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How close can you get to your subject? Did you know that there is a minimum distance that you can get to your subject with your camera? The photography tip for this week is about the Minimum Focusing Distance (MFD for short) of your camera and lenses. Most lens manufacturers actually list the minimum focusing distance on the lens you buy because they vary so much. I’ll first talk about what an MFD is and then talk about why it’s important to you.

The MFD is a calculation that lets you know how close you can get to your subject before your camera won’t be able to focus on your subject. The formulation basically states that your camera will be able to focus by a distance noted on your lens from the focal plane to the subject. The focal plane being the sensor in most cases. So, if your lens is 6 inches long and says you have an MFD of 12 inches, then you should be able to get the end of your lens 6 inches from your subject. The MFD may not be noted on the lens itself and you may need to look it up in the manual that came with your lens. However, as a general rule, most of the time you can physically get closer with a lens that has a shorter focal length. For example I can get .28m (11 inches) from my subject with my 17-40mm lens but I can only physically get 1.5m (4 ft 11 inches) from my subject with my 70-200mm lens. Keep in mind that the further away you are using a telephoto lens, the better your chances are for camera shake.

Below is how my MFD is noted on my 24-70mm lens .38m/1.3ft

The MFD is very important to know for a variety of reasons. First and foremost it’s good to know that all of your lenses have an MFD so that you can keep it in the back of your mind while taking photos. If your camera won’t focus it may just be that you are simply too close for the lens. Another reason it’s good to know is so you can decide which lens may be best when photographing your subject. You want to photograph a bug, but don’t want to disturb it, so you’ll need something with a longer focal distance and need to move back from the subject because it may not be able to get withing 4 feet of your subject.

I also want to make everyone aware that the same minimum focusing distance even holds true for point and shoot cameras. Most people don’t realize that there is an MFD on point and shoots. You may think that the closer you get with your P&S camera to your subject that that is the only way to make it bigger in the viewfinder. Concern isn’t taken in worrying if it will be in focus. The closer you get the better the chances are that you may not be able to focus on your subject and will get very out of focus pictures.

I’ve found that some point and shoots, using auto focus, will still take the photo even if the picture isn’t in focus. If you are too close with a P&S it will focus in and out before just taking the picture without making sure the photo is even in focus. Most DSLR’s won’t allow for the photo to be taken when it’s in Auto Focus mode. You can manually override this by switching to manual focus if you want your photo to be out of focus for an artistic effect or if you want to make sure you the focus is set properly.

A tip is to make sure that you get back far enough away from your subject so that you don’t have to worry about if your camera will focus or not and then zoom in to the point you’d like. Then make sure that your auto focus feature lights up in green, red or whatever color through the viewfinder before snapping that picture. Also, make sure you have an idea of your MFD so you can start out in a position that you won’t have to worry about dealing with your MFD. It will make sure that you have sharp, crisp and in focus pictures every time. Now get out there and take great pictures.