Hyperfocal Distance for Lomo LC-A

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For those who own the Lomo LCA and want to get most of their photos, here’s a chart about hyperfocal distances for this amazing camera.

First, what is hyperfocal distance of a lens?

Definition 1: The hyperfocal distance is the closest distance at which a lens can be focused while keeping objects at infinity acceptably sharp. When the lens is focused at this distance, all objects at distances from half of the hyperfocal distance out to infinity will be acceptably sharp.

Definition 2: The hyperfocal distance is the distance beyond which all objects are acceptably sharp, for a lens focused at infinity.

So, knowing the lens size of view , the minimum and maximum aperture, you can calculate this hyperfocal distance. Here’s the one for your L-CA with it’s 32mm Minitar, F2.8. Print it and bring it with you in your bag.

The Lomo LC-A+ is known worldwide for its amazing features: automatic exposure, extended ISO range, and multiple and long exposure capabilities. Get your own Lomo LC-A+ now!

written by pvalyk on 2012-01-31 #gear #tutorials #38mm #camera #distance #tipster #lomo #lca #scale #hyperfocal

2 Comments

  1. gvelasco
    gvelasco ·

    You didn't give the details on how someone can use this information. The chart shows that if you set the aperture to f/16 and focus at 2m, then everything from 1m (half the hyperfocal distance) out to infinity will be in focus. That lets you leave the focus in one place and not worry about it. Some cameras had the hyperfocal distance marked on the focusing ring so that you could use the camera in "snapshot" mode and not worry about focusing.

    There are a few problems with using the hyperfocal distance on the LC-A. First, there is no detente for focusing at 2m. It goes from .8m to 1.5m, then to 3m. So, you have to put the focusing lever between the detentes for 1.5m and 3m. Right in the middle is probably good enough. Another problem is that when you set the aperture, the shutter speed is fixed at 1/60". The LC-A is not an aperture priority camera. On "A", you don't know what aperture the camera will use, so the chart doesn't help. If you select an aperture, you're defeating the automatic exposure system, so most of your shots will be improperly exposed. You can use a meter with the shutter speed fixed at 1/60" to figure out the correct aperture to use. Then, you could use the chart to find the hyperfocal distance for that aperture, but that kind of defeats the purpose of a snapshot camera and the value of the hyperfocal distance.

    Overall, hyperfocal distance ends up not being that useful with the LC-A.

  2. simonh82
    simonh82 ·

    @gvelasco I agree with what you said, but I still think it is useful information. If you are out on a sunny day with some 100 iso negative film in the camera and the aperture at f16 and foucus at 2m you can pretty much forget about your settings. As long as the sun is shining, you will probably be alright.

    I only have an LCA+ and sometimes I would love the manual aperture settings of the original LCA. When it gets dark you can be pretty sure the lens will be wide open, but during the day, I never know if the LCA+ gives priority to higher shutter speed, or greater depth of field. There are occasions when I would like to know roughly how much is going to be in focus.

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