What does the Olympus E-620 “Reset Lens” infinity setting do?
Asked 5/28/2016
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The Olympus E-620 manual says that when “Reset Lens” is set to ON, the camera resets the lens focus to infinity when the camera is powered off. What does that actually mean in practice? Does it help if I want to turn autofocus off and quickly take a shot with most of the scene in focus, or is that different from using hyperfocal distance?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
10y ago
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The description is quite accurate. It simply means that the camera will focus the lens at infinity each time it is powered on. Many modern lenses can focus beyond infinity and have no stops at infinity, so when shooting very distant subjects such as stars it is difficult to focus, particularly since light is very low.
While I almost always turn off that feature, it could be useful because depth-of-field is relatively deep at infinity. So while you may not be have to get the maximum focus-depth as you suggest, you can easily frame your shot. Should the lens have been close to its near limit, the preview is highly lke to be quite blurry.
Keep in mind that if you have severed the electronic link to the focusing element, this feature does nothing, For examole the M.Zuiko 12mm F/2 allows the focus-ring to slide back toward the mount. In that position, the camera cannot change the focus distance at all.
Originally by user1620. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1620
10y ago
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It means the camera drives an electronically focused lens back to its infinity focus position when the camera powers down. On the next startup, the lens begins from infinity rather than wherever it was last focused.
This can be useful if you often shoot distant subjects, because starting near infinity is usually closer to correct focus for far-away scenes than starting near minimum focus distance. It can also make the viewfinder preview less blurry when you raise the camera.
But it is not the same as setting hyperfocal distance. If your goal is to get the greatest range of near-to-far sharpness in one shot, focusing at infinity is usually not optimal. Hyperfocal focus places the focus point closer than infinity so the depth of field extends from a nearer distance out to infinity.
Also, this only matters for lenses whose focus is controlled electronically by the camera. If the lens is mechanically disconnected from the camera’s focus system, the setting won’t have any effect.
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