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D40 : Kit lens (18-55mm Nikkor Af-S G)

You need to watchout for depth of field at 55mm. I have to reprogram myself after 4 years of using a compact. I keep thinking f5.6 is 'Ok for things at inifinity, like that building over there'







But it ain't. You have to do tricks like 'hyper focus', i.e. focus at infinity (like a building behind this one) and then recompose, or stop down the lens more.

Lets actually work this out:
Circle of confusion (Zeiss formula)
c = d/1730
where d = sqrt(23.7^2 + 15.6^2) = 28.37mm
c = 0.0164mm

Hyper focal distance (Wikipedia)
H = f^2/Nc
For the shot I had
f = 55mm
N = 5.6

H = 32937.71 mm = 32 m

The building was probably 10-15m away, and I focused on that, reducing my DOF. I should have kept my aperture at around

N = f^2/Hc = 55^2/(15000*.0164) = f12 for a good shot.

Alternatively, I should have focused on the farthest part of the building, locked focus and recomposed.

Stop down the lens Kaushik, stop it down. This 'ere's a REAL camera :)

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