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Depth of Field Calculator + Online Solver With Free Steps
The Depth of Field Calculator is an online tool that helps you know the camera settings required to achieve the desired sharpness. Depth of field is a very creative tool in the field of photography that makes the shots super attractive.
It is a super-efficient tool for professional and passionate photographers who want to calculate the depth of field for their cameras. The results of this tool are cent percent accurate, which makes it more reliable. It is an entirely free tool, and you can use it as often as you want as per your requirement.
The Depth of Field Calculator does not need prior installation, downloading, or procedures. It is always ready to use the tool. You can access it from anywhere at any time. It would help if you used an excellent browser connected to the internet.
The calculator gives a depth of field for the photographic lens, a far limit of the depth of the field, and a near the limit of the depth of field as an output.
What Is the Depth of Field Calculator?
The Depth of Field Calculator is an online tool that finds the value of depth of field for a camera to achieve the desired sharpness in-camera result.
Today is the age of graphics and photos; one picture speaks thousands of words. Day by day, the value and usage of photos are increasing and the photos taken with the best settings are accepted in the market.
For that, you should have a proper tool that can analyze certain important credentials for the camera setting. This tool helps find the Depth of Field to adjust the sharpness of the image properly.
Sharpness plays a pivotal role in the quality of the image. Sharpness can have multiple purposes. Like the object you want to focus on should be visible differently, and similarly, in the far photos, you need clarity. All this is done due to proper sharpness.
So, we offer you the Depth of Field Calculator that quickly calculates the depth of field for your camera. It gives the exact values for the best photo with accurate sharpness.
In the following sections, you can read the procedure of using this calculator and the working mechanism, along with some solved examples. Keep reading this article if you want to gain the maximum out of it.
How To Use the Depth of Field Calculator?
You can use the depth of field calculator by providing the aperture, camera name, focal length of the lens, and the focusing distance in the given spaces with labels.
It is a very simple and straightforward tool; anyone who wants to use this calculator does not need some specific skills except that he is a photographer or knows about it. The interface of this calculator is self-explanatory.
All the values should be provided according to your camera. You should select the correct camera or circles of confusion for accurate results.
To use the calculator, follow the given step-by-step procedure.
Step 1
In the first box, enter the aperture or f-stop. The box is labeled as an f-number. From the next box, labeled Circles of Confusion, select your camera, film format, or circles of confusion.
Step 2
Enter the focal length of the camera’s lens in the third box labeled as Focal Length. Enter the focal length in millimeters. In the last box labeled Focused Distance, enter the subject’s distance.
Step 3
Now, click the submit button. After clicking this button calculator will start processing your result and show the output in a fraction of a few seconds.
Output
Once you click the submit button, a new window will pop up. This window is divided into two main sections. The first section shows the input information for verifying values entered by the user.
The following section shows the results for the entered data. The results section has two parts. The first part gives the total depth of field, the far limit of the depth of field, and the near limit of the depth of field.
The second part shows the equations used for the calculations and a pictorial representation of the depth of the field on a number line.
How Does the Depth of Field Calculator Work?
The depth of field calculator works by calculating the depth of field of a camera at which the sharp image of an object can be captured. It calculates the depth of field for different cameras.
The calculator uses some basic formulas to calculate the total depth of field. These formulas will be elaborated on later; before that, you should have a basic concept of Depth of field.
What Is the Depth of Field?
Depth of Field is the distance between a near and a farther plane in which an object can be positioned to get its desirable sharp image. If a thing is out of the field of depth, the camera will capture a blurred image.
If someone wants to capture a scene including all of its details, he should set his camera to a deep depth field. And if someone wants to just focus on a particular object, he should use the shallow depth of the field, which will sharpen the object and blur the background.
The field depth depends on the camera’s aperture area, the lens used to discover different focal lengths, and the object distance or focusing distance.
What Is the Circle of Confusion?
The circle of confusion is the maximum size spot of a circle from where the picture starts to blur and is considered out of focus. The more the diameter or circle of confusion limit is, the deeper the depth of field will be.
Focusing Distance and Focal Length
Focusing Distance is the distance from the plane to the subject. The plane is the point where there is the sensor of the camera. Focal length is the distance between the focusing plane and the rear nodal point.
Formula To Calculate the Depth of Field
Depth of field is the difference between the depth of field far limit and the depth of field near the limit. The equation can be expressed as:
DoF = Df – Dn
Depth of far limit and depth of near limit have the following equations:
Df = s x (f$^2$) / (f$^2$)- {N x c x (s-f)}
Dn = s x (f$^2$) / (f$^2$)+ {N x c x (s-f)}
Whereas:
N = f-number
C = circle of confusion
f = focal length in millimeters
s = focused distance in feet
Df = far limit of the field of depth
Dn = near the limit of the field of depth
DoF = Depth of field for photographic lens
Solved Examples
A good way to understand the tool is to solve the examples using it and analyze those examples. Some examples are described below that are solved using the Depth of Field Calculator.
Example 1
Calculate the camera’s depth of field, having a focal length of 100 mm, a focused distance of 10 feet, an f-number of 8, and a circle of confusion of 0.03 mm.
Solution
Where:
N ( f-number ) = 8
c ( circle of confusion ) = Canon Full Frame (0.03mm)
f ( focal length in millimeters ) = 100
s (focused distance in feet ) = 10
Df ( far limit of the field of depth ) =?
Dn ( near the limit of the field of depth) =?
DoF (Depth of field for photographic lens) =?
The calculator calculates the results using the formula as follows:
Df = s x (f$^2$) / (f^$2$)- {N x c x (s-f)}
Df = 3048 x (100$^2$) / (100$^2$) – { 8 x 0.03 x (3048 -100)}
Df = 328.01 cm and 10.761 in feet
Dn = s x (f$^2$) / (f$^2$) + {N x c x (s-f)}
Dn = 3048 x (100^2) / (100^2) + { 8 x 0.03 x (3048 – 100)}
Dn = 284.66 cm and 9.3392 in feet
After putting values in the calculator, it will give:
DoF = Df – Dn
Dof = 328 – 284.66
DoF = 43.3 cm
So the depth of field for the photographic lens is 43.3 centimeters and 1.421 feet.
Example 2
Calculate the camera’s depth of field, having a focal length of 80 mm, a focused distance of 8 feet, an f-number of 8, and a circle of confusion of 0.023 mm.
Solution
Where:
N ( f-number ) = 8
c ( circle of confusion ) = Canon APS-H 1.3x Crop (0.023mm)
f ( focal length in millimeters ) = 80
s (focused distance in feet ) = 8
Df ( far limit of the field of depth ) =?
Dn ( near the limit of the field of depth) =?
DoF (Depth of field for photographic lens) =?
The calculator calculates the results using the formula as follows:
Df = s x (f$^2$) / (f$^2$)- { N x c x (s-f)}
Df = 2438.4 x (80$^2$) / (80$^2$)- { 8 x 0.023 x (2438.4- 80)}
Df = 261.58 cm and 8.5819 in feet.
Dn = s x (f$^2$) / (f$^2$)+ { N x c x (s-f)}
Dn = 2438.4 x (80$^2$) / (80$^2$) + {8 x 0.023 x (2438.4-80)}
Dn = 228.36 cm and 7.492 in feet.
After putting values in the calculator, it will give:
DoF = Df – Dn
Dof = 261.58 – 228.36
DoF = 33.2 cm
So the depth of field for the photographic lens is 33.2 centimeters and 1.089 feet.