Hyperfocal button

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sar-photo

Simon Robinson
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I was just wondering if there were any cameras with a hyperfocal button.

When you press the button it would set the focus to the hyperfocal distance for the selected aperture. Bloody great idea eh?

If this doesn't exist, I'll keep it quiet and patent the idea :p

Cheers
Simon
 
Saw this and had to laugh. No camera exists that does this to my knowledge. Would be a nightmare for a camera with interchangeable lenses. Would seem to work on a fixed lens camera only. Nice idea though!
 
kbg32 said:
Saw this and had to laugh. No camera exists that does this to my knowledge. Would be a nightmare for a camera with interchangeable lenses. Would seem to work on a fixed lens camera only. Nice idea though!
Click to expand...



With all the algorythms (sp?) they have coded into digital cameras these days, this has to be easy to code.

Mechanical cameras? . . . yikes, I think not.
 
i'm not a patent lawyer, but i'm pretty sure that as a result of this thread you cannot get a patent. one of the requirements for a patent is that it not be disclosed to the masses prior to seeking a patent. you did just that.

i could be wrong.
 
Or ... better still, imagine a camera that had a little rectangle in the middle of the viewfinder that when you located that square over your subject and pressed a button the camera focused automatically.

Apparently Fuji have been working on it but still have some ways to go to get it to work reliably! :angel:
 
thegf said:
i'm not a patent lawyer, but i'm pretty sure that as a result of this thread you cannot get a patent. one of the requirements for a patent is that it not be disclosed to the masses prior to seeking a patent. you did just that.

i could be wrong.
Click to expand...

So . . . delete this thread and rush to the lawyers office (we'll never tell) :D
 
Keith said:
Or ... better still, imagine a camera that had a little rectangle in the middle of the viewfinder that when you located that square over your subject and pressed a button the camera focused automatically.

Apparently Fuji have been working on it but still have some ways to go to get it to work reliably! :angel:
Click to expand...

Sony did that beautifully in the R1, and many cameras have the same ability now.
 
I asked about this once on dpreview. I believe there were some old cameras that had it but nothing now.

One problems is that technically only one infinitely small plane is actually maximumly sharp what one person considers adequate for hyperfocal focusing might not cut it for another. However I still think it should be implemented. Especially with modern cameras where you could just change your tolerances with in camera settings.
 
thegf said:
i'm not a patent lawyer, but i'm pretty sure that as a result of this thread you cannot get a patent. one of the requirements for a patent is that it not be disclosed to the masses prior to seeking a patent. you did just that.

i could be wrong.
Click to expand...

Damn! Another get rich quick plan scuppered!

Simon
 
I have this on my Canon G9 - I use CHDK on it so has all sorts of extras - ultra low ISO, loooong shutter speeds, focus braketing -- all sorts of things. Anyone with a canon digital compact should have a look.
 
Hyperfocal button???...every automatic camera does that...specially older ones...

They select the smallest aperture and faster speed for a given light condition...

On a manual device as the m3..of course you cannot...but the x-pro, x1-x2...etc when set on A they do preciselty that...but withuot sayig that in explicit way...:D

so be confident on those cameras...you´ll get lots of dof on A mode...

cheers!
 
Isn't what what all the fixed-focus cheapo plastic (film) cameras of yester-year did? Add to that the masses of cheap cameras built into mobiles/cell phones...
 
Setting hyperfocal distance is so easy that it shouldn't require a dedicated button. Simply set your lens so that the right-hand line for your f-stop is at the infinity symbol. That's it.
 
Hexar AF: hold down the MF button while half pressing the shutter, and it will automatically set the hyperfocal distance at the current focus distance.
 
Hyperfocal distance depends on where your subject is. It might be fairly trivial to have it set on an electronic camera but not on a mechanical one.
 
Godfrey said:
Sony did that beautifully in the R1, and many cameras have the same ability now.
Click to expand...
My Minolta Z1, of 2003, had the feature to focus on one of three selectable areas. My P&S Nikon allows you to move a box around the screen to select focus area. I though most but the lowest-end digitals had something like that?
 
Buy yourself a small sensor digital camera - every distance is a hyperfocal distance ;)

(sorry, couldn't resist :) )
 
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