Hyperfocal focusing with Nikon G type lenses

[dvp]

Is there a way to use hyperfocal focusing when there is no aperture ring (like in the Nikon G type lenses; G stands for "Gelded")?

[Donald]

Sounds like a case of having to compute and measure it manually. Sean's tutorial on this site (here) and this article, are two I've found very useful.

[dvp]

OK, what do you do after computing manually?

[Donald]

OK, what do you do after computing manually?

Not sure what you're meaning. I take it you've read the articles and are asking about something beyond then applying the 'rules' for setting your focus manually. If not, perhaps you can expand your question.

Apologies if I'm missing the point of what you're asking.

[Dave Humphries]

I'm not sure of the question either, here's what I'd do ...

We'll assume we are standing in front of a scene and we want everything from say, a rock 3m away, to infinity, in focus.
So first we compose the shot to get the focal length, we already know the crop factor of our cameras (1.5 for D5000, D70 or D90), so we enter these numbers and then iteratively use a DoF/HfD calculator to work out what aperture we need to achieve that DoF.

Putting the camera into Aperture priority or Manual mode, we set that aperture.

Then back to the DoF/HfD calculator to look at the distance it says to focus at (the hyperfocal distance) and, in Manual focus mode, set that to.

Now we work out the shutter speed and ISO required to get the correct exposure and any other effect we want (e.g. sharp or motion blurred leaves on the trees) and take the picture.

Hope that helps,

[dvp]

Thanks. This really helps. I would have to start carrying a cheat sheet for the H/F distances (unless there is a way around it); On manual focus lenses, change of the infinity position is an easy way to do this; on lenses without this ability, one obviously needs to focus at the hyperfocal distance as calculated by focal length and f value.

[Donald]

DVP
Here's a copy of the sheet I made up for my Tokina 11-16 f2.8. I just put in the range of f-stops that I would normally be working with. The Hf distances are expressed in inches (to get them back to mm, just multiply by 25.4). Just took about 20 minutes with a calculator to run through each of the combinations.

This sits in a pocket in my bag and gets pulled out as required.