doftable.html

[venchka]

Those calculator things are very generic. I was holding a 24mm lens in my hand and looking at the DOF scale. Now, that doesn't mean that my len's scale is perfect either.

I wouldn't give up on the 70-200 just yet. You may find that the wider end works just fine. You'll know when you can actually see the mountains in the finder.

[Patti Edens]

Originally Posted by venchka

...snip...
ps: Where did you get those numbers for the 24mm lens? My 24mm lens says: f=22, focus=3', DOF = 1.6' to Infinity. On my lens, at f=8.0, DOF is 4' to infinity. Just curious if different lenses have different DOF.

Wayne, I don't think different lenses have different DOF. But there are so many factors that change the calculation of DOF I can see where you can see different numbers - due to the calculation, not the reality. For one thing, the Circle of Confusion is defined differently by different manufacturers, so if you are not using the same criteria for COC, you get different numbers. Also, the crop factor of the camera will play into the calculation of hyperfocal distance. So, you can't rely on the information on the lens unless you are using a 35mm film camera (as you do) or a digital SLR that has a full frame sensor. I don't think it's a huge difference, but it is a difference.

Just to look at effect of crop factor, as per one DOF calculator...

For A 24 mm lens at f8
Crop Factor/Hyperfocal Distance/DOF
1.6/11.5/5.8 to Infinity
1.5/10.7/5.4 to Infinity
1.3/9.3/4.6 to Infinity
FF/7.2/3.6 to Infinity

Interesting question. I'd be curious to see the thoughts of others.

[venchka]

That is very thoughtful and thought provoking. Yes, I was holding an ancient 24mm lens designed B.P. (before pixels). I had no idea of the differences. It is intersting for me to compare lenses for different formats. My 45mm/1:4.0 lens for 6x7 format is very WIDE! Wider than my 24mm. However, the depth of field is similar to any 45mm/4.0 lens for 35mm. Meaning not a lot wide open. It's fun to have a super wide lens and kinda shallow depth of field. On the other hand, the 17mm end of my 17-35 zoom, even wide open at 2.8, has gobs of DOF. That's why companies can make a lot of different lenses. They all do things a little different.

"kinda shallow" and "gobs" are technical terms, by the way.