Depth of Field & auto hyperfocal setting on D Lux 4

[cobbslane]

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Ladies & Gentlemen,

I may be about to make a complete idiot out of myself or otherwise as I feel I have stumbled on one of the most sought after features of a point and shoot that many of us older film-user-types have been seeking since their invention. And it seems to have been included on the DL4 without a mention.

You may recall that when using 'film cameras' we had those superb lens markings which simply demonstrated the extent of the field of focus on the lens barrel - the depth of field. You could set the focal point to whatever you needed to 'contain' your chosen subject in the field of focus. By careful choice of f stop you could (within limits) increase or decrease the depth of field to get the shot you desired. I am of course talking about the proper use of the hyperfocal distance to optimise the extent of the depth of field (but probably not explaining it all too well - at least I knew what I was doing )

 

This feature is on your very own D Lux 4 but in a hidden digital way....

 

Pick up your DL4 now and I'll talk you through it.

 

1. Set the camera to aperture priority, manual focus and switch it on. (Manual focus is vital to demo this)

2. By using the the joystick change the aperture to f2.0

3. Move your joystick to the right to bring up the manual focus scale and downwards to focus on something close - say 1 or 2m away.

 

What you will see is a 'red' band which moves down the focus scale.

 

4. Now move the joystick to the left once to change the aperture and move it up to set f8.0

5. Now move the joystick back to the right to bring up the manual focus scale again and see what has happened to the red mark - it has grown considerably in length.

 

** This demonstrates the entire depth of field by means of the red band. As you focus nearer or further away it moves up or down the scale. And as you change the f stop it adjusts in length too.

 

Keep up!

 

6. Using the joystick now move the red band up the scale until the top just gets to infinity (the top white bit will just disappear from view). At this point you have just set the camera to keep everything in focus from infinity back to the bottom edge of the red band. If this is too wide then reduce the f stop and reset the red band. If not enough then increase the f stop and it will increase the field of focus.

 

I have checked the markings by using the excellent online depth of field calculator at Hyperfocal Distance and Depth of Field Calculator - DOFMaster which has a listing for the D Lux 4. Enter the lens focal length to 5.1 or whatever (not the 35mm equivalent) and play about with the f stop and focus numbers. In each case it will calculate for you the theoretical depth of focus and hyperfocal distance. By setting up your camera and inputting the numbers you should - like me - be able to persuade yourself that the red line is in fact an accurate indictaion of focus range.

 

What we now seem to have is a camera that will show us the depth of focus for any zoom or focus setting when using manual focus. Now all we need to get Leica to do (in their next software upgrade is to vary the band on the zoom indictaor similarly to reveal the depth of filed in the autofocus mode too.

 

Now for the daft bit. I have searched and searched for this in the 'manual' and cannot find any mention of it. I have used Canon G5, G9, 20D, 30D, 5D and can never find a simple way of using a digital camera to guide the user to these sort of settings. It is very possible that I have been dumb to these things since the invention of the digital compact but maybe not. It's also likely that I have simply re-invented a previous link which discovered this feature. I am sure that you will tell me if that is so.....

 

If like me you find this to be a revelation and useful then please note that all gifts and accolades will be very welcome

 

Gerry

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[jimbo035]

Bravo Gerry !

Those of us who remember & miss depth of field scales should be grateful for this revelation.

 

Not that many, I suspect, ever "dabble" with the manual focus option :-)

[analogisch]

Hello Gerry,

 

I might reveal myself beind stupid now; but, with the given size of the sensor of this camera - does it really make sense to care about depth of field? Is there any worth mentioning?

 

Regards

 

Patty

[Jeff S]

I "discovered" this feature as well...but three things helped to guide me there.

 

First, I generally like to use MF, so I was inclined to play with that mode.

 

Second, Sean Reid wrote about the depth scale on the D lux 2 (and 3), and referred to an overlapping yellow line on the scale. He thought this was a cool feature, which was not mentioned in the manual. I couldn't find this on the DL4, but discovered the red line instead.

 

Finally, as I mentioned on another thread, download the manual to the Panasonic LX3 (equivalent camera)...it's MUCH more clear and informative than the Leica manual. You'll find other features that aren't readily apparent reading the Leica version.

 

Speaking of manual focus, I like to keep it in that mode. But, if you hit the little focus button on the top of the camera, it will auto focus for you. You can use this to pre-focus the lens...then have it ready to go without much shutter delay for quick work, since it will stay at that focus setting until you hit that button again on change the focus setting.

 

I'm still discovering little shortcuts after just getting the camera this week. It's fun and easy to use without much instruction, but often one small tip can make the experience even quicker and easier.

 

Jeff

[lesh]

For those like me who are behind the curve and still using a D-Lux 3, the good news seems to be that we can also try this technique.

 

As far as I can see the only difference is that we have a yellow band on the distance scale. Shifting the aperture from f2.8 to f8 provides a nice illustration of the respective dof's (if accurate).

 

Thanks for the tip Cobbslane

[Alan Cameron]

I posted this info on the old site when the D-lux 3 first came out, but unfortunately that forum message has now been archived!

I think that Leica should put more emphasis on this shooting workflow option .

 

....Alan

[cobbslane]

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Thanks to you all for confirming that I was not imagining things!

 

I am just as surprised as you that this has not been highlighted by Leica given that it is clearly 'old' news. Maybe we should have a 'User Tips' section that all of these can be fed into.