Hi,
Has anyone tried to use the in camera AF fine tune as a focus rail? I guess it needs to be able to be adjusted remotely, don't know if the software out there lets you do it.
Just a thought.
Edit: Breezebrowser does it already, just set a script going and bobs your uncle!
EOS Utility (I shoot Canon) allows you to remote control your camera, including making tiny adjustments to the focus. The camera is connected via USB, and the images are by default stored both on the camera and direct to the PC. It would be a bit of a fiddle in anything other than a studio setting, wouldn't it?
A quick Google suggests that "EOS Utility and Breeze System DSLR Remote Pro both provide full remote control of lens focus, aperture, etc. Note: some 3rd-party lenses do not focus remotely." i.e. try the Breeze system if you are not a Canon user.
An alternative that I've had success with is to shoot in live view mode, with the LCD showing a 5x or 10x magnification of a selected area. You then manually focus (camera on tripod, obviously!) to get the key elements pin sharp. This of course has the added advantage of removing mirror slap vibrations.
it's not something I've tried Tim, although I'm sure it would work for very fine tuning - probably not remotely though. I don't tend to use focus rails myself as I take the high magnification stuff by hand (using flash) and for the natural light, lower magnification, macro I use MF (often with magnified live view).
So sounds like it might be a goer, I think some software genius needs to make a program to run a series of shots at differant points of focus using this fine AF tuning mechanism.
Roll on tethered shooting from smart phones!
Breeze Systems DSLR Remote Pro will do the job... alternatively Helicon Focus now ships with a beta version of a remote utility especially for stacking, allows you to set the near and far points and how many exposures.... Tee Hee, you can already shoot remotely from the iPhone....
Discussion
5 repliesHas anyone tried to use the in camera AF fine tune as a focus rail? I guess it needs to be able to be adjusted remotely, don't know if the software out there lets you do it.
Just a thought.
Edit: Breezebrowser does it already, just set a script going and bobs your uncle!
Tim
EOS Utility (I shoot Canon) allows you to remote control your camera, including making tiny adjustments to the focus. The camera is connected via USB, and the images are by default stored both on the camera and direct to the PC. It would be a bit of a fiddle in anything other than a studio setting, wouldn't it?
A quick Google suggests that "EOS Utility and Breeze System DSLR Remote Pro both provide full remote control of lens focus, aperture, etc. Note: some 3rd-party lenses do not focus remotely." i.e. try the Breeze system if you are not a Canon user.
An alternative that I've had success with is to shoot in live view mode, with the LCD showing a 5x or 10x magnification of a selected area. You then manually focus (camera on tripod, obviously!) to get the key elements pin sharp. This of course has the added advantage of removing mirror slap vibrations.
Hope this helps!
Ben
Matt
Dave
Roll on tethered shooting from smart phones!
Cheers
Tim
Breeze Systems DSLR Remote Pro will do the job... alternatively Helicon Focus now ships with a beta version of a remote utility especially for stacking, allows you to set the near and far points and how many exposures.... Tee Hee, you can already shoot remotely from the iPhone....
HTH
Phil