PDF (Adobe Acrobat) Documents
and other downloadable files on

Focus, Depth of Field
and other Photo Topics

by

Harold M. Merklinger

• "Depth of Field Revisited" (in HTML format) provides an quick overview of the method described in The INs and OUTs of FOCUS .

To view the following articles you will need to download the files and open them with Adobe Acrobat Reader (available free from the Adobe Web Site). The Acrobat 3 plug-in for Netscape (and some other Web Browsers) can also be used. We continue to recommend Acrobat Reader 2.1: if nothing else it's faster on both Mac and PC machines. This is especially important if one has an older, slower computer.

• 4-page flyer (215k) describing The INs and OUTS of FOCUS  and FOCUSING the VIEW CAMERA.
  
  
• The Addendum to FOCUSING the VIEW CAMERA (163k) is the last chapter of the book, written after the book's original publication. It offers a reasonably complete version of the information with examples.
  
  
• Principles of View Camera Focus (45k) is a brief article describing The Scheimpflug Rule, the Hinge Rule and how they work together. This article refers to five QuickTime movies which animate the figures in the article. The movies are not necessary to view or print this article, but if you want to see the figures become animated, the following five movie files must be downloaded and placed in the same folder (directory) as the PDF file. (To see the figures become animated you also need a copy of Apple's QuickTime. You may obtain QuickTime and a QuickTime Movie Player for Windows in 16 bit (QuickTime 2.1 for Windows 3.1) and 32 bit form (QuickTime 3 for Windows 95) from Apple's ftp sites. For Macs you probably only need the MoviePlayer 2.5, but I'm not sure where to get it these days. QuickTime 3 for Mac can be downloaded here, though registration is required. The movies themselves can be viewed independent of Acrobat by using the MoviePlayer alone.)

Note about QuickTime: In some ways older versions (version 2.5 is good) of the Apple QuickTime Movie Player are better for viewing these files than newer versions. The older versions let one set "play all frames" and "loop back and forth".

• ViewCam.mov (about 25k) Hinge Rule and Scheimpflug Rule working together.
  ViewCam.swf (10k) Shockwave Flash 2 version - Needs Shockwave Player to view.
  
  
• ViewCam2.mov (31k) Lens axis tilt.
  
  
• ViewCam3.mov (42k) Lens base tilt.
  
  
• ViewCam4.mov(34k) Back axis tilt.
  
  
• ViewCam5.mov (40k) Back base tilt.

Patent Documents:

• TSBP.pdf (780k) is a copy of Theodor Scheimpflug's 51-page British Patent of 1904. It's here mostly for historical interest; photographers will not find it all that useful. It describes not only what we know as the Scheimpflug Principle, but also what I have described as the Hinge Rule and the Reciprocal Hinge Rule.

Here are a number of Portable Document Format files containing the text and illustrations from articles originally published in SHUTTERBUG    Magazine. These articles are not true reprints from Shutterbug. They contain essentially the same material but are based on the author's original submissions, and with a few errors corrected.

• SHBG01.pdf (85k), "Adjusting Depth of Field", Shutterbug   Vol 20 No. 12, October 1991. This article challenges some of the standard notions about depth of field.
  
  
• SHBG02.pdf (84k), "Adjusting Depth of Field Part II", Shutterbug   Vol 21 No. 7, May 1992. This item suggests it may sometimes be the best strategy simply to focus at infinity.
  
  
• SHBG03.pdf (52k), "Adjusting Depth of Field Part III", Shutterbug   Vol 21 No. 8, June 1992. Explains how to estimate how out-of-focus an object might appear.
  
  
• SHBG04.pdf (138k), "Adjusting Depth of Field Part IV", Shutterbug   Vol 21 No. 9, July 1992. A summary of the subject-oriented view of depth of field, and doing it without a calculator.
  
  
• SHBG05.pdf (16k), "The Scheimpflug Principle - Part I", Shutterbug   Vol 22 No. 1, November 1992. An introduction to the well-known Scheimpflug Principle.
  
  
• SHBG06.pdf (151k), "The Scheimpflug Principle Part II", Shutterbug   Vol 22 No. 3, January 1993. Every lens is a zoom lens: focal length may change when you tilt your lens!
  
  
• SHBG07.pdf (153k), "The Scheimpflug Principle Part III", Shutterbug   Vol 22 No. 4, February 1993. This article is really about perspective and distortion - a subject not (yet) covered in Harold's books!
  
  
• SHBG08.pdf (150k), "The Scheimpflug Principle Part IV", Shutterbug   Vol 22 No. 5, March 1993. The Hinge Rule and how the Hinge Rule and Scheimpflug Principle interact.
  
  
• SHBG09.pdf (122k), "Depth of Field for View Cameras Part I", Shutterbug   Vol 23 No. 1, November 1993. How conventional depth of field works for view cameras.
  
  
• SHBG10.pdf (37k), "Depth of Field for View Cameras Part II", Shutterbug   Vol 23 No. 2, December 1993. Applying the subject-oriented depth of field philosophy to view cameras, and how things can get so out of focus with a view camera that they seem (mathematically) to be behind the camera!
  
  
• SHBG11.pdf (135k), "Zeiss Contaprox I Focusing Head Outfit", Shutterbug  Vol 22 No. 6, April 1993. This article describes the early 50/3.5 Zeiss Tessar in "macro" mount and its accessories. The first "macro lens"?
  
  
• SHBG12.pdf (43k), "The Summicron 50mm Lens", Shutterbug  Vol 24 No. 8, June 1994. The first rigid screw/M-mount 50mm Summicron from Leitz is a different - and improved - optical formulation from that used in the collapsible lenses.

From the LHSA Viewfider:

• Kalbledr.pdf (90k), "LEANEKALB-The Calfskin Leica: A Lesser LUXUS", LHSA Viewfinder Vol 27, No. 1, 1994. This article describes a rare version of the Leica I (A) which has factory-applied calfskin body covering rather than the normal 'vulcanite'.

From VIEW CAMERA magazine:

• VCFaDOF1.pdf (341k) "View Camera Focus and Depth of Field - Part I" covers the Scheimpflug Rule and the Hinge Rule. Originally published in the July/August 1996 issue.

From Photo Techniques magazine:

• ATVB.pdf (332k), "A Technical View of Bokeh," describes what makes the out-of-focus images different for different lenses. Originally published in the May/June 1997 issue.

Copyright Notice

The contents of the above HTML, portable document format and movie files (or printed versions thereof) are copyright Harold M. Merklinger of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. With appropriate attribution, either to "Harold M. Merklinger" or to "http://fox.nstn.ca/~hmmerk/", personal or not-for-profit use may be made of these materials. That is, providing individuals or organizations acknowledge the source of the information and do not charge for its use or distribution, they may copy and use the materials provided. Without the express permission of the author, the material may not be used in or included with printed or formatted-for-computer records offered for sale. Individual photographers, professional or amateur, are free to make personal use of this information in their work. Information on how to contact the author is provided at How to get these books.



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(20 Feb 2000 - End).