DOFC - Depth of Field Calculator For Mac

DOFC is a handy calculator for the depth of field, near focus, far focus and hyperfocal distance, no matter what camera you've got. It's the perfect companion for the Apple PowerBook or iBook you probably carry to store and touch-up your digital images.

DOFC is a tool that will make a nice addition to your shooting set-up, whether you shoot for soft Bokeh in portraits or ultimate sharpness in panoramic images.

Depth of Field, or DoF for short, is the distance from the camera which appears in focus. I use the word appear for good reason: Technically, there is only one single distance which is in focus. But as the human eye is easily fooled, there are adjacent areas in front and behind the subject which appear to be in focus as well.

Sharpness depends on the circumstances, but in general people see things as being sharp if a single dot doesn't expand too much. For 35mm film, the Diameter of Least Confusion, DoLC for short, is 0.029 mm -- if a single dot gets bigger than this on your slide or negative, people will see it as out of focus. Other formats have other DoLCs, and it's not brain surgery to calculate them.

But it's a major pain.

Everything outside this field will get blurred in the final picture. The blur can be used to make people or subjects stand out but sometimes blur is unwanted, as in landscape images. However, not knowing the DoF makes it difficult to get the right amount of blur. There's much to read about this, please note the links I provided on the left if you're curious abut the DoLC. If you don't care, as I do, no problem.

There are tons of lists where you can look up the DoF for any given lens/f-stop combination, but with digital still cameras, everything changed. As lenses are specified with the same focal lengths as for 35 mm cameras, none of the former lists will work for your digital cam. The smaller sensor size of digital still cameras makes the focal length of your 35mm lenses longer and the DoLC gets tighter. The Depth of Field Calculator

Knowing everything about DoF and DoLC doesn't help me in any real world situation. Having used my Nikon 35mm cams for years, I have a good feeling for all of my lenses. But the D70s changed everything.

Even worse, switching between 35mm film, Nikon DX, 1/3" and 2/3" video cameras requires a lot of paper to be carried around to calculate the DoF in any given situation. Carrying my Apple iBook works for me, as all the glass and lighting are a lot to handle on location. Hence I remembered my roots as a programmer and made this little Widget.

The solution This Widget is a handy calculator for DoF, no matter what camera you've got. It is the perfect companion for the Apple PowerBook or iBook you probably carry to store and touch-up your digital images. DOFC will hopefully make a welcome addition to your shooting setup. If you have any questions regarding this little thing, please contact me.