Who actually uses the distance gauge on their lens?

what Bill Roberts and JeffreyG said!

I use mine all the time to set the lens to its hyperfocal distance.

Lowner wrote in post #7034419
I use mine all the time to set the lens to its hyperfocal distance.

so if the hyperfocal distance is 26', and the three marks on the lens are 2', 7' and Infinity, how do you guess where 26 is?

I have used it several times, to help focus for long exposures (It's dark, so, the camera won't\can't AF on it's own, lol)...

Ever shot with a manual flash where one sets power or aperture based on the distance to the subject ?

Papa Carlo wrote in post #7034648
Ever shot with a manual flash where one sets power or aperture based on the distance to the subject ?

Never with this digital lens cr*p that has no useful focusing distance scale to speak of, unless I have a flash meter! When I learned, autoflash did not exist yet, and flash units had distance and f/stop calculator dials!!!

nw85887 wrote in post #7033786
As far as you're concerned, it is.

Nice zenfolio, what is that ringflash rig you made... did you make it?

Um, a bit off topic, but what does mean when someone puts it in their post?

I use it to determine if my lens is backfocusing or front focusing after I manually focused (identifying whether subsquent AF changes the distance indicator)

yes... I've turned a traditional photography implement into a tool for pixel peeping and lens analysis

egordon99 wrote in post #7032930
You compose your photograph. You then tell your subject(s) to stay perfectly still (maybe mark some tape on the floor?), then grab a tape measure to measure the distance from the subject's eyes to the sensor plane. You then write down this measurement. Put the pen down (and the tape measure if you're still holding it), and then while looking at the distance gauge, move the focus ring until the distance in the window matches EXACTLY what you wrote down on your notepad.

at which point do i break out the DOF chart so i can select the proper aperture ... before or after i take readings with my hand held light meter ?

ed rader

ozziepuppy wrote in post #7034773
Um, a bit off topic, but what does mean when someone puts it in their post?

it makes you about as cool as when you insert something like ** runs and hides** in your post .

ed rader

I use it. Certainly useful for focusing at infinity, given that the throw goes beyond.

ed rader wrote in post #7035109
at which point do i break out the DOF chart so i can select the proper aperture ... before or after i take readings with my hand held light meter ?

ed rader

Ed,

If you have a good distance scale on a prime lens, you can actually read the DOF scale right off the lens. That is what all those little tick marks with the aperture values are for. This really does work (especially with larger DOF, such as a landscape shooter would use).

The problem with EOS lenses is that the AF through is super short (this is one reason the AF speed is so fast) which makes the scales nearly useless.

I'll take fast AF over a good distance scale and long throw focus rings. If I want the latter I'll get an old MF lens and an adapter.

I use mine all the time. Not as good as the ones on old FD lenses but the ones on both my 35L and 24L aren't to bad.

Heres an old 24L FD and an example of everything from about 2.25 ft to infinity at f/16 is in focus. See the two 16 on the lens? Everything between the two 16s will be in focus. With the lens set to this focus also f 11 would give you everything from 2.5 ft to just over 10 ft would be in focus. F/8 would give you about 3 ft to 9 ft.

I'll use it sometimes in difficult focusing conditions to give the AF a head start. I find it helpful.