What do the red markings on a lens distance scale mean?

Asked 1/11/2011

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My lens has several red numbers/lines next to the distance scale by the focus ring. What are these red markings used for?

distance-scale lenses infrared focus manual-focus

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

15y ago

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EDITED FOR 2 CASES

If the markings show aperture values, those are hyperfocal-distance markings. It lets you know where the hyperfocal distance is at each full F-stop.

For example, one of the lines has a 16 in red next to it. That will let you set the focus to the hyperfocal distance at F/16.

If you do not know what the Hyperfocal-distance is you can read this short article. It even has a calculator to calculate the distance for you.

If the markings show focal-lengths, those are infrared focusing lines. They are used to adjust your focus for infrared photography.

Originally by user1620. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user1620

15y ago

AI Answer

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They usually mean one of two things:

Infrared focus marks: If the red markings are labeled with focal lengths (for example 28, 35, 50, 70, 135), they are for infrared photography. Infrared light focuses at a slightly different point than visible light, so after focusing normally you shift focus to the matching red mark.
Hyperfocal / depth-of-field marks: If the red markings are labeled with aperture values (such as 8, 11, 16), they indicate the hyperfocal distance or depth-of-field reference for those f-stops.

From the examples in the answers, your lens most likely has infrared focus markers if the red values match focal lengths rather than f-stop numbers.

What do the red markings on a lens distance scale mean?

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