Hyperfocal focusing is the landscape photographer’s secret to front-to-back sharpness. By focusing at one precise distance, you capture everything from roughly half that distance all the way to the horizon in acceptable focus. This calculator finds that distance for your exact lens, aperture, and sensor.
How it works
The hyperfocal distance depends on three things: focal length, aperture, and the circle of confusion (the largest blur spot that still reads as sharp). The formula is:
H = f² ÷ (N × c) + f
where f is the focal length in millimetres, N is the f-number, and c is the
circle of confusion in millimetres. The result H comes out in millimetres, so
divide by 1000 for metres.
The circle of confusion scales with sensor size — a full-frame camera uses about 0.030 mm, APS-C around 0.018–0.020 mm, and Micro Four Thirds about 0.015 mm — because smaller sensors are enlarged more to reach the same print size.
Worked example
A 24 mm lens at f/8 on full frame (c = 0.030 mm):
H = 24² ÷ (8 × 0.030) + 24 = 576 ÷ 0.24 + 24 = 2400 + 24 = 2424 mm ≈ 2.4 m
Focus at 2.4 m and everything from 2.4 ÷ 2 = 1.2 m to infinity is sharp.
Tips
Wider focal lengths and smaller apertures both shorten the hyperfocal distance, making it easier to keep the whole scene sharp. But avoid going past f/11–f/16, where diffraction softens the entire frame. For critical landscape work, many photographers focus slightly beyond the hyperfocal point to guarantee infinity is crisp at the cost of a little foreground sharpness.