Posted by Arlen Fletcher on November 18, 2007 at 12:55 AM
Made it up to RMNP today and hiked in the 1.7 mi along the Fern Lake trail to 'The Pool' on the Big Thompson river. It was snowing/raining lightly the whole time, but there were a few decent shots downstream from The Pool.
I'm struggling with fine focus... Maybe it's my eyes. I've heard of folks having trouble w/ the AF on Canon lenses, so maybe that's it. Or maybe it's because I didn't lock the mirror up on these long (3 sec) exposures?
Feedback welcomed!
Canon 5D, 24-105mm f/4L IS USM
f/20, 3.2s, 90mm, ISO 100, Tripod mounted
Posted by Stan Rose on November 18, 2007 at 11:04 AM
Focus for a short like that is brutally difficult, at least that's the way ive found it in the short time ive been shooting. Depends on what you want to focus on of course. I think you might have tried to include too many elements in this shot, its very busy.
Posted by Paul Gana on November 18, 2007 at 1:57 PM
it's weird for me, I have a hard time getting a sharp focus using manual focus, I HAVE to use auto focus or my photos come out soft. Obviously my eyes are not good for it (that's with a regular slr), now I don't have a problem as far as I have seen with a view camera (I don't have one myself but I have used them at schoo)
Posted by Paul Gana on November 18, 2007 at 1:59 PM
oh yeah, that is a nice photo you have there. Too bad the branch is in front, to me it takes away a little bit
Posted by Cindy Bell on November 18, 2007 at 3:17 PM
When I switch into manual focus on my Canon, I sometimes get bit by not knowing the viewfinder focus adj knob has been bumped. So I focus on what looks very sharp and find the image less than sharp. So I'm training myself to autofocus on something, then check the viewfinder focus to be sure it agrees!
Posted by Arlen Fletcher on November 18, 2007 at 9:54 PM
Thanks all for the replies. I agree that the branch in front is a distractor, but there was no way to get it out of the frame (had to shoot between two huge boulders). I'll work more on simplicity in the future.
Regarding the focus issue, I thought that maybe the diopter adjustment on the viewfinder could be off - but that shouldn't matter. As long as I get the focus as close as I can, it should be ok, even with the diopter adjustment out of whack. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
Overall the focusing problems sound like something I just have to keep working on. No magic bullets.
Discussion
5 repliesI'm struggling with fine focus... Maybe it's my eyes. I've heard of folks having trouble w/ the AF on Canon lenses, so maybe that's it. Or maybe it's because I didn't lock the mirror up on these long (3 sec) exposures?
Feedback welcomed!
Canon 5D, 24-105mm f/4L IS USM
f/20, 3.2s, 90mm, ISO 100, Tripod mounted
Regarding the focus issue, I thought that maybe the diopter adjustment on the viewfinder could be off - but that shouldn't matter. As long as I get the focus as close as I can, it should be ok, even with the diopter adjustment out of whack. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
Overall the focusing problems sound like something I just have to keep working on. No magic bullets.
-Arlen