FIELD TOOLS / 01—05
Know your settings.
Make the shot.
From your first test exposure to your final frame.
Five connected shot tools. Now with timelapse planning.
Change a setting.
See the whole picture.
01 / EQUIVALENT EXPOSURE
A new setting.
The same brightness.
Start with a metered test shot. Your working aperture and ISO determine the equivalent shutter time before filters.
Equivalent shutter · no ND
At —One more stop of light lost?
Double the time.
t₂ = t₁ × (N₂ / N₁)² × (ISO₁ / ISO₂)
02 / ND FILTER CALCULATOR
Let time
do the work.
Stack two filters. Stops add, transmission factors multiply. The starting exposure follows your working aperture and ISO.
Filter A
Filter B
Final shutter · with ND
Start: — · ——
tND = t₂ × 2^(stops A + stops B)
Transfers this camera setup in this tab. Choose “Copy ND shutter” on the next page to set sequence exposure.
03 / HYPERFOCAL & DEPTH OF FIELD
Choose your
zone of focus.
Your actual focal length, working aperture, focus distance and chosen circle of confusion define this acceptable-blur zone.
Hyperfocal distance
Using CoC — · ideal thin lensSchematic only · not a distance scale
H = f² / (N × c) + f
04 / FIELD OF VIEW
Give your subject
some room.
Rectilinear, infinity-focus geometry. Approximate field dimensions are measured at your shared subject distance.
05 / SHOOTING CARD
Ready for
the field.
Download every input, result and assumption. The PDF is a field reference; the JSON restores your editable setup.
This restored card also includes a timelapse sequence. PDF and JSON retain it; open the planner and restore the JSON to edit or inspect it.
—
All inputs & assumptions
Files are created in your browser. No settings are uploaded. Keep the JSON to return to this setup.
THE METHOD
Useful numbers.
Visible assumptions.
These are planning estimates. Confirm your camera settings and inspect a test frame in the conditions you will actually shoot.
How the calculators connect
Test exposure → working aperture & ISO → ND exposure. Working aperture and actual focal length → DoF. Actual focal length and sensor dimensions → field of view. All five tools feed the same shooting card.
Equivalent exposure & ND math
At the same ISO, shutter time is proportional to the square of the f-number. This calculator also scales time by test ISO / working ISO, assuming ideal sensitivity and constant scene luminance. ND stops add. A factor F gives log₂(F) stops; optical density D gives D × log₂(10) stops. No film reciprocity adjustment or camera shutter limit is built in.
Plan a timelapse sequence after choosing your shutter time. The planner checks start interval against exposure plus recovery. Example: 1/125 s with exactly 10 stops becomes 0.008 × 1024 = 8.192 s. A nominal factor-1000 filter instead gives 8 s.
Hyperfocal distance, CoC & close focus
All optical lengths are normalized to millimetres. H = f²/(N·c) + f. With s the focus distance: near = s(H−f)/(H+s−2f); far = s(H−f)/(H−s). A far denominator of zero or less means infinity. For 50 mm, f/8 and c = 0.03 mm, H = 10466.6667 mm = 10.4666667 m.
Distance is measured from the ideal lens principal plane. Real camera markings often refer to the sensor plane; at close focus this difference matters. Below 20 focal lengths a warning appears. DoF excludes diffraction and focus breathing; framing uses infinity-focus focal length and is particularly approximate close up.
Sensor presets, units & field of view
Nominal full frame 36 × 24 mm and Nikon DX 24 × 16 mm follow Nikon’s format explanation. These are format examples, not a camera database. Use your manufacturer’s actual dimensions when needed. CoC is independently editable and is never automatically inferred from the sensor preset.
Angle of view = 2·atan(sensor dimension / 2f). Field width ≈ distance × sensor width / f. Diagonal crop factor compares the sensor diagonal with √(36²+24²). One foot is exactly 304.8 mm. Inputs accept a decimal point or comma; shutter presets avoid typing fractions on a phone.
Sources, limits & privacy
Workflow reference: PhotoPills user guide. Viewing and CoC background: Cambridge in Colour DoF calculator. Original interface and implementation; no copied camera database.
Assumes uniform, spectrally neutral ND filters. Ordinary ND filters are not solar-viewing protection. This tool makes no eye-safety guarantee.
Calculations run locally. No analytics, uploads or external fonts. The public tool and explanations may be indexed; actual indexing is not guaranteed. State persists in a downloaded JSON card. An explicit transfer to timelapse uses temporary, same-tab storage which is consumed on arrival. Settings are never added to URLs or sent to a server.