DoF Quick Start

Select or edit camera list

Depth of field mode

Best f stop mode

Focus stacking mode

Blur mode

Macro mode

Distance units

Help

Snap toggle

Teleconverter

F stop increment

Set number of images

(focus stacking mode only)

Note: Click for Quick Help (this document) or for the full reference manual. Hover the cursor over any button to
display what it does.

Step 1 - Configure a camera:

You need to configure DoF for at least one camera. To do this, click the camera button in the upper left corner of the
window and select Edit Camera Properties… from the drop-down menu. This brings up the Camera dialog.
First, enter a name for the camera and select a circle of confusion calculation method – Sharp image or Sharp print.
Select Sharp image for images as sharp as your camera can take – down to the pixel level. Select Sharp print to
guarantee standard size prints of your images will look sharp from a standard viewing distance. If you are unsure which
one to use, select Sharp print for now as it is the method used by most other depth of field calculators, but for important
information on this topic and for information on the other dialog settings, please see the reference manual.
Next select the camera type – digital or film. For the purposes of this document we assume digital.
The only other information you need to enter is the sensor width and height in millimeters and its corresponding width and
height in pixels. This information is readily available on-line at sites like www.dpreview.com. Just locate the review for your
camera and go to the specifications section or check your camera manual.
Once you have entered the necessary information, click Update to compute and display the size of the circle of confusion
at the bottom of the dialog box along with the f stop at which sharpness becomes diffraction-limited, the crop factor and
the image size in megapixels.
To configure additional cameras, click the New button and enter information for the next camera, or just close the dialog
box when you are done.
The camera(s) you entered will now appear in the dropdown menu when you click and you can use this to switch
cameras. The name of the current camera is displayed at the top of the application so you can always see what camera is
selected.

Step 2 - Select mode:

The current mode is highlighted as black on white.

Depth of Field Mode

Specify the lens focal length, the f stop, and subject distance and DoF will tell you what range of distances are
acceptably sharp and how blurry subjects get at other distances.
• Drag the focal length scale to align the red triangle with the desired value.
• Click on the aperture scale to select an f stop. You can work in ½ or ⅓ stop increments, whichever is more
convenient.
• Click on the distance scale to set the focus distance. The green line marks the focus point – red lines on either
side of the green line show you the distances at which focus blur is acceptable (i.e. where focus blur is less than
or equal to the circle of confusion). The numbers down the left side of the distance scale show how much the
image is blurred, taking both diffraction and focus blur into account. The points where the combined blur equals 1
mark where the image is acceptably sharp. The colored double cone between the two scales is a graphical
representation of the combined blur as a function of distance.
A blue-green line, if visible, marks the hyperfocal distance – the closest point at which you can focus to keep
subjects at infinity acceptably sharp.
• Click on the blur scale to indicate what maximum blur level is acceptable. A blur level of 1.0 corresponds to the
circle of confusion as defined for the current camera and is thus the normal value. Increasing the maximum
acceptable blur yields more depth of field at the expense of some loss of sharpness at the focus range limits.

Best F Stop Mode

Specify lens focal length and a range of distances and DoF will tell you what f stop to use to get the sharpest possible
image of subjects in that range and the best distance to focus at.
• Drag the focal length scale to align the red triangle with the desired value.
• In this mode, the aperture scale is a read-out only. Since the f stop is computed, you can't enter one.
• Drag either red line on the distance scale to set near focus or far focus. The blur display is the same as for Depth
of Field mode, and the f stop is automatically set to the value that yields the least blur for subjects between the
near and far focus points. The green line is automatically positioned at the best distance to focus at between the
near and far limits. The blur scale is automatically set to the blur level at the near and far focus.

Focus Stacking Mode

Specify a lens focal length, a range of distances, and a number of images and DoF will tell you at what distances to
focus each image and what f stop to use to get the sharpest possible stack.
• Drag the focal length scale to align the red triangle with the desired value.
• In this mode, the aperture scale is a read-out only. Since the f stop is computed, you can't enter one.
• Drag either red line on the distance scale to set the near and far range limits. The f stop is automatically set to the
value that yields the least blur for subjects in this range. White lines mark the best intermediate focus distances
for each image. The blur scale is automatically set to the worst case blur level between the near and far focus.

• Click or to change the number of images.

Blur Mode
Specify lens focal length, f stop, the distance at which lens is focused, the distance to a subject and DoF will tell you
how much the subject is blurred.
 • Drag the focal length scale to align the red triangle with the desired value.
• Click on the aperture scale to select an f stop. You can work in ½ or ⅓ stop increments, whichever is more
convenient.
• Drag the green line on the distance scale to set focus distance and drag the red line to set subject distance. The
amount of subject blur is displayed on the blur scale.

Macro Depth of Field Mode

Specify the field of view and f stop and DoF will tell you the depth of field for macro work. When subject distances are
short, the normal depth of field equations break down, so a different formula based on magnification is used instead.
Magnification is easily determined by photographing a ruler placed at the subject distance and recording the width of
the field of view. In macro work, depth of field generally extends an equal distance on either side of the focus plane.
• Drag the field of view scale to align the red triangle with the width of the field of view in the current units. This can
be determined by photographing a ruler at the subject distance.
• Click on the aperture scale to select an f stop. You can work in ½ or ⅓ stop increments, whichever is more
convenient.
• Click on the blur scale to indicate what maximum blur level is acceptable. A blur level of 1.0 corresponds to the
circle of confusion as defined for the current camera and is thus the normal value. By increasing the maximum
acceptable blur, you can get more depth of field at the expense of some loss of sharpness.
The macro depth of field is displayed on the distance scale similar to Depth of Field mode.

Snap
When Snap is on (highlighted as black on white), all the scales adjust in steps. This makes it easier to set specific
values such as 4.0. When Snap is off, all the scales adjust continuously – use this to select values between the steps.

Scale Zooming
You can expand or contract any of the scales except for aperture by dragging on the scale with the right mouse
button down. For the distance scale you need to drag on the right side of the scale. Zooming in makes it easier to
selected values accurately; zooming out makes the scale cover a wider range.

Common Issues
In DoF mode, the red lines disappeared – what does that mean?
Diffraction is the culprit. If you set blur to 1.0 and select an f stop larger than the diffraction limit for your camera, the
image will not be critically sharp anywhere due to diffraction. Since DoF computes depth of field from combined
diffraction and focus blur, there is no depth of field and hence no red lines are displayed. Either select a lower f stop, a
larger blur value, or use a larger circle of confusion.
Help! I messed up the distance scale or can't get the numbers to go low enough.
You can scroll the distance (or any other) scale lower in most modes simply by clicking near the bottom of the scale.
Similarly, you can scroll the scale up by clicking near the top. You can also zoom the scale so it covers a wider range
as described above.

Finally, if you really mess things up, click and select Reset Scales from the menu. This will return DoF to default
values while preserving all of your camera settings.
What does the Blur scale mean?
In Best f Stop, Focus Stacking and Blur modes, the blur scale is a readout of the blur at the limits of the depth of field
range. A value of 1.0 or less means sharp based on the circle of confusion you selected when you configured your
camera. The higher the value, the softer the image (there are examples in the reference manual showing what
different blur values look like).
In DoF and Macro modes, you can set the maximum amount of blur you are willing to accept using the Blur scale.
Again, a value of 1.0 means you want the image sharp according to the current circle of confusion size. If you
increase the allowable blur level, you will see the depth of field increase, but the image will not be as sharp at the
limits of the depth of field range.
Copyright  1995-2017, Digital Light & Color
All Rights Reserved
Written by Jonathan M. Sachs
jsachs@dl-c.com
http://www.dl-c.com