Depth of Field Calculator

About This Tool

The Depth of Field Calculator computes the zone of acceptable sharpness in front of and behind your focus point. Understanding DoF is essential for portrait photographers who want creamy bokeh, landscape photographers who need everything sharp from foreground to infinity, and macro photographers working with paper-thin focus planes.

What Controls Depth of Field

Three camera settings affect DoF: aperture, focal length, and subject distance. Wider apertures (f/1.4, f/2) produce shallower depth of field with blurry backgrounds. Longer focal lengths compress the scene and reduce DoF. Moving closer to the subject also reduces DoF. Sensor size plays a role too, because smaller sensors have a deeper DoF at equivalent framing due to their shorter actual focal lengths.

Hyperfocal Distance

The hyperfocal distance is the focus distance that maximizes DoF from half that distance to infinity. Landscape photographers use this technique to get everything sharp. If your hyperfocal distance is 4 meters, focusing at 4 meters makes everything from 2 meters to infinity acceptably sharp. This is far more effective than just focusing at infinity, which wastes DoF in front of the focal plane.

Circle of Confusion

Depth of field calculations depend on the circle of confusion (CoC), which defines the maximum blur spot that still appears sharp. The CoC depends on sensor size, viewing distance, and print size. This calculator uses standard CoC values for each sensor format. For critical applications like large prints, you may want to use a stricter (smaller) CoC value.

Practical Tips

For portraits with blurred backgrounds, use a wide aperture (f/1.4 to f/2.8) and get close to your subject. For sharp landscapes, use f/8 to f/11 and focus at the hyperfocal distance. Going beyond f/16 introduces diffraction softening on most cameras, so the extra DoF comes at the cost of overall sharpness. Focus stacking is the solution when you need extreme DoF without diffraction penalties.