Manual Focusing?

B Rock · May 4, 2008

How many of you do it and what are your secrets. I look at wildlife pictures and sports pictures and I just cannot understand how you get such a sharp focus by hand on the fly! I have a soccer game at the end of the month and would like to be able to get some good shots. (Go FC DALLAS!!) My Sigma 70-300 is fully manual due to me buying the non motorized one

. So please share some tips and tricks!

pathfinder · May 5, 2008

B Rock wrote:

How many of you do it and what are your secrets. I look at wildlife pictures and sports pictures and I just cannot understand how you get such a sharp focus by hand on the fly! I have a soccer game at the end of the month and would like to be able to get some good shots. (Go FC DALLAS!!) My Sigma 70-300 is fully manual due to me buying the non motorized one . So please share some tips and tricks!

B Rock - the truth is that 95+% of all images you see shot today are captured with AutoFocus. Manual focusing ( unless for specific purposes - say with Tilt and Shift lenses ) is rarely done anymore. There are good reasons for this also.

Properly used, modern AF is usually faster, more accurate, and works better in dimmer light than manual focusing. Modern DSLRs are built with this in mind by the manufacturers. Shots of birds in flight were very rare prior to modern AF.

The viewfinders of most DSLRs today ( except maybe the Canon 1Series and the D3 ) are not nearly as bright as they were 25 years ago. Prior to the introduction of modern AF, viewfinders had built in split image range finders and a Fresnel ground glass to help manually focus lenses. These are no longer seen in modern camera's viewfinders, unless your camera accepts an alternate ground glass with these capabilities. Canon 1 Series and some of the Nikons accept alternate viewing screens to help focusing.

So with a manual lens, try not to shoot wide open, but use a smaller aperture to gain a little more depth of field. Cheaper zoom lenses, unfortunately, make this difficult, because they are not constant aperture zooms, but the f stop decreases as one zooms out. Typically they are f5.6 or slower at the long end. Slower lenses are much more difficult of focus manually because the image in the viewfinder is darker.

Get a tripod or a monopod and use it. It will seem harder at first, but the best way to make any optics better is a good, rigid, tripod, and stop down about 2 stops from wide open. Beyond that, and careful manual focus, there is not much you can do. Understanding how to use the Sharpening tool in Adobe RAW convertor will definitely help make sharp images look sharper. It will not make blurred out of focus images sharp unfortunately.

Shoot with the sun at your back. Add fill flash. That can help a lot by adding a bit more light for a slow telephoto to see with.

Antonio Correia · May 6, 2008

Let me tell something about this.
As some of you know, I don't shoot much sport. Or, to be more accurate/precise I am not used to shoot sport at all.
But I am trying to do it now.

Two or three weeks ago, I have been shooting young people in canoes in a pool, playing with a ball.
I use a 20D for now and a 350D. I was using the first one and I was shooting jpg files to get more shots in a row.
The focus point is at the centre in AI-Servo.
I focus at the center pressing the shutter, try to follow the person and ... when action arrives I just push the button and start for some sequential pictures.
When, another player gets on the way, the focus "jumps" to it but, never less I do get some pictures.
I hope you don't mind I post here a picture I thought it was in perfect focus. This one:

To see it larger, please click on it:D
I have seen that of a row/sequence of say, 10 or 12 shots I may get one good in terms of the guy looking at the ball, the ball in the frame and so forth.
All this text just to suggest that you - like myself - have to make many sequential shots to get some good pictures.
I was almost forgetting why I was posting this picture.
When I was "treating" it on CS3 it looked to me sharp.
May be I am not that aware of sharpness, may be my eyes are not perfect - no they are not - may be whatever, but only today that I have printed the photo I saw that the young man on the right was not in focus. What is really really in focus is the ball.:D

Curious, may be the shot before - which I have not - or the next one - which I have not either - would be better that this one in terms of focus.
I was shooting in Aperture priority, it was evening with good light, 400 ISO to get high speeds - here 1/6400s - and the 70-200 f/2.8 IS L USM.

May be you can use a smaller aperture to get more depth of field like Pathfinder pointed.
May be you can go and calculate your DoF and use the right aperture.

I suddenly realized that I am - am I ? - hijacking your thread.

Well, this is just me and some thoughts that may be useful.

Thank you for reading.

pathfinder · May 6, 2008

AF can be tricky, Antonio.

I agree that the focus is on the Ball itself, and not the players. Is that what you were focusing on?

Antonio Correia · May 7, 2008

pathfinder wrote:

AF can be tricky, Antonio.

I agree that the focus is on the Ball itself, and not the players. Is that what you were focusing on?

No Jim.
I was focusing, in AIFocus, with the center point to the player, when the focusing point just "jumped" to the ball because it begun moving.
I mean, the focusing point followed the object in movement.
This is supposed to be it's behaviour ...
I was aiming for the young man.:D
Cheers:D

pathfinder · May 7, 2008

That is my understanding of AI also, Antonio, that it will follow the moving object. I must confess, I rarely shoot sports, and find that I have never developed much trust for AI, but strongly prefer single focus AF, as I know how to keep that better corralled

I like the image with the ball sharp like it is

Seneca · May 13, 2008

B Rock wrote:

How many of you do it and what are your secrets. I look at wildlife pictures and sports pictures and I just cannot understand how you get such a sharp focus by hand on the fly! I have a soccer game at the end of the month and would like to be able to get some good shots. (Go FC DALLAS!!) My Sigma 70-300 is fully manual due to me buying the non motorized one . So please share some tips and tricks!

Well honestly...if I am shooting studio I set to manual (F8 - 1/60) take some test shots...they shoot immediately to my laptop and I take a facemask histigram from there. That is the only time I shoot manual.

Now outdoors on action shots, I shoot primarily AV (Canon's terms) - Nikon's term AP.

P.S. What is FC Dallas?

Art Scott · May 13, 2008

Seneca wrote:

Well honestly...if I am shooting studio I set to manual (F8 - 1/60) take some test shots...they shoot immediately to my laptop and I take a facemask histigram from there. That is the only time I shoot manual.

Now outdoors on action shots, I shoot primarily AV (Canon's terms) - Nikon's term AP.

P.S. What is FC Dallas?

Seneca,
Are you tethered or are you using the new SD cards that transmit to your computer?
Why would you shoot a studio shot in manual and then move to a semi program (ap or sp everyones terms except canon :-}} ) after test shooting?

Cuong · May 19, 2008

Back to your question. You'll have a hard time keeping up with the action focusing manually, especially without the right focusing screen as Pathfinder mentioned. Even for static subjects, I'd use AF to focus on my target then leave AF alone or turn AF off on the lens.

Cuong

KED · May 21, 2008

Seneca wrote:

P.S. What is FC Dallas?

In the world of "football" (i.e. soccer), FC always means "Football Club" -- I believe this is true internationally and is certainly true throughout Europe. FC Dallas is Dallas' Major League Soccer team.

How does that Mk III Ds work out for you in sports shooting? Seems not suited to much in the way of burst mode.

(I have the III D -- if only it would focus it would be awesome!)

MarkW · May 22, 2008

Antonio Correia wrote:

Let me tell something about this.
As some of you know, I don't shoot much sport. Or, to be more accurate/precise I am not used to shoot sport at all.
But I am trying to do it now.

Two or three weeks ago, I have been shooting young people in canoes in a pool, playing with a ball.
I use a 20D for now and a 350D. I was using the first one and I was shooting jpg files to get more shots in a row.
The focus point is at the centre in AI-Servo.
I focus at the center pressing the shutter, try to follow the person and ... when action arrives I just push the button and start for some sequential pictures.
When, another player gets on the way, the focus "jumps" to it but, never less I do get some pictures.
I hope you don't mind I post here a picture I thought it was in perfect focus. This one:

To see it larger, please click on it:D
I have seen that of a row/sequence of say, 10 or 12 shots I may get one good in terms of the guy looking at the ball, the ball in the frame and so forth.
All this text just to suggest that you - like myself - have to make many sequential shots to get some good pictures.
I was almost forgetting why I was posting this picture.
When I was "treating" it on CS3 it looked to me sharp.
May be I am not that aware of sharpness, may be my eyes are not perfect - no they are not - may be whatever, but only today that I have printed the photo I saw that the young man on the right was not in focus. What is really really in focus is the ball.:D

Curious, may be the shot before - which I have not - or the next one - which I have not either - would be better that this one in terms of focus.
I was shooting in Aperture priority, it was evening with good light, 400 ISO to get high speeds - here 1/6400s - and the 70-200 f/2.8 IS L USM.

May be you can use a smaller aperture to get more depth of field like Pathfinder pointed.
May be you can go and calculate your DoF and use the right aperture.

I suddenly realized that I am - am I ? - hijacking your thread.
Well, this is just me and some thoughts that may be useful.

Thank you for reading.

I know on the 30D if you set Custom function 04 to 2, this will put the in AF/AF Lock, no AE lock. This will set the shutter to AF, and the * button to AF Lock. Exposure is set at the moment you click the button. When you press the * button while using AI Servo AF this will momentarily stop the AF motor. So when moving objects pass by what you're focused on it will prevent the AF from shifting.

Antonio Correia · May 22, 2008

MarkW wrote:

I know on the 30D if you set Custom function 04 to 2, this will put the in AF/AF Lock, no AE lock. This will set the shutter to AF, and the * button to AF Lock. Exposure is set at the moment you click the button. When you press the * button while using AI Servo AF this will momentarily stop the AF motor. So when moving objects pass by what you're focused on it will prevent the AF from shifting.

Thanks Mark.

I must try that.

EDIT
I think I have done it and it works.
I have done it with the 16-35 lens, which is the only available at the moment but it looked to work great.
I have to go over and over it to confirm.
Great tip.

Antonio Correia · May 22, 2008

I tried again and the focus - the central point - doesn't follow the object if and when the AF is pressed.
I think that this means: one have to press and shoot because the focus doesn't follow the target.
You just can't keep pressing and following the subject as I used to do with the CF 04 set to 0.
Am I wrong or haven't I made myself clear enough ?

MarkW · May 22, 2008

I just got to try this on my camera and it worked fine. When Custom function 4 is set to 2 and the camera is in AI Servo, the camera followed the subject while half pressing the shutter button. If I want to stop the AF I just pressed the * on the back of the camera to momentarily lock the AF after I released the * it resumed focusing. Are you sure you were on 2 (AF,AF lock)?

Antonio Correia · May 22, 2008

I stoped hijacking this thread B Rock. Sorry I've done so before.
I started a new thread for this discussion.

D

NikonsandVstroms · May 23, 2008

Some of my favorite lenses are still manual focus ones. The big thing is just having one where it feels right so you can focus in with it being almost a subconscious response. My favorite lens to shoot concerts with actually is a old tokina 100-200 mm with the zoom being the old-style where you pulled out the barrel, and it's almost a perfect size for my hand. So for a full adjustment of focus and focal length I'm just pulling, pushing and twisting.

Manual Focusing?

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