About dofCalc

What’s this dofCalc, you may ask yourself … and why do I need one?

Well, “dofCalc” is short for Depth-of-Field-Calculator. In short, it is a utility program that lets a photgrapher calculate the depth-of-field from other parameters that influence the nature of a picture taken. Those other parameters would be the lens’ aperture size, the focal length, and the distance to the object focussed. This, of course, assumes you know those values and have equipment that allows you to influence them. The latter is given in DSLR class cameras and typically in bridge cameras that can be set to manual mode.

But aren’t there applications like that already? Well, yes and no.
The thing is: Most applications out there are either web-based and therefore hard for me to carry around, made of cardboard and one more thing to carry around in my camera bag, or were made for a very specific type of mobile device (like just for Palm OS, Android, or just for the iPhone) none of which I happen to have. The more I tried to make do with the most basic features that would be present on the widest range of mobile devices, the more I understood why others have given up on that, but still here it is: dofCalc requires no more than a mobile Java platform with support of MIDP 2.0 and CLDC 1.1. That should be available on most of today’s devices.

There was one more thing, however, that I was missing from the applications I had found and that was the ability to not only calculate the depth-of-field from other parameters but do the reverse. In a situation where I knew exactly what depth-of-field I wanted (e. g. 2 cm in that macro shot), I wanted to calculate what mix of focal length, aperture, and distance to the object would yield that depth. And while we’re at it, there’s really no difference between that and the desire to know the hyperfocal distance for a given shot.

So, here’s what you can expect from dofCalc:

  • Calculate the depth-of-field from focal length, aperture, and distance to the object focussed
  • Do the reverse calculation
  • Calculate the hyperfocal distance
  • Custom-Configure your circle of confusion
  • Select f-numbers from full-stop, one-half-stop, or one-third-stop scales
  • Online Help
  • Completely internationalized with translations for English and German