Focus - help

[mib2]

Hi Guys

As I'm not getting any younger I seem to be losing a fair few photo's due to the focus being out.

I have had surgery on my eyes to correct long distance but it's the shorter distance that gives me the problems.

I do try shooting a few different shots and I try both auto and manual focus.

Any one got a similar experience or any thoughts.

cheers
Dave R

https://www.daveritchie.com

[Ian]

Re: Focus - help

Hi Guys

As I'm not getting any younger I seem to be losing a fair few photo's due to the focus being out.

I have had surgery on my eyes to correct long distance but it's the shorter distance that gives me the problems.

I do try shooting a few different shots and I try both auto and manual focus.

Any one got a similar experience or any thoughts.

cheers
Dave R
www.daveritchie.com

Dave, if you are using a DSLR, as long as you can get the focusing screen in focus - the AF point legends, for example, you should be OK. do you find this a problem?

Ian

[mib2]

Re: Focus - help

Hi Ian
I'll give this a test at the weekend with a few different lenses on the camera.

Cheers for your help
Dave R

[Tom Holle]

Re: Focus - help

Hi Guys

As I'm not getting any younger I seem to be losing a fair few photo's due to the focus being out.

I have had surgery on my eyes to correct long distance but it's the shorter distance that gives me the problems.

I do try shooting a few different shots and I try both auto and manual focus.

Any one got a similar experience or any thoughts.

cheers
Dave R
www.daveritchie.com

Hello Dave,

I have some of the effects of older age and find that the photos that I blur, (and there are alot of them), are caused by an unsteady hand. Very aggravating.

[kennykodak]

Re: Focus - help

rule of thumb:
1/Focal Length = longest (slowest) shutter one can safely use hand held.

examples using .5 stops (rounding up)
50mm lens, 1/50 or 1/60
100mm lens, 1/100 or 1/125
200mm lens, 1/200 or 1/250

please note, this is just a guideline that came out long before Starbucks

[Graham_of_Rainham]

Re: Focus - help

Hi Guys

As I'm not getting any younger I seem to be losing a fair few photo's due to the focus being out.

I have had surgery on my eyes to correct long distance but it's the shorter distance that gives me the problems.

I do try shooting a few different shots and I try both auto and manual focus.

Any one got a similar experience or any thoughts.

cheers
Dave R
www.daveritchie.com

I too am long sighted and I'm forever swapping glasses to see what's happening on the screen. This is so frustrating that I've taken to turning off the screen and only looking at it in a review session or during initial setup for the shoot.

I'm at the limit of the adjustment on the viewfinder and will have to get a suplimentary to be able to continue to use it to assess focus properly.

I'm fortunate in that I have Live View capability and can magnify selected parts of the image to asses focus (with glasses on). This is a great aide to getting focus pin sharp. Being old has the advantage of having old school experience. Quite often I will assess the distance to the subject and use the manual scales on the focusing ring. This I do mainly if I'm employing the DOF into the composition but it still works well in most circumstances.


Having a really good knowledge of the way your AF works will help, as you can set the camera up to lock focus on half shutter (often the default setting) selecting the point in the composition and locking onto that then recomposing. You may need to set the exposure to set on full press or the shutter or assess the exposure first and set that manually.

Still look at it as a challenge, it's what keeps us going...