Zeiss distagon 21mm

I often wondered what people saw in a heavy, manual focus, prime lens.... so when one came up used at the right price I jumped on it. In a word. WOW!

Now, having spent some time getting used to using live view for accurate focus I wish to ask if it is possible to use standard hyper focal charts, as focussing around 6ft does not equal sharpness at infinity... or do I want too much?

Wither way, this is an absolute gem of a lens!

Why not?

I don't see how the camera body, be it a digital one or a mechanical one, would affect the depth of field of a lens.

I just wonder how to get the best from it, as most lenses I have used have a variable amount of infinity but the Zeiss does not. Infinity is the max focus on the lens, it does not go past.

I could be wrong but, based on what you said in your first post and the second post, I'm guessing what you're asking is: "If the chart says focus the lens on a subject 3 meter away, how can I be sure that the lens actually is focusing 3 meter away using the markings on the lens barrel on the Zeiss?"

Here's one suggestion I found that may help:

Perhaps the best way to optimize your focusing distance is visually. Try first focusing on the most distant object within your scene, then manually adjust the focusing distance as close as possible while still retaining an acceptably sharp background. If your scene has distant objects near the horizon, then this focusing distance will closely approximate the hyperfocal distance. Alternatively, use the tool below to calculate its location precisely.

I think it should also work in live view, the way you focus your lens.

Hyperfocal charts assume a certain sharpness criteria, which may look a little mushy by Zeiss 21mm standards when you use them to set the lens . Why don't you try focus bracketing until you get used to the way the lens performs?

Something like: set the camera to shoot at f8-11 range then take a series of shots placing the infinity mark over the f4 DOF scale mark, then f5.6, f8 etc . That way you can see where you need to focus to get an acceptable horizon while focusing as close as possible for the FG.

Ok, cheers.

Hyperfocal charts certainly could be used to get into the ballpark, but they don't (can't) take into account the different performance of different lenses or other aspects of the whole imaging pipeline. If your camera's Live View mode supports depth of field preview, then simply use that to directly dial in the right focus point and aperture to get the level of sharpness and DOF you want -- what you see will be what you get, because Live View by definition is coming straight off the sensor.

With Live View there's no need to guess with charts, trying to figure whether your focus point is really set X feet or metres into the scene, wondering about the impact of different variables that the charts don't account for, and trying to deal with any respects in which your particular system doesn't fit the generic performance assumptions that went into the chart. Once you have dialed in some repeated successes with Live View, you can always make notes of lens focus settings at different apertures and use them as a handy guide to quickly get back to those same focal points in the future.

If your camera's Live View doesn't support DOF preview, then do some focus bracketing like Chris suggests and make notes of where you get the best results.