what in the wolrd does dep/adep do (canon)

[Chriscc123]

Its there, i never use it, it seems useless, and its function alludes me. What does it do?

Edit: and yes i just realized i misspelled world

 

[removed-user-1]

It's an automatic depth-of-field mode. I don't know how it works exactly. My wife has a Canon Rebel K2 which I sometimes shoot with, and it has this mode, but I've never used it. I prefer to just set the aperture I think I need myself.

 

[Chriscc123]

i do know that its auto dof, but still doesn't explain what it do's

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

What it does is easier said that explaining how it does it!

Used with EF USM lenses in AF mode, DEP/ADEP sets a hyperfocal distance at a given combination of aperture and shutter speed. Simply, it means when you have decided on your subject, typically a landscape subject DEP mode, you indicate to the camera the first point of the scene you wish to have in focus (e.g. Ma Blog in the foreground); then indicate to the camera the second point (the Tree of Content behind Ma Blog, maybe). Recompose and the camera has now set a hyperfocal point to get everything between those points in sharp focus/or depth of field (technically, the range of acceptable sharpness). Experimenting and taking notes of what you are doing will be very helpful. Beginners have trouble trying to understand why little happens with ultra-wide angle lenses e.g. 20mm. Those lenses have inherently great depth and won't really benefit.

I used DEP mode on my EOS 5 frequently in 1995-1997 when coming to grips with hyperfocal points was a bit of a challenge to understand! I now routinely use implied hyperfocal on my TS-E 24mm lens (manual focus) but not at all now with other EF USM Canon lenses.

 

[SilverGlow]

What it does is easier said that explaining how it does it!

Used with EF USM lenses in AF mode, DEP/ADEP sets a hyperfocal distance at a given combination of aperture and shutter speed. Simply, it means when you have decided on your subject, typically a landscape subject DEP mode, you indicate to the camera the first point of the scene you wish to have in focus (e.g. Ma Blog in the foreground); then indicate to the camera the second point (the Tree of Content behind Ma Blog, maybe). Recompose and the camera has now set a hyperfocal point to get everything between those points in sharp focus/or depth of field (technically, the range of acceptable sharpness). Experimenting and taking notes of what you are doing will be very helpful. Beginners have trouble trying to understand why little happens with ultra-wide angle lenses e.g. 20mm. Those lenses have inherently great depth and won't really benefit.

I used DEP mode on my EOS 5 frequently in 1995-1997 when coming to grips with hyperfocal points was a bit of a challenge to understand! I now routinely use implied hyperfocal on my TS-E 24mm lens (manual focus) but not at all now with other EF USM Canon lenses.

I agree but I disagree on your usage of the term "hyperfocal". This is just a nit.

ADEP really does not set the hyperfocal focus at all. And the shutter speed really has nothing to do with this, at least directly. What ADEP does is what you wrote but again I would not use the term HyperFocal. One can find that on most lenses (especially older SLR lenses) one sees a hyperfocal scale on the lens barrel, and allows the photographer to set the fattest DOF between where he stands and infinity for a given f-stop.

Hyperfocal focus is the optimum focus that will give you the fattest DOF for a given aperture and focal length used from where you're standing to infinity. This is not what ADEP does. ADEP optimizes the DOF between two points for a given f-stop...clearly different.

As to the good of this feature (ADEP), I really think it sucks because when you define the two points, the two focal planes are skewed by the arc movement of the photographer. This causes erroneous results when ADEP is calculated by the camera. The wider the aperture the worse this error becomes. This type of focus error also happens when one relies solely on the center focus point, uses a fast aperture, is fairly close to the subject, and then recomposes...bad camera workflow, to be sure.

ADEP is a stupid gimmick!

Better to learn your lenses and how the f-stop effects DOF for a given distance from the subject/s. The DOF Preview button can often help in this endeavor.