Worksheet for DOF parameters

I have created an Excel worksheet that shows the DOF and its dependance upon several parameters like the distance to the focused object, the aperture and the focal length of the lens used.

So you can see how the DOF varies when changing only the aperture while keeping all other parameters fixed. Likewise you can see the effect to DOF of only changing the distance or the focal length.

I think it might be of interest to some of you.

It uses macros to choose the parameter to be varied by the user.

Good idea. This may help visualize the results, too:
Virtual Camera
http://www.camerasinte​ractive.com/index.php#

Not to minimize the work you've done, but doesn't this do the same thing ... ?

http://www.dofmaster.c​om/dofjs.html

Or am I missing something ?

cecilc wrote:
Not to minimize the work you've done, but doesn't this do the same thing ... ?

http://www.dofmaster.c​om/dofjs.html

Or am I missing something ?

because his is a xls worksheet, you could put it on a pda or some mobile phones on the go

Personally I'm afraid I don't think this is very useful as it stands.

• It is not at all clear which cells are user inputs and which ones are calculated. As a result it's not clear what the user can and can't do with the spreadsheet.
  
• Also, there are cells that ought to be linked but don't seem to be. For example, in the 'camera' section I can apparently set a range of focal lengths (e.g. 18-55mm), and that changes the effect of the slider in the 'focal length' section, but neither of those are linked to the focal length entry in the 'composition' section.
  
• Another weakness: why allow values such as 5.7 and 23 for aperture, but not standard ones like 5.6 and 22?

Stewart, the numbers used for the aperture are the ones coming from a mathematical calculation. They rounded up to 5.7 and 23.

In the Camera section the user only specifies the minimum and maximum focal lengths and so the slider has to change accordingly. In the Composition section the user inputs the actual focal lenght used for a particular shot he wants to analyze

Regarding the inputs I agree with you and I will be marking the input files in a different color to make clear which are inputs.

Thanks for your feedback.

cecilc: I know the web site you refer to. It is very useful but I wanted something more dynamic. Instead of entering values one by one to see what is the effect I think is better to have sliders that inmediately inform you about the effect of any given parameter on the DOF. I also added the physical size of the area covered by the sensor. I think is very useful if you are planning ahead a shot.

Thanks for your time trying the worksheet.

I prefer something tabular where you could have tables of values for say:
17, 24, 28, 35, 50, 75, 135 lenses (the most commonly used) - one table per lens - giving focussing distances in feet from 1 to 20 and the depths of field at apertures from f2.8 to f22 (the most common).

Tables are easier to consult but the problem is that the number of variables involved is too great: aperture, distance, focal length are all involved in the DOF. So it is necessary 3 sets of tables. In the worksheet you can cjange each variable on its own.

I've seen other posts in the past of excel versions of other calculators. Guess you re-invented the wheel.

You are right. The results shown are by no means new or special. I hoped to present the results in a more intuitive way.