Depth of field calculator
Enter your sensor, focal length and aperture plus a subject distance to see the near and far focus limits, total depth of field and hyperfocal distance - in metres or feet.
Camera & lens
Presets set the circle of confusion automatically - override it below if you prefer.
Result
Depth of field at the focus distance
Standard thin-lens DOF formulae in millimetres - macro distances differ.
How it works
Depth of field is the zone around the focus plane where blur stays below the circle of confusion. The calculator first finds the hyperfocal distance - the nearest focus distance where the far limit reaches infinity:
Where f is focal length in mm, N the f-number and c the circle of confusion in mm. The near and far limits follow from H and the subject distance s:
Total depth of field is simply far − near, split into the depth in front of and behind the focus plane.
Example
A 50 mm lens at f/2.8 on full frame (CoC 0.030 mm) has a hyperfocal distance of 2500 ÷ (2.8 × 0.030) + 50 ≈ 29.8 m. Focused at 10 m, the near limit is 29811.9 × 10000 ÷ (29811.9 + 9950) ≈ 7.5 m and the far limit 29811.9 × 10000 ÷ (29811.9 − 9950) ≈ 15.0 m - about 7.5 m of sharp depth.
Controlling depth of field
- Aperture: wider apertures (smaller f-number) shrink the sharp zone - ideal for portraits.
- Focus distance: depth grows roughly with the square of distance - get closer to blur more.
- Focal length: longer lenses compress apparent depth, but at the same subject framing the effect mostly comes from magnification.
- Sensor size: smaller sensors and their smaller CoC values show deeper depth of field at the same aperture.
Related tools
Focus at the hyperfocal distance for maximum sharpness with the hyperfocal distance calculator. Lens reach changes DOF too - compare with the focal length calculator and field of view calculator.
Frequently asked questions
What depth of field does a 50mm lens at f/2.8 give at 10 m?
On a full-frame camera with a 0.030 mm circle of confusion the hyperfocal distance is about 29.8 m. Focused at 10 m, the near limit is about 7.5 m, the far limit about 15.0 m, so total depth of field is roughly 7.5 m.
What is the circle of confusion?
It is the largest blur spot the eye still perceives as a point in a standard print. Common defaults are 0.030 mm for full frame, about 0.020 mm for APS-C and 0.015 mm for Micro Four Thirds. Smaller sensors use smaller values, which is why depth of field looks deeper on them.
When is the far limit infinity?
Whenever the subject distance is at or beyond the hyperfocal distance. At the hyperfocal distance the far limit is exactly infinity and the near limit is half the hyperfocal distance, which is the classic technique for landscapes.
Why does depth of field seem deeper on a phone?
A phone sensor has a very short physical focal length and a tiny circle of confusion. Both shorten the hyperfocal distance dramatically, so almost everything falls inside the sharp zone. The blur you get from wide-aperture cameras comes from their larger real focal lengths.