Depth of Field Calculator

Pick sensor, focal length, aperture and focus distance — get the total depth of field, the near and far limits and the hyperfocal distance, instantly.

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Your camera & lens

Sensor
Units
Total depth of field
0
0near limit
0far limit
0hyperfocal
0in front
Quick combos
In-focus zone · Circle of confusion: —
Blurred Near limit — You focus here — Far limit —

How depth of field is calculated

Depth of field is derived from the hyperfocal distance (H) and the focus distance (s):

H=focal²aperture × circle of confusion+ focal

From the hyperfocal you get the near limit and the far limit, and their difference is the total depth. The circle of confusion is taken as the sensor diagonal ÷ 1500 (0.029 mm on full frame), a common convention; with 0.030 mm, another value widely used on full frame, the depth comes out slightly larger. A narrower aperture, shorter focal length, farther subject and smaller sensor all increase depth.

Depth of field example at f/1.8

A 50 mm f/1.8 on full frame, focused at 2 m:

  • Hyperfocal ≈ 48.20 m; total depth ≈ 16.2 cm.
  • Sharp from 1.92 m to 2.08 m, with 78 mm in front of the subject — nicely blurred background.

Stop down to f/8 and the depth grows to 74.4 cm (1.69 m to 2.44 m). In macro it shrinks to almost nothing: a 100 mm f/2.8 at 0.5 m gives just 3.2 mm of sharp zone.

Depth of field FAQ

What is depth of field?
It is the zone of the scene that looks sharp, from the nearest in-focus point to the farthest. A shallow depth isolates the subject (blurred background); a deep one keeps everything sharp.
What affects depth of field?
Four factors: aperture (narrower f = more depth), focal length (more mm = less depth), focus distance (farther = more depth) and sensor size (bigger sensors = less depth at the same framing).
How do I get a very blurred background?
Use a wide aperture (f/1.4-f/2.8), a long focal length (85 mm+), get close to the subject and move it away from the background. The calculator gives the exact depth, in millimetres when it is very small.
Why is there more depth behind the subject?
It is optics: the far limit moves away faster than the near one. Very close up the split is almost half and half; the well-known 1/3 in front, 2/3 behind rule only holds when you focus at a third of the hyperfocal, and beyond that the part behind keeps growing until it reaches infinity.
What is the circle of confusion?
It is the largest a blurred point can be while still looking sharp. It depends on the sensor and there is no single official value: here we use the sensor-diagonal ÷ 1500 convention (0.029 mm on full frame). Many tables use 0.030 mm on full frame, which gives a slightly larger depth of field (about 4 %).